Funny on the German/Japanese Dr. deal.
Except, we're talking about parent company, home-country costs, and the majority of their workforce.
The foreign manufacturers haven't been here all that long, as you well know, and the "legacy" costs haven't caught up with them yet. And yes, with regard to transportation costs, that is one reason they built U.S. plants relatively recently, and the other reason was "political." They chose their places well in traditionally non-union states, got major tax breaks/assistance from those states, and put themselves in locations where a "Toyota plant job" was far superior to anything else available. All they do here is assemble. The intellectual capital and technology development happens off-shore.
There is a body of theory in sociology called "relative deprivation." Revolutions never start when people are at the bottom. They begin when people have something and start to lose it, or they begin to want more. This is relevant to the "legacy cost" issue.
Right now, the average US foreign-manufacturer worker is much younger and feels relatively lucky even though he/she gets less in terms of overall compensation. Over time, they'll want more and more, which is what happened to the Big 3.
Many also forget that the Big 3 signed a deal with the UAW last year, which will greatly reduce their health-care and benefit costs going forward and make them more competitive with the foreign competition. However, that deal doesn't cut in until Jan. 2010. With the current economic crash, they won't make it until then.
I'm sure you're well aware that Toyota, Honda, Nissan sales are also down 30+% in the US, similar to Big 3 sales. If economic conditions get appreciably worse, which they well might, we might even start seeing them shuttering U.S. facilities as well. Meanwhile, back home, their Govs. will make sure they do not go out of business.
It's not about inferior products anymore. I don't believe the Big 3 products are significantly inferior anymore, and most of the relevant stats support that statement.