For many years I ONLY bought American vehicles. I never even considered a Jap auto. I must admit though that most of my new cars had recurring mechanical and service problems. The cars were often returned to the service center to address one problem or another. Brand new vehicles shouldn't need regular service but they always did.
A while ago my (then) new bride who was driving a Camero insisted on a new foreign car. Neither one of us had ever owned one before. We shopped around for quite some time and settled on a Honda Accord. It took some getting use to but the car was well built, comfortable and fuel efficient. My wife drove that car for 10 years and put 140,000 miles on it before we sold it. Guess how many times it was in the shop for repairs? NEVER - Other than routine maintenance the car was never brought back to Honda for a problem, not even once. With 140,000 mi on the car it still sold for $4,000 used.
We now have 2 Hondas and an Accura at the house and one is as good or better than the other. I guess my point to all of this is that the American car companies killed their own industry by providing cars that were noticeably sub-standard when compared to other vehicles that were readily available to the American consumer. The "big 3" had a decade to get smart and produce fuel efficient, reliable cars that re-attracted the American buyer that obviously didn't happen.
I don't know who, specifically, is to blame but the American auto industry's image was tarnished over a long period of time and it will take many years of quality product improvements before the average car buyer looks to the American auto industry FIRST for a quality built car.
Just my 2 cents.
