RE: How fast do you think
You pretty much always have been better at that, Emma. The only American car I remember winning the fastest car award was the Dodge Viper and that only lasted for a year.
Looking at it another way...Ferrari's famed 12 cyl engine has a smaller displacement than most American V-8's and some American 6 cylinders. When Roger Penske took over the Chevy Indycar engine program, he immediately moved it to England. The only diesels ever to run at Indianapolis were Mercedes. Everybody laughed at them at first, but they would have finished in the top ten except one broke down and one crashed. BMW toured North America a few years ago with a concept car that featured an internal combustion engine that burned hydrogen. SUVs...especially North American ones...use the same technology as 1980's pick-up trucks.
When somebody tells you that the North American auto industry is innovative and leading edge, they are wrong. If that somebody is a honcho in the auto or oil industry or a politician, they are lying.