Simple. Advanced economies can export automobiles to the United States. All others have to import cars from the few advanced economies that can make them. This year only Germany, Japan, and South Korea make the cut. Over the years the British, the French, and the Italians dropped out of the US car market. The Chinese are clearly thinking about getting into the US market but they are not here, yet.
That's a remarkably small list. Nice thing is that they are all three solid US allies (now).
The British had a nice US export business in sports cars in the '40s and '50s. Road and Track magazine was started for sports car owners, owning mostly Austin Healey, Jaguar, MG, Morgan, and Triumph sports cars. The imported sports car business finally began to fade in the '70s partly due to competition from Ford Mustangs, and partly due to the truly awful reputation for flakiness that British quality control (or lack of it) created. "Lucas, Prince of Darkness" was the slam directed at British electrical systems (all built by Lucas). The Italians had the same problem, Fiat was said to stand for "Fix it Again Tony". The French tried to sell the Citroen DS-19, a distinctively styled car, very low, tail lights mounted on the roof, and an enormously complex hydraulic system that was virtually unrepairable. Later they tried with Peugeot sedans. I can remember car pooling out to Raytheon with a guy who drove a Peugeot. In the winter he had to open the hood, remove some strange engine part and bring it inside to keep it warm so the car would start at 5 PM.
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