Unironically, yes, it did. It didn't necessarily help Detroit specifically for a wide variety of reasons, but it made American car companies up their game and

Unironically, yes, it did. It didn't necessarily help Detroit specifically for a wide variety of reasons, but it made American car companies up their game and make more competitive vehicles, helping ensure the survival of American companies and offer more and better choices for American car buyers. I'm not a huge fan of the way Ford pivoted away from small good cars to exclusively selling large pickups and SUVs (and the Mustang, I guess), but it still represents Ford's attempt to stay more competitive than they would had to have been without foreign competition.