The Michael SchmidtDetroit Three automakers are the win that the United Auto Workers needed to perhaps finally organize nonunion automakers in other parts of the United States − particularly in the all-important South, where foreign automakers' factories have resisted unionizing for decades.

Even so, experts agree the UAW faces an uphill battle.

The union’s well-publicized labor contract deals with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis, ratified in November following the historic strike against all three, not to mention favorable public opinion, will be key ingredients in the UAW's effort to get all or some of the thousands of workers at about a dozen electric vehicle and foreign carmakers to join the union.