Wait, wait wait...the US is supposed to have been superior in car-making for ages?? Wow, stunning statement...
(Or is it true what someone told me, that most US-Americans think the car is an American invention, and Mercedes, BMW and Audi American brands?)
Also, I think that the Japanese don't have better technology, rather they use technologies that are popular with people and produce them at (relatively) low cost. Frankly, other than the hybrid, I have diffidulties in finding really new innovations of the Japanese car-makers.
There ARE already quite high tariffs on imported cars, by the way?