After a tumultuous two years for Detroit’s Big Three that featured financial losses, government bailouts, bankruptcies and declining market shares, the U.S. auto industry is beginning to show major signs of improvement.

Ford Motor Company, the only of the Big Three automakers that did not receive a government bailout, earlier this week announced that it earned $2.1 billion in the first quarter of the year. Just one year earlier, Ford lost $1.4 billion in the same period. The company said it expects that momentum to carry it through for a successful year.

“We remain cautiously optimistic about positive signs emerging in the global economy while knowing the recovery is fragile and the global auto industry continues to deal with excess capacity,” Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.

In a new television commercial General Motors has been touting the fact that it has repaid a $6.7 billion government loan “in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule.”

And fresh off a bankruptcy and restructuring of the company, Chrysler even turned a small profit in the first quarter of the year, making $143 million.

“It is now clear the big three are coming back strong based upon sacrifices of hourly workers, salaried workers and management and, most importantly, the introduction of great new products that are being embraced by consumers,” Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) said in a statement. “We should all be happy that this vital industry is coming back and everyone in our community should take pride in their resurgence.”

The American people are also becoming more confident in U.S. automakers. A recent Associated Press poll found that 38 percent of Americans favor domestic vehicles while 33 percent prefer Asian vehicles. That is a large swing from December 2006, when just 29 percent favored American vehicles and 46 percent favored Asian-made automobiles.

“I think Americans are beginning to realize the significance of America’s auto industry to its history and to its future, and we’re a bit more sensitive now to what will be its fate,” John Heitmann, an auto historian at the University of Dayton, told The Associated Press.

However, not all is well, or even as it seems.

The gain in the popularity of Americans vehicles over Asian-made cars and trucks can partially be attributed to the trouble Toyota is currently having due to recalls and safety concerns.

The GM commercial is misleading. The company did in fact pay back a government loan. However, the company used an escrow account set up by the Treasury Department that is made up of a pool of taxpayer money. So essentially, GM paid taxpayers back with their own money.

“We are concerned that GM, under your leadership, has come dangerously close to committing fraud, and that you might have colluded with the United States Treasury to deceive the American public,” Republican Reps. Darrell Issa (CA) and Jim Jordan (OH) wrote in a letter to the company. “Your false statements may expose GM to millions of dollars in damages, further reducing the value of the taxpayer-owned company. The American people, as the majority shareholders of GM, have a right to know the truth behind the cost of the GM bailout and GM’s genuine financial condition.”

Ford’s good fortunes are not as good as they seem either. While the company did have an impressive first quarter, it is still weighted down by a heavy debt load. The company currently holds $34.3 billion in debt. Unlike GM and Chrysler, Ford did not go through bankruptcy and did not have the opportunity to painlessly shed its debt.

“I think for all three, this is a fragile recovery,” Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Edmunds.com, told CNNMoney.com.

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