To the original OP:

I will relay my experience with a German friend of mine who lived in Switzerland in the 1990's. I have since lost touch with him.

He restored Muscle Cars, mainly Mopars. He hated Mercedes with a passion. He thought they were cheap junk. Side note - my experience with Mercedes as a soldier in the '80's stationed in Germany was the run of the mill Benz I rode in as a taxi was a cheap car. They obviously don't ship the cheapies to the states. Ok, back to the main story. My friend made a good amount of money coming to the USA and buying American cars (mainly trucks) and shipping them back to Europe in his personal name. He worked for dealers who were limited to what they could import. Hard to believe that's been 20 years ago. Maybe the laws have changed since then, I don't know. But, he always seemed to have need for American cars/trucks both of a new and used variety. He sent them all over Europe, so it wasn't just in Switzerland. Again, he did well, maybe that market has died now.

I meet many Europeans, South American's and Aussie's at Carlisle and the Nat's. I think 90% drive non-American cars as daily drivers. Typically, they cite fuel cost as the major reason.

My own experience with foreign cars has been limited and with mixed results.

82 Toyota Tercel - cheap junk
83 Dodge Colt (by Mitsu) - cheap, but reliable and good on gas
89 Acura Integra - good quality, nothing bad to say
89 Toyota Camry - mechanically, no issues. Kinda cheap interior.

Cars from that era were the ones that the media hyped over American cars and helped to form the opinion of many of today's American's about foreign cars. My experience with American cars from that era:

81 Ford Thunderbird - total junk, never ran right, Ford couldn't/wouldn't fix it
84 Chrysler Laser - good car other than some paint fade on the rear spoiler
87 Pontiac Grand Am - lots of mechanical issues
89 Dodge D150 - 250K miles and good 100K of them are from towing. No tranny cooler, 2.53 gear, original engine runs fine. Just rebuilt the tranny. Paint - awful, clear coat peeled like a lot of them did. Finally Repainted in 2002. Radio junk, cheap door panels armrest pads, all faded or broken now. I've replaced a compressor, starter and a/c hoses from failure. That's it.

Fast forward to today's cars. My experience with my 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 and 2005 Chrysler Town and Country have been poor. Lots of mechanical issues. A large part of the poor experience has been the dealer experience. When I replace them, I may or may not choose a Mopar again.

I think much of the poor opinion of American cars comes from the dealer experience. People will judge a brand by the dealer, fair or not. I have dealt with over a dozen dealers in my car buying and parts buying years. None were excellent experiences. Only one or maybe two were what I'd call decent or fair. The rest poor. This covers 2 states and a half dozen cities. My experience with the Acura dealer was superb by contrast.