UAW almost destroyed this country's main, big manufacturing base.
This is simply not true. The UAW played a part, sure. But look at some of the total garbage that came out of Detroit in the 70s and 80s. The Chevy Vega? With its rot-prone body (no galvanization at all is unheard of, even back then. The Soviet Lada was better assembled!) and its iron-head, aluminum block engine, it had engine problems up the wazoo. General automotive wisdom is if you have aluminum in the block, the head must be aluminum, too. Iron block with aluminum head is ok, the other way around is stupid. This was accepted wisdom when the Vega was introduced, and it was still introduced that way. The union had nothing to do with it.
They build crummy cars that often weren't exactly what customers wanted. Want a better example of just how crappy GM in particular was? GM engineered a front drive midsizer for the 1979 model year known as the X-car. It was... adequate for its time, to be fair. They re-engineered it for the mid 80s, and it was known as the A-body cars. Just so you know what I'm talking about, Chevy Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Buick Century. For the 1990 model year, GM lengthened the platform and put in a simple Strut independant rear suspension.
They were then known as the GM-10 platform cars. The A-body remained in production for five more years. The GM-10s were the Chevy Lumina, Pontiac Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Cutlass Surpreme, and Buick Regal. For 1998, some much needed structural bracing was added to the cars, but their general dimensions were unchanged and many compromises were made to adapt the now 19 year old platform to modern standards. It was rechristened once again with this modification, as the W-cars. They were the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Oldsmobile Intrigue, the Buick Century, and the Buick Regal. A long-wheelbase model was also produced for the 2000 model year as the Cheverolet Impala.
For the 2005 model year, the platform had what (I hope) is its last revision. The Grand Prix stayed on the old platform, and Oldsmobile (who, honestly, had the most promising version of the W-car) It required a massive re-engineering of sheetmetal stampings to produce modern sheetmetal that would fasten to the almost 30 year old platforms hardpoints. The cars produced were the Buick LaCrosse and a restyled Chevy Impala. The Impala is still in production.
When it is replaced for the 2012 model year, the platform will be 35 years old. And remember- until 2010 model year, the Buick used a V6 known by various names, lastmost the 3800. It was introduced in the Buick Special of
1961. 48 years old.
Now lets compare this to Honda of the 80s and 90s. Their Accord, the car that could closest be compared to the GM mid-sizers mentioned above, was replaced, consistently, every 4 years. Completely new, from the ground up, with new engines, and ground breaking technology. And through all this, Honda managed to maintain amazingly high reliability ratings, as well as a perception amongst its customers that they were bullet proof. I assume they are. You find more Accords from the 80s then you do GM X/A/10 cars, and a lot more of them were produced.
The American automakers killed themselves with greed, cheapness, and general ineptitude as much as with bad unions.