1.  They included products of the three biggest American auto companies, as well as Japanese models.

2.  And, ironically enough, we now adhere to the old Japanese model in which the corporation takes care of us, and we take care of the corporation.

3.  A complication for the hybrids is that while the Japanese models are both small sedans, some companies plan hybrid sport utility vehicles.

4.  But it remains to be seen if the Japanese model can be transplanted to North America and Europe, where markets are more fragmented and consumer tastes vary.

5.  But the Japanese model also contains a caveat.

6.  David Healy, a Burnham Securities analyst, said tight supplies are crimping sales of popular Japanese models.

7.  Deming is hailed as the man behind the success of the Japanese industrial model.

8.  European companies, for their part, took a chapter from the Japanese and copied Japanese models.

9.  Even compared with other small cars, though, Japanese models tended to do poorly in crash tests and in real accidents.

10.  If you want something practical, get a Japanese model.