It's OK — most people who haven't worked in it don't understand it.

Simply put, MOST of the US auto industry is suppliers, with the Detroit 3 making up the rest.

Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc. aren't really "part of the industry," since they're neither US-based companies, nor particularly integrated into the design economy and management economy here.

Even if you accept the specious notion that anybody who has a factory in another country is now part of that country's industry, there's another troublesome component — without Chrysler, Ford and GM manufacturing cars here, most of the suppliers who also supply Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes and Nissan will go under. That will mean the cessation of most auto production in the US — including at the Japanese and German factories.