American automakers ooze inefficiency - Fat, dumb and lazy?

"U.S. automakers make an average of $2,400 less per vehicle than their Japanese counterparts because of less-efficient purchasing and manufacturing procedures, according to a study by the Harbour-Felax Group, an industry consulting firm based in suburban Detroit." (more)

What is taking so long for American automakers to get it? Efficiency not only works, it is becoming mandatory in today's world. It isn't just production efficiency or purchasing efficiency, it's energy efficiency. There simply isn't a country on this planet that has more to gain by embracing energy efficiency, and all levels of efficiency for that matter.

Why can't American automakers realize that?

Is complacency an intrinsic American value? For example, Americans only care about gas prices when they are high, but not when they are cheap. Our short term memory only cares about the immediate costs of gasoline, but not the long term costs of foreign oil dependency. Why?

Is it all just short term greed? What's the problem? Why is America so inefficient - from every-day-citizens to America's largest corporations? Are we just fat, dumb and lazy?