Hell, it's worth pointing out that the only reason we even have an SUV market out there is that the EPA and Congress decided we didn't need big honking sedans and station wagons, then legislated and regulated those out of existence, only to see the driving public go "Huh... Can't get the Family Truckster anymore...? Well, now... What about that there Suburban and full-size Bronco...?". Cue the other car companies figuring out that if you couldn't sell big sedans and station wagons anymore, why not build things you can classify as trucks, and sell those to the people that used to buy the big sedans...?
As with most of this stuff, the idjits shot themselves in the foot--My guess is that absent all the stupidity they pulled over forcing CAFE and the other regulations down our throats, the market would have reacted naturally, and we'd still have the big 'ol boats that used to be the mainstay of the market, but with a lot more efficiency. Overall, the whole "Kill the big sedan/station wagon..." effort just created more overall energy waste. Gas prices alone would have had people seeking more efficiencies, and unregulated foreign competition coming in would have forced Detroit to change for the better. A lot of people miss that Toyota held back a lot of their products because they were worried about the Congress and other regulators getting all protectionist over the US market, and so we don't see Toyota deliberately trying to compete in a lot of automotive sectors, or bringing in all of their products. The lack of competitive pressure allowed Detroit to get fat and sloppy, which is how we got here today. A truly unregulated market that wasn't subject to interference from the government to benefit specific companies would look a lot different from what we see here in the US today.
Hell, look at the overseas markets where they don't have car industries, like the Middle East; Toyota dominates, and why? Superior products, superior service. You want a part to fix your Toyota in Kuwait, they're available right there, and at affordable prices. You want to fix your GM, Ford, or Chrysler...? LOL... My friend, let me tell you about the how and why of Perkins losing the Kuwaiti market for marine engines, which pretty much sums up why the Japanese dominate. While I was in Kuwait for the first part of OIF, we ran the piss out of our bridge boats up in Iraq. Those boats were built with Perkins Marine motors, from the Sabre company in the UK. Perkins Marine used to literally <i>own</i> the Gulf's marine engine market for many and varied reasons, not the least of which was that Kuwait was once a British Protectorate. Thing is, Perkins provided horrible service, and the guys we dealt with down there to get parts were all telling us that we'd be better off going back to the US, and having the parts shipped in from there--Perkins would take three weeks to even acknowledge the order, more time to ship the parts, and likely, they'd be the wrong ones when they got there. The Kuwaiti dealer was apologetic, but he warned us that we'd probably be better off doing what most of the rest of the Gulf oil companies did--re-engine to a Nissan Marine set of motors, and solve our problems.
As a back-up, we ordered the parts we needed through the Kuwaiti agent for Perkins, and ordered through the official military system. That was in November, 2003. By the time we left in April of 2004, the parts hadn't shown up through either channel, and we passed the order on to our replacement unit. We returned for our second tour in November of 2005, to the identical mission and installation, and found that the parts ordered through the US military system had finally shown up in early 2005. While we were there in Iraq, the Kuwaiti vendor pinged our maintenance warrant officer, and asked if we still wanted the parts we'd ordered--They'd just gotten there, for the third time, and this time, they were the right ones.
There's a reason the Japanese dominate a lot of markets and industrial sectors around the world, and it's got 'eff-all to do with anything they're doing--All they do is show up, produce, and do it in a timely manner. A lot of companies in a lot of sectors here in the US and Europe just... Don't. There's nothing that Toyota does that's particularly special, it's just that they take the time to actually, y'know... Do it. And, they pay attention to the customer. Companies like Perkins, for example? They apparently think that the customer is only concerned with having a Perkins product in their boats, not in having a work boat that actually, like, runs every day.
A lot of Japanese companies do very well simply because they actually and sincerely give a damn about their product and the customers that use them. The ones that fail, like GM and FCA? They've lost the bubble, in that regard.