The thing that really annoys me is that GM already has a bunch of small cars that could easily compete against the Japanese onslaught of small cars, namely the Opel Meriva, Opel Corsa and Opel Astra.

How come GM isn't seriously considering selling at least the Meriva in the USA? Remember, they're already assembling the Meriva in Mexico, so it wouldn't take much to expand that plant and sell US-certified versions under the Chevrolet label (in fact, in Latin America the Meriva is sold as a Chevrolet model).