DETROIT --- Rising demand for small cars has pushed Ford Motor Co. to revisit its decision not to bring the tiny European Ka model to the United States, Ford's chief executive said.

"We're assessing that right now," CEO Alan Mulally told a Detroit radio station, adding that a lot of people share the opinion that Ford should sell the Ka in the U.S.

A new version of the Ka was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October. It will be launched in major European markets later this year or early 2009.

In addition, it had a role in the recently released James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.

The Ka is far smaller than the Focus, which currently is Dearborn-based Ford's only U.S. compact car.

Mr. Mulally said on a radio program in October that Ford decided to give the Ka another look after high fuel prices pushed up demand for small cars and the response to introduction of the Fiesta subcompact.

FORD HAD SAID previously it wouldn't bring the Ka, sold mostly in Europe, to the U.S. because the markets are different, with European cities having more congestion and narrower roads than U.S. cities.

Ford plans to start selling the Fiesta global subcompact and the European version of the Focus in the U.S. in 2010, boosting its array of small cars as the U.S. market continues to shift away from trucks and sport utility vehicles.

U.S. small car sales overall were up 6 percent for the first nine months of the year, while truck sales were off 21 percent, according to Autodata Corp.

Ford spokesman Said Deep said the company is exploring whether Americans will accept a car that's even smaller than the new Fiesta, which the industry calls a "B" segment car. B cars are the size of a Toyota Yaris or Honda Fit, which now are selling well in the U.S.

"Are people willing to go smaller than that?" Mr. Deep asked. "That's a big unknown, and I think that's what's got to be determined."

A diesel version of the Ka gets 42 miles per gallon of fuel in combined city-highway driving under U.S. testing standards, Mr. Deep said, not much more than a gasoline-powered Fiesta will get in the U.S.

"There's not a dramatic difference in them to kind of give up the comfort package," he said.

THE ONLY VEHICLE the size of a Ka in the U.S. is Daimler AG's Smart Fortwo, a super-small car that proved popular after gasoline rose to around $4 per gallon. Smart sold 18,156 of the models through September.

Ford is looking to sell well-equipped, high-quality small cars in an effort to make up revenue lost when high-profit truck and SUV sales tanked.

Mr. Mulally said Ford will continue to adjust its factory capacity to match market demand.

"None of us have seen a slowdown like we're going through right now," he said.

He told Detroit station WWJ-AM, however, that the recent freeze in the credit markets has prevented some buyers from being able to get car financing.

Despite the deteriorating economy worldwide, Mr. Mulally said he's still confident Ford will survive the downturn.

"We knew this was going to get worse before it got better," he said. "And we went to the markets to borrow the appropriate amount of cash to fund our transformation."