The foreign automakers that have chosen the South for their U.S. operations may have a lot to gain in the long run if the Detroit Three fail and give up their market share to companies like Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen. Brenda Huddleston doesn’t want to take her chances.

“If they go under I don’t know what’s in store for us,” said the 41-year-old employee at Nissan Motor Co.’s Smyrna, Tenn., assembly plant. “Everybody at Nissan is scared.”