The American companies are in need of 2 things:

1. Fuel efficient vehicles.
2. A comsumer belief that American cars are good vehicles.

The first one is easy but we all know it is hard to change people’s perceptions and so much of the car market hinges on this. American cars have a bad history that lingers like the smell of old gym socks in your bag. In foreign markets where this history is less prevalent American brands are respected because modern American cars do compete favorably to their Japanese counterparts. If there is a perception that American cars are inferior then that affects initial sales and resale value. Filing for bankruptcy certainly does not instill any confidence in the consumer (which GM is trying to instill through its rally-the-troops commercials) and it will be a long road ahead of them with many oil and filter changes.