General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG's Dodge brand, Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Corp. all have launched or soon will launch soon new small pickups that, for starters, aren't that small. Most of them will be aimed at consumers who aren't looking for a stripped-down work tool, but rather a well-equipped lifestyle appliance that handles commuting to the office park five days a week and on the sixth day, hauls dirt bikes.

The burst of new models, and the substantial underlying investments, represents a gamble that the compact-pickup market's more than 15-year slide will turn around, or at least stabilize. Sales of compact pickups peaked in 1986 at 1.44 million vehicles, or 54 percent of all pickup truck sales. By 2003, sales had fallen to 741,993 vehicles a year, just 24 percent of all pickup-truck sales. The small-pickup market is under particularly heavy pressure right now partly because there are so many good deals on big pickups.

Previously, automakers pushed sales of small pickups to boost their overall truck fuel economy to comply with federal mileage standards. These days, however, small sport utility vehicles such as the Ford Escape can serve that purpose. That has freed truck marketers to promote sales of larger – and generally more profitable – big trucks such as the Ford F-150 or Dodge Ram.

In terms of fuel economy, the new crop of small trucks don't offer much of an advantage over their full-size cousins. The typical small truck averages roughly 16 miles per gallon in city driving, and 20 to 25 mpg on the highway. By comparison a two-door, rear-wheel-drive version of Toyota's full-size pickup, the Tundra, is rated at 16 mpg in the city with a V-8 engine – only one mile a gallon less than the smaller Tacoma with two doors and a V-6.

Meantime, competition in the market for full-size pickups has made bigger trucks more affordable. Partly as a result, some automakers believe sales of compact trucks will remain weak. Ford Motor Co,. maker of the best-selling compact pickup, the Ford Ranger, recently shut down one of two U.S. plants that built the Ranger.

It also put off an expensive redesign of its aging truck, a step that helps Ford keep Ranger prices low. Ford offers a two door, traditional short-cab Ranger for $14,985 with a four-cylinder engine. By contrast, Dodge dumped the traditional working man's two-door truck and now builds only extended-cab models with two rows of seats. The least expensive 2005 Dakota starts at about $20,000.

One reason Ford is trying to keep Ranger prices low is because consumers can get large pickups relatively cheaply, Ford's Scott says.

Rivals counter that the main problem with the compact trucks is that automakers neglected them while beefing up their bigger pickups and SUVs.

Another question Dodge and its rivals will test is whether the smaller trucks can become more profitable because the new models lure in a wealthier class of customers who want larger, better equipped vehicles but don't want to go all the way up to a large pickup. Mike Weidman, marketing manager for the Chevrolet Colorado, says early sales for the model indicate a bigger demand than Chevrolet expected for fully loaded, four-wheel drive, four-door crew-cab trucks aimed at recreation and personal use.

The new Toyota Tacoma is growing in size, too. The new version will be 6 inches longer and 4 inches wider than the truck it replaces, with a V-6 engine that offers 50 more horsepower, and 1,500 pounds more towing capacity. Nissan's strategy is to make its smaller pickup look like a little brother of its larger ones. Its Frontier, coming late this year, will be built on a downsize version of the same chunky frame that carries Nissan's hulking Titan large pickup.