I worked in the government for a bit, national park service if it matters, we were only allowed to use US made vehicles.

Constant recalls, constant breakdowns, overall unreliable. These were all vehicles that were less than 5 years okd

I have a 2007 toyota today that refuses to die and has barely needed any work. I'll probably have it at least another 3 to 5 years at this rate.

American cars are shit

Depends on what you mean by American. Most assume you are referring to Ford or GM. But Tesla and Rivian are US made. Many are built in the States by non US companies. BMW, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia.

The dumb ones do

There's a lot of protectionism going on in China, most western manufacturers aren't allowed to sell their own cars without a Chinese company owning the majority of the partnership. Most countries don't really have rules like that, China is kinda unique.

The Chinese actually LOVE big cars. Every other European manufacturer makes long wheelbase versions of their midrange sedans for China exclusively. Space in the back is a status symbol more than comfort up front apparently. And there are a ton of big Chinese crossovers out now. I won't call them SUVs because they're not really off road capable, much like most western "SUVs" aren't these days.

Where does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Tesla,_Inc. say Tesla was in China first?