In many respects, the U.S. auto companies REFUSED to try and compete- they knew what the customers wanted in the early Sevenies, small, fuel-efficient vehicles at a reasonable price- but they dug in and absolutely would not design or sell vehicles like that- they kept making land yachts even though they weren't what new car buyers were looking for. The unions were blameless in this-Douglas Fraser of the UAW was plaeding with "the Big 3" to offer the kinds of cars that would sell, and "the Big 3" kept saying no. If they'd offered the kind of cars consumers wanted, they'd have had no crash in sales at all.