Typically mass produced employing many stock sedan components beneath a distinctive exterior, it has often been a lucrative segment of the post-World War II automotive marketplace.

Subcompacts are a quickly growing segment of today's automotive marketplace.

"We responded to changes in the automotive marketplace," she said, "that required that we would be able to move quicker creatively."

It requires human intelligence, an understanding of the automotive marketplace, the drive to create - and, most importantly, a love for designing cars - to use the technology effectively.

Syndet, at the time, was a 25-year old manufacturer of hard surface detergents, cleaners and waxes, serving the automotive, institutional and industrial marketplace.

The minivan first became a significant part of the American automotive marketplace in the mid-1980s with the introduction of the Dodge Caravan.

In today's crowded automotive marketplace, carmakers are aiming to make their new products stand out from the pack in any way they can.

"Now that we're in a consumer-driven automotive marketplace, I would expect to see much more of this type of thing," said J. David Power, an automotive marketing consultant.

The business goal of Trader Corporation is to establish a national trading and advertising platform for customers providing a "one-stop-shop" for buyers and sellers in the automotive marketplace.

Whether these vehicles will, in fact, pull customers into showrooms is another matter, for the renaissance of rear-wheel-drive cars from Detroit runs counter to where the automotive marketplace has shifted the last three decades.