Pocket Monsters; Ford readies its SVT Focus to join a pack of eager entry-level rocket rides.

Wait till you drive it,'' he says with a grin, a slow Southern burr curling the ends of his words. ``This is a ticket-getter. I guarantee people will be getting tickets left and right in this car.''

Andy Slankard wants to say more, but can't. As program manager for the Ford SVT Focus, he knows what the hot little hatch will do in the quarter-mile, in braking, through the slalom. But the car won't hit showrooms for almost a year, and the Special Vehicle Team higher-ups have made him swear on his good mother's name to keep mum for now.

What we do know is this: Power will come from a revised 2.0-liter Zetec four, turning out 170 horsepower and 145 lb-ft of torque, all shuttled through a Getrag six-speed manual transmission. Handling upgrades over the standard Focus will include a ride height lowered one-half inch, increased spring rates, crisper power steering calibrations and bigger front and rear antiroll bars. If SVT's current vehicles are any indication, the Focus should be one fun little car. But if you think a performance-dedicated group like SVT could have corralled more than 170 horses for its newest ride, then maybe you'll find what you want elsewhere.

And what a year of elsewheres this will be.

After an almost decade-long sabbatical, the pocket rocket returns this year with a vengeance. No fewer than a half-dozen new front-drive small cars-each with at least 160 horsepower and a chassis tuned for road-holding-will try to revitalize this segment. Call it a resurrection, if you will. The players, names and spirits will be of the most memorable pocket rockets of the past.

Not that such cars had disappeared entirely. Southern California kids have been hotting-up ordinary Civics and Sentras for years, adding turbochargers, cutting springs and slapping on body pieces in search of performance and individuality. The aftermarket has been making out big-time, and the automakers now want to cash in for themselves.

How long the trend will last is unknown, but with the number of big manufacturers investing huge stocks in this segment, they're banking that it will stick around for a while.