You are correct...nobody wants a FIAT (Fix It Again Tony)...
Peugeot/Citroen would probably fair OK in the US market.
Fiat, in the 1990s....got around to correcting a lot of their designs. I won’t say it’s perfect, but they are a lot better than they were noted in the 1970s.
As for this gamesmanship going on....all of this leads to the EU-US trade treaty underway, and the US needs some type of inside door on getting US car sales into Europe....but the fear is valid that the French, Italian and German companies are desperately trying to get their feet into a decent US market.
Alfa Romeo, on the other hand....