Niche market vehicles are usually developed as an afterthought.  Sure, manufacturers have to develop a new shell and body panels, but essentially, the basic frame and the engine were all sourced from existing parts. The story is no different when the cute-as-button mini-SUVs began to invade the market.  The Toyota RAV4 for instance used a modified Corolla chassis and was powered by a Corona engine.  On the other hand, the Honda CR-V was based on the Civic chassis and engine.

The battlefield of the 1.6-liter sedans has never been this big.  Long before, people had only two choices: the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Toyota Corolla.  Pretty soon, other car manufacturers came into the picture offering their own brand of compact-sized family car.  Now, the field has no less than seven competitors: Chevrolet Cassia, Ford Lynx, Honda Civic, Mazda 323, Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla.  This huge array of choices makes buying a compact-sized sedan much more difficult than shopping for hotdogs at a local supermarket.

In biology, hybrids combine the best characteristics of different variants.   So it is with cars.  Witness the success of the car-based offroaders.  They combine the compact dimensions and good handling of a car with the high ground clearance and wagon configuration of a traditional offroader to endear themselves to many owners and climb steadily to the top of the sales charts.

Monet replicas are everywhere.  You see them in offices, elevators and yes, even McDonald's restaurants.  Has it ever occurred to you why such an excellent artist as Monet had to be contented on seeing his works displayed along side Ronald McDonald?  The answer is simple really: it's inoffensive and bland.  Much like a Big Mac or McChicken is bland, a Monet doesn't really stand out.  It may look great to the art critic's eye, but for the rest of civilization, it's nothing more than a piece of decoration: greatly unnoticed, ignored and never appreciated.  What a Monet replica is in the world of furniture, is what the Mitsubishi Lancer GSR is in the world of automobiles.

With the amazing debut of the Ford Lynx Ghia, one begins to wonder if Honda's grasp on the 1.6-liter market would begin to fade.  In terms of market share, it seems that it hasn't happened just yet.  In fact, Honda has maintained a healthy second place in sales for the 1.6-liter segment despite having a car that is nearly five years old and is becoming too common to be called different.  So what makes the Honda Civic a big seller then?  Why do people keep on flocking Honda's way when they could get cars with much more features for the same price?  I decided to find out for myself.