Is Your Car Made in America?

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Is Your Car Made in America?

Its Growing More Difficult To Tell

Posted: Oct 06, 2010

These days, automakers manufacture and assemble vehicle parts all over the globe, which makes it difficult to find a car that is 100% American (Chrysler).

It used to be pretty obvious which cars were built in the U.S. (Detroit's Big Three of Ford, GM and Chrysler) and which weren't (everything else). Then in the 1980’s the Japanese started building cars here, which made for some interesting arguments about what constituted an “American” car. But in today’s global economy, it's even harder to answer the question: Is your car made in America?

Many consumers looking to buy an American-built vehicle are having a hard time finding one that's assembled here with 100-percent American-built components. That’s because it's actually impossible, at least if you’re talking about buying a car from the major carmakers.

Made In U.S.A. (Partly)

For example, while Jeep's Patriot may be built in Belvedere, Ill., its transmissions originate in Mexico, Japan and Germany. Similarly Ford's Michigan-assembled Mustang may be as American as mom, Marines, and apple pie, but its transmissions come from China, France, the U.K., and Mexico. Chrysler's PT Cruiser isn’t even built in the U.S. – it’s assembled in Toluca, Mexico, though its transmission is U.S.-sourced. GM, meanwhile, builds its Chevy Camaro in Canada and its GMC Sierra pickup in Mexico.

Confusing? Yes. But that’s not the start of it. BMWs are now built in the U.S. and so are some Mercedes vehicles (in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Vance, Alabama, respectively). With Japanese carmakers having established multiple assembly plants across the U.S. and American car companies operating plants in Canada and Mexico lines are blurred further.

So what makes a car American? It's a rancorous debate that's sure to rumble on, but consumers can make up their own minds based on information that’s appeared on the labels of every new car for sale for years. This states where the vehicle was assembled and where the engine and transmission originated.

Mark Birmingham, an industry analyst at the Center for Automotive Research, said consumers who want to buy American primarily should look at where the vehicle is assembled, as often that indicates a large presence not just in manufacturing.

“There is something to be said for buying a Detroit ‘Big Three’ label,” he said, “in the sense that all of administrative, development and white-collar work is indirectly supported."

Who Builds What Where?

Ford’s Fusion, Fiesta, and Lincoln MKZ models are built in Mexico, while the Edge, Flex, Lincoln MKX, and Lincoln MKT are built in Canada. Other North American models are built in the U.S.

According to NHTSA documents provided to AOL Autos, Ford’s compact Focus is assembled in Wayne, Mich., with 90 percent of its parts sourced from the U.S. and Canada, but its transmission originates in Germany. While the Taurus is assembled in Chicago, Ill., about 65 percent of its parts are of U.S. origin. But its engine and transmission are both built in the U.S.

The F-Series pickup truck, that most iconic of domestic vehicles, is assembled in Kansas City, Missouri, and Dearborn, Michigan, but with just 55 percent of parts made in the U.S. or Canada. More than 15 percent of its parts come from Mexico, although all of its engines and both transmission systems are built in the U.S. Some transmissions for the Mustang (assembled in Flat Rock, Michigan) come from China.

GM vehicles assembled in Canada include Chevrolet's Camaro, Equinox and Impala and the GMC Terrain, while vehicles built in Mexico include Cadillac's SRX and Escalade EXT, Chevrolet's Aveo, HHR, Silverado, and GMC's Sierra. GM vehicles built in the U.S. include Buick's LaCrosse, Lucerne and Enclave, Cadillac's CTS, DTS and STS-V, Chevrolet's Cruze, Corvette, Malibu and Tahoe, and GMC's Yukon.

According to figures from IHS Global Insight, of the GM vehicles assembled domestically, several Corvette engines are built in Canada, with several transmission variants originating in Mexico. Its Chevrolet Silverado (assembled in Fort Wayne, Indiana) carries U.S.-built engines across all models, but several transmissions are built in Mexico. For the Cadillac CTS assembled in Lansing, Mich., several engines originate in Canada and Mexico, and the transmissions for various models in the CTS range come from Japan, France, Mexico, and the U.S. Some engines for GM's Chevrolet Cruze, assembled in Lordstown, Ohio, come from Szentgotthard, Hungary.

Chrysler says about 61 percent of the components it uses for its Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep lines come from the U.S., while about 20 percent come from Mexico and Latin America, about 10 percent from Canada and just under 10 percent from the rest of the world. It maintains large production facilities across the U.S., but also builds its 300 and Dodge Challenger and Charger, in Canada, and the PT Cruiser in Mexico.

Of the Big Three's foreign competition, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia all proudly trumpet their domestic-built credentials. (Honda was the first Japanese carmaker to build a car plant in the U.S., in Marysville, Ohio., in 1979, and more Honda vehicles are now built in the U.S. than in Japan.) Toyota builds its Camry and Avalon models in Georgetown, Kentucky, its Sienna and Highlander in Princeton, Indiana, and has large plants in Huntsville, Alabama, and San Antonio, Texas. Hyundai builds the Sonata and Elantra in Montgomery, Alabama, and shares a plant in West Point, Georgia, with Kia, which recently celebrated the 100,000th Sorento rolling off that line.

Nissan and VW both have longstanding ties to Mexico, with plants in Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca (Nissan) and Puebla (VW). Nissan assembles its small cars like the Versa in Mexico and its larger truck and SUV lines in Smyrna, Georgia. VW imports all its vehicles into the U.S., though it will be opening a new plant in Tennessee.

Mercedes-Benz assembles its ML-, R- and G-Class vehicles in Vance, Alabama, with a U.S./Canadian parts content of 62 percent, but both its engines and transmissions are unsurprisingly sourced from Germany. BMW, meanwhile, assembles its X-series SUVs in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with mostly German componentry.

Electric carmaker Tesla's bodywork is completed by Lotus in England, and then shipped to California for assembly. It will jointly develop electric cars with Toyota at the NUMMI plant in Northern California.

It's a little surprising that some excellent automotive products are born of such a mix and muddle of production systems. But today's intertwined global economy – and car market – ensures that no matter where it comes from, today's cars mostly are built to high standards.

Otherwise, Americans wouldn't buy them.

LINK:

http://autos.aol.com/article/is-your-car-really-american/

[CSpec]

Wow, great conclusion!

[SAmadei]

Kill the chicken tax, and watch how fast Mercedes, BMW, Toyota and Nissan drop those US plants.

I still feel that its all about where the money ultimately ends... so Ford, GM and Chrysler are, for now, still American and the rest aren't.

[Drew Dowdell]

Linden NJ baby.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Impala (Oshawa, ON)

Engine: Tonawanda, NY

Transmission: Warren, MI

Malibu (Fairfax, KS)

Engine: Tonawanda, NY

Transmission: Windsor, ON

Cobalt (Lordstown, OH)

Engine: Tonawanda, NY

Transmission: Warren, MI

[balthazar]

The prevalent emphasis on point of assembly pales in comparison to the 'citizenship' of the Company, and always has, IMO.

BTW : my vehicles: Flint MI, Wilmington DE, Linden NJ, Pontiac MI, unknown US Ford plant.

[Intrepidation]

Intrepid (Brampton, ON)

Prizm (NUMMI, CA)

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Ninety Eight: Orion Assembly is a General Motors assembly plant located in Orion Township, Michigan. It commenced production on December 1, 1983 with the 1985 model C-body cars.[1] The plant is 94.12 acres (381,000 m2) in size and employed 2,634 hourly and 195 salaried workers as of 2007.[2] It produced the Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6 until 2009, when it was idled under the GM bankruptcy. Under a new agreement with the UAW, the plant will begin assembling the next generation Chevrolet Aveo subcompact in 2011[3], and the Buick Verano compact sedan in 2011 or 2012[4]. In the past, GM would assemble subcompact vehicles in low-cost labor countries such as Mexico or out of their GM Daewoo subsidiary in South Korea. Under the new agreement with the UAW, GM will use lower cost labor and slimmed down labor rules to make assembling subcompact vehicles in the US competitive. This was in response to GM's previous plan to import their new subcompact from China. Orion township and the State of Michigan offered competitive tax breaks to keep the plant open and to build the new subcompact. Orion's bid was selected over other bids from plants in Wisconsin and Tennessee.

Toronado: Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles (5 km) from corporate headquarters and has been used for production of Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac products.

[Cory Wolfe]

Mexico, baby!

[pow]

IMO it's all about where the manufacturer invests their profits. Some say that buying a Toyota is writing a check straight to Japan, but the Japanese government doesn't own Toyota, and as a multinational corporation, they're free to use their money however they see fit. These days, it's making more and more sense for Toyota, Honda, and Nissan to design, engineer, and manufacture certain vehicles (big ones) exclusively in the US. In the process, they've directly created tens of thousands of jobs.

With multinational corporations, it's hard to tell who benefits from whom. When Hans buys his Opel Insignia in Russelsheim, he helps the German economy more than the US one, even though GM is registered in the US. And GM sells more cars in China than in the US now; who's to say they won't start investing more in China than in the US?

Edited October 13, 2010 by pow

[Cory Wolfe]

And GM sells more cars in China than in the US now; who's to say they won't start investing more in China than in the US?

Some would say they already do.

[pow]

Some would say they already do.

Yep, and when Li Xiaojie buys her Shanghai Tongyong Qiche Bieke Yinglang, as an American I don't really benefit from that transaction. Maybe I will once after November's IPO...

[CSpec]

IMO it's all about where the manufacturer invests their profits. Some say that buying a Toyota is writing a check straight to Japan, but the Japanese government doesn't own Toyota, and as a multinational corporation, they're free to use their money however they see fit. These days, it's making more and more sense for Toyota, Honda, and Nissan to design, engineer, and manufacture certain vehicles (big ones) exclusively in the US. In the process, they've directly created tens of thousands of jobs.

With multinational corporations, it's hard to tell who benefits from whom. When Hans buys his Opel Insignia in Russelsheim, he helps the German economy more than the US one, even though GM is registered in the US. And GM sells more cars in China than in the US now; who's to say they won't start investing more in China than in the US?

This is an anachronistic analysis to bother undertaking. Globalization means all (enlightened) economies are connected. Does it matter that someone in Alabama benefits more from a plant there than someone in Idaho?

[Drew Dowdell]

This is an anachronistic analysis to bother undertaking. Globalization means all (enlightened) economies are connected. Does it matter that someone in Alabama benefits more from a plant there than someone in Idaho?

Globalization is the averaging of wealth. As the richest country in the world, that means we have no where to go but down.

[CSpec]

Globalization is the averaging of wealth. As the richest country in the world, that means we have no where to go but down.

As a share of global GDP, you are correct. However in absolute terms globalization enlarges the pie for everyone. It is a good thing that other countries are producing a larger share of the world's wealth: look at the millions of people lifted out of destitution and desperate poverty over the past few years, while we in the US enjoy cheaper and a wider variety of goods than ever before. The pie is not fixed.

[balthazar]

>>"As the richest country in the world, that means we have no where to go but down. "<<

And we're seeing this already, aren't we.

Anyone read of the passed house 'pay parity' bill that will force employers to prove pay disparity between genders isn't based at all on gender?

There certainly are instances where this is warranted (as well as many that are not), but without getting into all that, the long-term end result is NOT going to be the raising of women's wages to match men's, but the other way around.

>>"we in the US enjoy cheaper and a wider variety of goods than ever before."<<

That's the depth of the issue IYO; the price of junk on shelves in the U.S. ??

Edited October 13, 2010 by balthazar

[Drew Dowdell]

As a share of global GDP, you are correct. However in absolute terms globalization enlarges the pie for everyone. It is a good thing that other countries are producing a larger share of the world's wealth: look at the millions of people lifted out of destitution and desperate poverty over the past few years, while we in the US enjoy cheaper and a wider variety of goods than ever before. The pie is not fixed.

What happens when the smaller slice of the larger pie is actually smaller than the larger slice of the smaller pie?

[CSpec]

>>"we in the US enjoy cheaper and a wider variety of goods than ever before."<<

That's the depth of the issue IYO; the price of junk on shelves in the U.S. ??

While there is certainly more "junk" out there (read: lower priced alternatives that poorer people might prefer), there is also much more high quality merchandise. Look at the build quality and reliability of cars these days, for example.

[balthazar]

In all sorts of general categories of manufactured goods, in my experience quality has gone down, not up.

My kingdom for a portable radio/CD player that gets excellent reception and LASTS. The '38 Zenith TransOceanic I sold a few years ago sure did.

I place longevity FAR higher on my criteria list than many others, who have been conditioned to accept the manufactured concept of ''it's obsolete in 6-12 months" to mask MUCH poorer build quality.

[CSpec]

In all sorts of general categories of manufactured goods, in my experience quality has gone down, not up.

My kingdom for a portable radio/CD player that gets excellent reception and LASTS. The '38 Zenith TransOceanic I sold a few years ago sure did.

I place longevity FAR higher on my criteria list than many others, who have been conditioned to accept the manufactured concept of ''it's obsolete in 6-12 months" to mask MUCH poorer build quality.

A quick Google search shows that a 1957 TransOceanic cost $200 when new, or $1,550 today. How many people value radios that highly? Surely you can find a boutique radio craftsman or something that still makes very expensive radios in the traditional style. However, for the vast majority of people who don't care, the $5 radio at Walmart works fine for their purposes. Having the choice is what globalization is all about.

[Drew Dowdell]

A quick Google search shows that a 1957 TransOceanic cost $200 when new, or $1,550 today. How many people value radios that highly? Surely you can find a boutique radio craftsman or something that still makes very expensive radios in the traditional style. However, for the vast majority of people who don't care, the $5 radio at Walmart works fine for their purposes. Having the choice is what globalization is all about.

uhm.... what?

You could buy cheap radios in 1957 too...

"In 1955, Raytheon's 8-TR-1 was priced at $80 (approximately $425 in 1994 USD).^[/url] Sony's TR-63, released in December 1957 cost $39.95. Following the success of the TR-63 the Japanese companies continued to make their transistor radios smaller. Coupled by the extremely low labor costs in Japan, the Japanese transistor radios began selling for as low as $25. In 1962 American manufacturers dropped prices of transistor radios to as low as $15.

Oh look... it happened in 1957 too.... American's came up with something and then cheap foreign labor supplied foreign competition came in and destroyed the jobs in the U.S........ but hey, even thought we lost our jobs, we got transistor radios at 50% off! Yay! We're all richer... or we would be if we had jobs to be able buy those cheap radios.

[CSpec]

Oh look... it happened in 1957 too.... American's came up with something and then cheap foreign labor supplied foreign competition came in and destroyed the jobs in the U.S........ but hey, even thought we lost our jobs, we got transistor radios at 50% off! Yay! We're all richer... or we would be if we had jobs to be able buy those cheap radios.

Hmm, I seem to have forgotten the period of American history when unemployment was 100% for 50 years. The fact that living standards and material wealth in the US increased a breakneck speed in the 50s and 60s must just be a coincidence.

[Drew Dowdell]

Do you not see a possibility, ever, that we outsource/offshore too much?

Do you not see a tipping point where the pace of off shoring exceeds the pace of new domestic job creation?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've destroyed our own ability to produce things, something like a volcano erupts and disrupts global trade?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've destroyed our own ability to produce things, oil goes over $140 a barrel and it's no longer profitable to ship crap from China to the U.S.?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've pissed off China over something, they torpedo our currency with the 1.4 trillion or so dollars they have in reserves?

Can you not see that EVER happening?

Thank you folks....

Next up, CSpec will post a graph of how manufacturing output in the U.S. has increased while at the same time ignoring that the number of manufactured goods imported into the U.S. completely eclipses that number many times over.

[CSpec]

Do you not see a possibility, ever, that we outsource/offshore too much?

Why does offshoring happen?

Do you not see a tipping point where the pace of off shoring exceeds the pace of new domestic job creation?

Nope.

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've destroyed our own ability to produce things, something like a volcano erupts and disrupts global trade?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've destroyed our own ability to produce things, oil goes over $140 a barrel and it's no longer profitable to ship crap from China to the U.S.?

It could happen, and then you would see how much richer trade makes us when division of labor is forced into a suboptimal equilibrium where overqualified people mindlessly assemble Barbies.

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've pissed off China over something, they torpedo our currency with the 1.4 trillion or so dollars they have in reserves?

Why would they do that? Also keep in mind that China holds almost exactly the same amount of US T-bonds as Japan does.

Next up, CSpec will post a graph of how manufacturing output in the U.S. has increased while at the same time ignoring that the number of manufactured goods imported into the U.S. completely eclipses that number many times over.

Well since you concede that US manufacturing output is at its height of all time, no need. Keep in mind that this article is about the growing number of foreign-owned automotive plants in the US.

[A Horse With No Name]

Do you not see a possibility, ever, that we outsource/offshore too much?

Do you not see a tipping point where the pace of off shoring exceeds the pace of new domestic job creation?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've destroyed our own ability to produce things, something like a volcano erupts and disrupts global trade?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've destroyed our own ability to produce things, oil goes over $140 a barrel and it's no longer profitable to ship crap from China to the U.S.?

Do you not see the possibility of economic catastrophe when, after we've pissed off China over something, they torpedo our currency with the 1.4 trillion or so dollars they have in reserves?

Can you not see that EVER happening?

Thank you folks....

Next up, CSpec will post a graph of how manufacturing output in the U.S. has increased while at the same time ignoring that the number of manufactured goods imported into the U.S. completely eclipses that number many times over.

You ever wonder if loki and CSPEC are perhaps the same person...nahh...that isn't giving enough credit to loki.

Chris