With auto sales slumping and gas prices soaring, there's been one bright spot: small cars. The vehicles auto makers used to lose money making are now the hottest ones on the lot.

In Minnesota, with its long devotion to big pickup trucks to haul boats to 10,000 lakes, subcompact cars overtook full-size pickups for market share leader in the first half of 2008. Also tying for the top spot, with a 15.9 percent market share: mid-size cars.

"I think people across the country are revisiting what they need in a vehicle," Honda spokesman Chris Martin said.

When gas spiked to more than $4 a gallon earlier this summer and demand skyrocketed for fuel-efficient cars like Honda Civics and Ford Focuses, many manufacturers, who usually plan production six months to a year in advance, were caught off guard and scrambled to adjust their inventories.

Honda, for example, has decided to ramp up production on its 29-mpg Civic early next year, by shuffling production of its only pickup, the Ridgeline, from a Canadian factory to an Alabama site, Martin said.

The Canada site had previously housed both production lines while the Alabama site currently produces the Pilot and the Odyssey, a crossover SUV and minivan. A fourth Civic plant opens this fall in Indiana, he said.

Other manufacturers, like Toyota, haven't been able to adjust their production as quickly, said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automotive Dealers Association, and supply shortages have resulted.

Buyers in Minneapolis reported a three-to-six-month wait for the popular Toyota Prius, king of fuel-efficient cars, earlier this summer. The Prius, a gas-electric hybrid, is the ninth fastest selling car in the marketplace, according to Taylor.

"They'd be selling more strongly if they could supply enough batteries," he said. "Prius sales are down from last year. ... obviously they'd be up 10 or 20 percent if Toyota could supply additional units."

Kathrine Jones of Bloomington was in the market for a new car earlier this year and fuel economy was a major factor in her decision. Her 1994 Lumina got about 20 miles to the gallon and cost about $50 to fill the tank.

Jones said she initially looked into Corollas but ultimately purchased a Hyundai Elantra, which gets a combined 28 miles per gallon.

"I had decided that I was going to get something besides a domestic car," she said.

Jones' mindset poses a real problem for the domestic auto industry, which has been on a steady market share slide for decades. During the first half of the year, American Big Three dealers saw sales drop 16 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to data from JD Power and Associates. And the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) predicts another 11 percent slide for Minnesota sales this year, on top of last year's 14 percent slide. Foreign car dealers haven't been as hard hit.

And Jones' other car, a full-size van used to haul a small camper, isn't going anywhere. "You can't pull a camper [with the Elantra]," Jones said. "I don't think everyone can go to a small car."

Down year

The dealer association now predicts a 5.3 percent drop in the state's new care sales this year, an increase from a previously published forecast of a 3.4 percent drop.

Nationally, new sales are down about 10.6 percent. Minnesota took its hit last year, with sales falling 7.5 percent, according to MADA.

In states where the housing crisis was not as severe, like Minnesota, sales should even out through the end of 2008 and remain flat into 2009, Taylor said.

Skip Cady, general manager for the Minneapolis Saturn stores, is not as pessimistic about the outlook as the state association, which predicted an 8.8 percent decrease in sales for Saturn in Minnesota. "We'd have to really fall apart here in the Twin Cities to be down" this year, Cady said.

Through July, the Minneapolis Saturn dealers, whose lineup is on the smaller side, with no pickups or large SUVs, were up in total unit sales and profit, he said.

"Traditionally we perform at 160 percent the national average," he said, noting the manufacturer's commitment to the Minneapolis market. Chicago has the same number of Saturn dealers, despite a significant difference in population.

Dealer Ted Terp said he's seen customers this year making their purchase decisions "on availability, not so much based on their needs."

Sales at Terp's Metro Motor Group, which sells Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Suzuki and Kia, haven't been great this year, with only Hyundai sales up. Mitsubishi is down about 10 percent, and Kia and Suzuki sales are flat.

Terp said the Accent, the Rio and the Lancer, small-to-mid-size cars with combined miles per gallon between 24 and 29, have been his biggest movers this summer.

Minnesota was "big truck country," Terp said, accounting for the popularity of brands like Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford. Those brands, he said, have been hit a lot harder by the down economy and the gas crunch.

"The domestic factories basically put their eggs in one basket, that being the truck basket," Terp said.

Emma L. Carew • 612-673-7405