The world auto industry has taken a beating in the last 12 months. Chrysler just entered bankruptcy. Auto dealerships, auto suppliers and many others are hurting. The “Buy American” sentiment can be heard from local dealer ads on the radio to the President. But what defines an American car these days? Place of assembly? Not entirely.
Cars.com each year publishes a list to help out car shoppers. From their most recent 2008 report last July:
Ford and GM continue their reign in this summer’s American-Made Index, but two new automakers — Chrysler and Honda — have joined the list, raising the number of manufacturers on it to five. That’s the most carmakers the AMI has featured in the two years we’ve been compiling it.
How did those two make it? The Alabama-built Odyssey minivan led Honda’s charge thanks to its high domestic-parts content rating, which indicates the percentage of U.S. and Canadian parts, by cost, in a given vehicle. The 2008 Odyssey’s domestic content rating went up to 75 percent, compared to 70 percent for the ’07 model, which comprised a sizeable chunk of last year’s sales.
Chrysler, meanwhile, has had a tough time making the index because a number of its strongest sellers — the Dodge Ram pickup and Grand Caravan minivan, for example — are either assembled mostly in Canada or have comparatively low domestic-parts content ratings. That’s not the case this time: The Chrysler Sebring sedan and convertible, both built in Michigan, pushed a number of others out of the way to make it to ninth place on the list.
In Chrysler’s wake? Among a few models to drop off the list this time around was the Ford Escape, long an AMI staple; it’s domestic-parts content rating fell 25 percentage points (from 90 percent to 65 percent) when it was redesigned for 2008. Last winter, Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood couldn’t give a reason for the domestic content drop, but said Ford is “proud of the domestically produced parts that go into our vehicles … but there are changes from year to year.”
GM has always been a strong player, but that’s true for different reasons this time. The Kansas-built Chevy Malibu moved from an unremarkable 33rd ranking in year-to-date sales in December to 15th overall today, and its 85 percent domestic-parts content rating is as high as any vehicle we surveyed. It jumped to third place in the AMI, up from ninth. Making the opposite trip was the Silverado, whose sagging sales and increased production in Mexico and Canada knocked it down to eighth.
Other GMs, from the Chevrolet Cobalt to the Pontiac G6, generally held steady. So did Toyota’s two entrants, the Sienna minivan and Tundra pickup. Stagnant sales, meanwhile, pushed the aging Chevy TrailBlazer off the list.
For this particular index, Cars.com surveyed the country’s 58 best-selling models through May 31 of this year. Of the 30 trucks, vans and SUVs in that group, 23 are assembled in the U.S. (though not always exclusively; some models are assembled both in plants here and in other countries), but just half of the cars on the list — 14 of 28 — are built here.
“I’m not sure this is likely to change much, although with the general downsizing of more cars and trucks here, that may lead to globalization of more production. Ultimately the objective of any manufacturer is to maximize utilization of all production assets — that is, operate at 100 percent of capacity or more.”
Globalized production, of course, also means that a number of popular models already aren’t as homegrown as you might think. Take cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevy ImpalaChrysler 300: The Michigan-built Mustang has a disappointing 65 percent domestic-parts content rating, while the 300 and Impala are built in Canada. What’s more, America’s beloved retro hatchbacks, the Chevy HHR and soon-to-be-discontinued Chrysler PT Cruiser, are built in Mexico. The pint-sized Chevy Aveo is built in South Korea. and
Not that import automakers fare any better: Hyundai’s Alabama-built 2009 Sonata has just 43 percent domestic content, while the Ohio-built Honda CR-V comes in at just 10 percent. That portrait of urban frugality, the Toyota Prius? It’s imported from Japan — and so are suburbanite favorites like the Nissan Murano and Toyota RAV4.
Editor’s note: In today’s global economy, there’s no easy way to determine just how American a car is. Many cars built in the U.S., for example, are assembled using parts that come from somewhere else. Some cars assembled in the U.S. from strictly American-made parts don’t sell very well, meaning that fewer Americans are building those models. Cars.com’s American-Made Index highlights the cars that are built here, have the highest percentage of domestic parts, and are bought in the largest numbers by Americans.
There are a few options for determining a car’s domestic-parts content. We went with the figure that appears alongside the window sticker of new cars as a result of the American Automobile Labeling Act, enacted in 1994. The AALA mandates that virtually every new car display the percentage, by cost, of its parts that originated in the U.S. and Canada. We deemed cars with a domestic-parts content rating of 75 percent or higher eligible for the index.
So depending upon the model the foreign car might just be more American than the American car! I looked at the window sticker on my 2004 Toyota Corolla but I didn’t see anything about the percentage of American or North American content. It was assembled at a joint GM-Toyota assembly plant known as New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc or NUMMI for short (official site, Wikipedia), located in Freemont California (map). My oldest brother’s office is less than a mile and a half from the plant.
Besides the Toyota Corolla, the plant makes the Toyota Tacoma pick-up and the Pontiac Vibe. Is the Pontiac Vibe more American than the Toyota Corolla from the same plant? Maybe, but that comes back to percentage of U.S. parts. The Corolla is also made in Canada alongside Vibe’s twin, the Toyota Matrix.
So the poll this week about your car. While it is hard to know the parts content it is easy to know in what country your car was assembled. I want to know about your nameplate (American vs. foreign) and if your car was assembled in the U.S. You may need to do some research.
For example, did you know the Pontiac G8 was assembled at a GM plant in Australia? The Saturn Aura sedan is built in Kansas City while the Saturn Astra hatchback is built outside the U.S. and imported. That American Buick LaCrosse was assembled in Canada. That Ford Taurus is made in the Chicago area but the Crown Vic in Canada. Dodge Challenger pony car? Canada. Chevy Camaro? Canada. Mitsubishi Eclipse? Normal, Illinois. Go figure. M-class Mercedes-Benz SUV? Germany? Wrong, Tuscaloosa, Alabama! The new Volvo XC60? The Swedish company Volvo Cars is owned by American company Ford, but the XC60 is produced in Ghent Belgium. Confused yet?
Numerous foreign nameplates operate manufacturing plants in the U.S., employing 55,000 workers (source)
If you are unsure about where your car was assembled look it up on Wikipedia. The poll is located on the upper right corner of the main page. Of course I’ve included an answer for those of you lucky enough to not own a car.
