Hardly. Toyota and Honda both make cars in the US, which seems counter to saying they've destroyed it.
Even just looking at the American manufacturers, America still does alright. For instance, in a list of the top 10 best-selling vehicles in the world in 2015 [1], yes, a Japanese car came in first, but a German car came in second and US took up the third and fourth spots.
Maybe if you close your eyes and click your heals together three times.
Meanwhile. in the slightly more real world.
http://theweek.com/articles/461968/rise-fall-detroit-timelin...
How is that "vastly better"?
We're talking about production not the product. and that isnt complicated. Asian markets have an abundundant supply of highly skilled labour. western markets do not.
furthermore. that isnt a surpise. its policy.
Detroit filing for bankruptcy has more to do with car manufacturing moving to southern, union free states and Mexico than it does with Japan.
The reason they went south is that labor was cheaper there because those states are unfriendly to unions.
I'm not blaming anyone, I'm pretty pro union myself, but that's what happened. You can argue until you're blue in the face, but it's a fact that the manufacturing jobs left Detroit for southern states and Mexico, not Japan.