ANN ARBOR, MI – Last year, when Kristin Dziczek, one of the nation’s most quoted auto industry analysts landed in Beijing, the first thing she saw when she left the airport was … the classic Buick logo.

“As a girl from Flint, that meant something to me,” said Dziczek, now the vice-president for Industry, Labor and Economics at the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research, known as CAR.

It is common knowledge that the only reason the Buick brand has outlasted famous names like Pontiac and Oldsmobile is that the car is extraordinarily popular in the exploding auto market of China. That’s one more example that it is now difficult, if not impossible, to say what is and isn’t an American car or an American auto company.

“In fact, the auto companies themselves are becoming more than auto companies,” she said. They are investing in things like scooter companies, trying to figure out what is their path forward. Ford now says it is a mobility company, not an auto company.”

That’s one aspect of the changing industry. But another is the sheer international nature of the automotive world today.

President Trump, she noted, has indicated that there is a national security threat because GM and Ford are losing market share, and as a result may not be able to do the kind of research and development needed for them to survive in the future.

Left unsaid was that these companies have always done significant national defense work as well. But the situation isn’t that simple. For example, as Dziczek, who has degrees in both economics and engineering noted: “There is a young company called Cruise Automation in San Francisco which is making great strides in driver-less car technology.”

General Motors became very intrigued by what they were doing, and bought Cruise in 2016. But other players became interested as well.  Honda announced plans to invest $2.75 billion in Cruise.

“Saudi Arabia also likes what’s happening with Cruise, and has also invested in the company,” she added.

Self-driving, or autonomous vehicle technology also has many potential applications for the military, and Cruise Automation may be on the way to solving a lot of their problems.

“But are they an American company, if they are owned by General Motors and invested in by Honda and Saudi Arabia?” she asked. Similarly, China, which has terrific air pollution problems, is attempting to speed up development of electric vehicles.

“General Motors engineers in China may solve some of the problems associated with electric cars. If they can, again, is GM an American company?” when it comes to national security issues.

The bottom line: “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” in terms of the internationalization of the auto industry.

Closer to home, however, this is a year in which the United Auto Workers union will be negotiating new contracts with Ford, General Motors and FCA, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles.

The industry has been posting big profits, but has far fewer workers represented by the UAW than it once did.  The union also has repeatedly failed to organize any U.S. auto plants owned by other car manufacturers, such as Nissan and Volkswagen.

Additionally, the union, famous for being squeaky clean ever since the days of Walter Reuther, has suffered through a series of embarrassing scandals and a federal investigation.

What does all that mean for contract negotiations this fall?

“The UAW has done fairly well since the Great Recession and membership is up, but whether the members have confidence in the leadership remains to be seen,” she said. One possible wild card:

“I don’t believe the federal investigation is wrapped up,” she said, meaning more trouble may lay ahead.

There are other problems; four years ago, the UAW was embarrassed when rank and file Chrysler members rejected the first agreement their leaders negotiated, something previously unheard of.

What happens in this year’s talks, and what the major issues are likely to be isn’t yet clear. Preserving the workers’ health care benefits will be one issue. Higher pay also may be; wages have largely been stagnant for years. But GM’s announcement last November that it was permanently closing three major plants means job security is also likely to be a factor in these negotiations.

What is certain is that the percentage of cars made by UAW labor has fallen dramatically. Currently, a bare majority – 52 percent –of all cars sold in America is made here, and almost half of those are made by non-union labor in plants owned by automakers whose headquarters are in other countries.

Nor do any auto workers hired since 2007 get a pension, or the retiree health care benefits earlier, “legacy” workers enjoy.

Still, the auto industry is alive and well, something very much in question back in the dark days of 2008. Automakers have also invested more than $130 billion in North America since the recession, three-quarters of it in the United States, Dziczek said.

“Michigan has gotten more in new investment than Mexico,” she noted. The industry is likely to endure throughout our lifetimes.

The benefits that workers once enjoyed, however, may be gone forever – as is the industry as a mass employer of largely unskilled labor at high wages. Top management of each company now apparently understands that it needs to constantly adapt for the future.

Whether union leaders do as well remains to be seen.