Is that right that no French or Italian cars are imported into the States?

Why have these manufacturers decided to opt out?

Americans will buy European premium and supersports cars, but not mainstream models - the French don't build anything the Americans want.

Rover didn't get pushed out - the cars they built at the time never deserved to succeed anywhere - when the 800 was sold in the US as the Sterling, the build quality was appalling and Rover Group had to send a significant team from the factory to rectify the cars as they came off the boat and deal with all the warranty claim work that just overwhelmed dealers.

100,000 mile powertrain warranty is common but less common to get long full warranty.

They also want cars without rock-hard suspension to cope with their poor roads and more rural areas - driving a BMW with ultra-low profile tyres on a badly surfaced or dirt road every day would not be a pleasant experience.

The modders tend to go with Japanese cars as they are generally designed with more bunce in their engineering parts so they can take being amped up to 11 or more. Somehow I can't see any such Yanks buying a Clio or (the Brit modder's car of choice) a Saxo - more like a Civic Type R, Subaru Impreza/BRZ or suchlike, depending on budget.

Back to the story - Nissan surely msut be involved, given they use Renault diesel engines in their tie-up. I wonder if any more makes are going to be dragged into this, given how many source their diesels from other makes or share their development.

No Nissan still use renault engines.

Although i have little interest in French cars, the Renault engine in my last Xtrail was really good, only lacking low end torque for towing.

It was in my 2009 173ps XT 2L diesel and revved much like a petrol car, with 100% reliability of the 4.5 years i had it. So i don't think theres a lot wrong with the Renault engine from my experience.