There is no doubt that if U. S. manufacturers build quality automobiles with economy of operation, they will sell. Build quality, particularly for GM, has increased in recent years. Edmunds rated the Chevrolet Malibu as equal in build quality to the benchmark models: the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry.
Actually, it is a misnomer to consider Ford and Chrysler U.S. manufacturers since Fords primary production facilities are in Hermosa, Mexico and Chrysler builds most of theirs in Canada. The foreign cars, Toyota, Honda, Hundya and KIA manufacture most of their cars in the U.S.
Even in producing hybrids, the big three have targeted their huge SUVs first. Chevy makes a hybrid Suburban; GMC both a Yukon SUV and a truck. Ford has offered the hybrid SUV Escape, in mileage, the best of the SUVs. Recently both Ford with the hybrid fusion and Chevrolet's Malibu hybrid have come closer to the mark, offering 30-35 mile per gallon economy and offering it in a popular mid-size car. This, however does not compare well with the new Honda Insights 41 mpg and falls far short of bench mark Toyota Prius' 50 mpg.
U. S. manufacturers, in order to survive must target their smaller cars for increases in economy. Chevrolet has in the Cobalt a popular smaller car that offers a great platform for a hybrid, but they need first to improve the mileage of their four cylinder engine, making it competitive with Hundya, KIA, and the Japanese offerings.
Hybrids, however, must be looked upon only as transitional models moving us to lesser dependence on OPEC oil. The goal must be to move to non-fossil fuel transportation. Hydrogen power, while a great idea, needs a great deal of engineering before it becomes practical. Solar power needs too great an array of solar panels to be practical at present, but solar panels supplementing a hybrid, might be a move in the right direction. Innovative bio-fuels are being developed and in the future we may be able to use products now considered to be waste, to power our automobiles.
Critical to our solution for the survival of the big three is for them to restructure their manufacturing to provide American manufacturing jobs. Henry Ford understood that his way to great wealth was to build cars inexpensive enough that the people who built them could afford to buy them. Our present management teams need to recapture his vision of the car for everyman, and if the bring in a hybrid priced competively with Honda and Toyota with the same build quality they have, they can survive, possibly even thrive.