Because of their growth, there has been no net loss in American automotive jobs over the last 10 years, according to James P. Womack, an author and expert in manufacturing efficiency. Auto industry employment has held steady at about 1.1 million workers, including those at parts companies, he said.

In fact, those foreign companies, which collectively employed about 60,000 workers at the North American plants last year, are expanding their factories. Later this year, Toyota will open a new truck plant in San Antonio, and it is building another factory in Ontario.

Earlier this month, Nissan's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, who became a management model for leading his company's successful turnaround during the last six years, said Nissan could expand its 2-year-old factory in Canton, Miss.

While foreign automakers have hired some former Detroit workers, most of their workers have no automotive experience and were chosen through rigorous screening processes that stress physical endurance and a bent for working in teams.

The idea seemed an echo of GM's original intent with the Saturn Corp., whose plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., was meant to prove that American workers could build cars that could compete with Japanese autos.

In fact, Saturn's vehicles lured buyers away from Toyota and Honda in the early 1990s, when the cars were first on sale. But Saturn cars subsequently declined in popularity after GM decided to focus more attention on developing SUVs.

And although GM is trying to rejuvenate the Saturn lineup, it announced last year that it would close an assembly line at Spring Hill, placing the plant's long-term future in doubt.

Ford's announcement of the Way Forward plan on Monday ended weeks of speculation that it would eliminate some product lines. But on Monday, Ford declined to comment on specific vehicles. Shortly before it outlined the program on Monday, Ford said it lost $1 billion before taxes on its automotive operations in 2005, compared with a loss of $850 million in 2004. It posted a full-year profit of $2 billion, down from $3.5 billion in 2004, but its third consecutive annual profit. It has managed to keep making money because of good results overseas and the strength of its financial services division.

But in December, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its rating on Ford's debt two notches deeper into junk, the same as S&P did at GM after it unveiled its restructuring plan.