As American automotive giants Ford and General Motors whine about low profits due in large part to their perennial reliance on gas-guzzlers and their frustrating inattention to the realities of the global marketplace, the worldwide success of firms like Toyota should be instructive to them. Ironically, Japanese automakers, worried about a return of the backlash they saw in the 1980s in the United States, are wisely trying to blunt the contrast, with, among other things, joint venture proposals.