Cars.com Releases 2009 American-Made Index

There’s a new king of the American-Made Index, and it’s going to ruffle some feathers — especially in today’s charged automotive landscape. Cars.com editor Kelsey Mays spends a good chunk of his summer compiling this thoroughly researched list, which takes into account both cars’ domestic-parts content and their assembly location.

It offers a clear picture of which cars are truly American. Who’s No. 1? You’ll have to check out the full story to find out, but Toyota has four vehicles on the list, GM three and Ford two.

As always, feel free to comment on the list below.

Cars.com American-Made Index

Comments

I don't think this list will surprise many people as most folks already suspected or knew Toyota was more American than GM. What you'll probably get is a lot of Kool Aid drinkers who will question the validity of the list as they don't like to accept the truth.

No Dave, its not about the list, its about the overall domestic content. As the article says, the bottom of the list is dominated by European and Asian makes. IN addition, the fact that they would not rank models that will be discontinued automatically pushed numerous domestics off the list. IN addition, they only counted US made vehicles which excludes the Impala and other domestics that have high levels of domestic content. You can set up the rules any way you want to get the result you want. Dont forget SALES are also one of their criteria which helps models like the Camry rise to the top. Its not a straight up list of most domestic models- otherwise I suspect the corvette would be very close to the top.

That's it! I'm never buying a Toyota again! American made, hunk of junk! Imports rule, domestics drool!

:)

Seriously, what does domestic or import even mean anymore? Toyota manufacturers and designs in US. Ford and GM import more stuff from Europe. All auto companies share parts from the same suppliers and between companies from around the world. This isn't even a new situation, it has been going on for decades.
It really just isn't reasonable to make sweeping statements about domestic vs. import anymore, but I don't expect that to stop the flamewars on here anyway...

the lines are blurred but the fact remains that each automaker employs far more in their home country than abroad. Toyota has a few factories in the US but its economic footprint is MUCH larger in Japan and thats where MOST of its vehicles are designed and engineered- even the ones assembled here.

I agree with you 100%, Dan. The entire Honda/Toyota vs. Ford/GM crap is completely pointless. Buy what you like, and be content with it. Just don't try to push your views onto others (Mainly Dave & OS), because you're just wasting energy.

Follow the money.

You can build it here all you want, but if the profits are going off shore are we really benefiting from that domestic presence?

Uh, OS,
Toyota still sells more cars in the U.S. then in Japan.

Ralphie,
Just ask the millions of Americans who draw a paycheck from foreign companies if they are benefiting. Would you rather work for GM who between 2006 and today laid-off 50,000 US workers or Toyota who during the same time period laid-off zero US workers. The answer is obvious.

The relevancy of this index is essentially meaningless when you incorporate a sales-weighted average. Hypothetically, how does selling 200,000 model X with 95% domestic content any less American-made than selling 400,000 model Y with 80% domestic content. Why don't you just publish a database of final assembly location and parts content, just like what's on the window stickers, as that is more informative to people than this index.

The data is tainted, the data is tainted!!!! LOL The domestic kool aid drinkers are the first to claim "foul".

H,
You mean like the chart halfway down in the story itself?!

I mean a database of all vehicles available in the US.

H,
That information is not easily compiled or stored in one location I believe. I can check for you though.

DaveT:

Yes I'm aware of that- the US market is far larger. Not sure how that contradicts what I said. The majority of Toyota's design work is done in Japan and many of the vehicles is SELLS here are made in Japan. Understand what I'm saying now? Toyota has far more employees and a larger design/engineering footprint in Japan.

Billy:

Please dont confuse me with an ignoramus like Dave W. I don't go around mindlessly bashing imports. I used to drive a Legacy. Japanese cars are perfectly adequate in most cases- but so are domestics. The real issue isn't about me making claims of domestic superiority- I merely talk about parity and people get mad.

Dave W.

Even after layoffs GM employes many, many more workers in the US than Toyota. Let me know when Toyota moves its design and engineering headquarters to the US. Only a few import automakers have design facilties here and even the ones that do give those branches limited responsibilities- primarily for a few US only products. There is more to employment than factory workers.

There is no doubt that the Japanese employ a lot of Americans- but that still doesnt mean they match the impact of a downsized big three. They know Americans (like yourself) are easily distracted and fooled and thats why they opened a few plants here and declared themselves American. Is GM Brazilian for making cars in Brazil? Is Ford Mexican since it makes the Fusion in Mexico?

How did the Venza make the 10 ten list when its not a volume seller? Where do the CTS and lambda crossovers rank. I suspect if the lambdas were counted as one vehicle they would be in the top 10 but I suppose individually they dont have enough sales to qualify- which is why a sales rated average skews the results.

Also, I believe the Aveo is made in Mexico, not south korea.

Don't get while soon to vanish models are not on the list if they are on sale today. The Aura is going to be in production for 2 more years so my by count it should still be represented on the list of top domestic content vehicles.

Watch out! The Japanese are out to distract and fool us. It's a part of their global domination plan.

Wait..wait. I know - Obama is part of the conspiracy too by socializing the u s auto industry he is aiding the japanese. Boy have I been fooled by buying a toyota.

actually ziggy in the long run Chapter 11 is going to hurt the Japanese, not help them. While Obama is a huge Toyota fan based on his oft mentioned admiration for hybrids, he is also a believer in US industry which is why he wanted to help the automakers. What has happened this year will only make the US automakers far more lean and less burdened by debt. They will be better able to compete once the market recovers. Also, the debts and legacies they are shedding mean they can price cars more aggressively.

I only say we should be as mindful of what we are buying as the Japanese are. Wont find a lot of US or European cars in Japan. Toyota has like 45% of the market there. I read that the Japanese automakers have 90% of the market. ANd please dont tell me thats because no one but the Japanese can make a car competent enough to attract Japanese customers. I don't buy that.

OS
The list is an equation of parts content and sales, so Venza had decent sales and a pretty high parts content pushing it onto the top ten.

Overall,
As to why we factor in sales, that's the list folks. Otherwise we'd just be regurgitating parts content numbers. This makes it more of an intriguing list.

Also speaking of Venza it was entirely designed in the US at Toyota's U.S. design center in California.

Why some are arguing about Toyota like it's a living breathing evil doer is beyond me. It's like saying you wouldn't buy a Sony TV because they're based in Japan. Or a PS3. At least Toyota and the others do manufacture in the U.S. and employ many workers throughout the country. Most appliances you buy at Wal-Mart can't say that.

Ziggy,
Very funny posts and oh so true. Once the Kool Aid starts flowing there's no stopping it.

I always knew Americans were able to manufacture reliable vehicles for its domestic and global markets. Thanks Toyota and Honda for validating that. Also, keep in mind that Toyota and other foreign automakers spend a lot of its R&D where their vehicles are manufactured and purchased; it’s called listening to your consumers and giving them what they want. Now that’s money well spent. I predict that as the dollar gets weaker, we’ll be seeing a higher US content in all vehicles.

Dave, please don't lump this comment with OS--he is all over the map and seems immune from reason. However, he accidently made a good point.

The title shouldn't be American-made index. Based on the criteria stated in the article, that isn't what you are measuring. By weighting the criteria based on the volume of sales, you seem to be measuring American's Made. It seems the index is making a guess at how many Americans are involved with the production of each model. Based on sales volume, parts content, and assembly, Toyota employs more people making the Camry than Ford does the F-150. Of course, this measure of American's Made would continue to have unknown errors built into it--the number of parts could vary or the mechanization of the assembly process.

In contrast, when I think of which cars are 'truly American,' I think of comparing 2 cars and asking: who makes most of these cars and where are they made? Volume of overall sales shouldn't be factored in. Take 2 cars, A and B. A is 85% US parts, assembled in the US, and has an annual volume of 50,000. B is 76% US parts, assembled in Mexico, and has an annual volume of, say, 200,000. Depending on how you are including volume, B could be more American's Made (more people employed) than A while A is more American Made than B.

Dr. Methods:

Actually I'm in the same general area on the map. If you are a thinking person you should have no problem understanding what I am saying. I'm presenting facts, even if you don't like them. The fact is that American automakers have more plants, more engineers, more designers and more employees in America. Period. This doesn't take anything away from the jobs created by the Japanese in the US but it still a fact. I find it interesting that Dave T and this site in general seems hell bent on convincing people that there is no difference between American automakers and JApanese automakers with regard to economic impact. IF you want to tell people no to care where a manufacturer is located and buy what they want that is fine. But don't create lists (and excuses)that try to convince folks that Toyota is more "American" than GM or Ford. Not true. Toyota imports 40% of its volume from Japan and the remaining 60% is split between the US and Canada. I don't know that they break out US only production. The RAV4, RX350 and perhaps a few other models come from Canada.

Dr. Methods has hit on a valid point- this list does not allow consumers to see which cars support the US economy the most- instead it tries to estimate which vehicles have the greatest overall impact on the US economy by factoring in sales. So a vehicle with 75% content and 300k sales is going to rank higher than a vehicle with 85% content and 150k sales. Why not offer a list ranking vehicles in terms of domestic content only for those who want to buy based on that criteria? As I said, numerous vehicles made in the US and containing lots of domestic content are not shown due to sales. If we add up the lambda sales (which surely exceed Pilot sales) I'm sure they would rank very high. The Edge is automatically excluded because its built in Canada. CTS is excluded based on volume.

Ken L:

The % of Toyotas built in the US depends on gas prices. If gas prices go up you can expect imports (Prius, Scions, Yaris, some Corollas) to increase and domestic production of minivans and trucks to decrease. The only US built Toyota products that would really benefit from higher gas prices are camry and Corolla. Virtually everything else they build here would languish with $4 a gallon gas and last year their % of imports was about 45% due to the high prices he had for much of the year. One reason their share of domestically produced vehicles has increased this year is that Prius sales have tumbled.

OS
YOU'RE ASSUMING that the 85% with 150K sales would be less. I don't know if that is the case. I will look into the figures. If you look at the top ten parts content list you'll note the vehicles are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. That's why we added the sales figure.

Also by the list you'd have the outgoing Taurus #1, which won't be on sale in a month.
The Toyota Sienna would then still be tied for #1 with the Lincoln MKS.

I think adding the sales figures shows a bigger impact of these models on the market besides just how many Americans are employed because of them. Plus, we still mandate a certain level of parts content.

No really feeling everyone's argument.

"Also speaking of Venza it was entirely designed in the US at Toyota's U.S. design center in California."

If you are referring to exterior styling then yes it was entirely designed in the US. If you are referring to the engineering of this car then your statement is inaccurate.

"Why some are arguing about Toyota like it's a living breathing evil doer is beyond me."

Look back at the comments. Nobody is saying Toyota or any other Japanese company is evil. In fact I'm glad Toyota chooses to use high levels of domestic content (unlike European transplants). What you see are people looking at this list and questioning the basis of your methodology.

"Also, keep in mind that Toyota and other foreign automakers spend a lot of its R&D where their vehicles are manufactured and purchased"

Marketing and focus groups mainly. The true research and development is still done in Japan.

H,
I wouldn't say it's a large group questioning the list. It seems the same 3 or 4 people always complain about nearly everything in the comments. The feedback we've gotten so far on this from nearly all quarters has been extremely positive, and that there is value to it. You have your right to your opinion but on a blog the negative comments always get posted more than the positive ones.

Thank you H.

DAve T:

By using nameplates only instead of platform mates (escape/mariner, Lambdas for example) you automatically exclude lots of products that have high US content. For the purposes of this type of list I think vehicles built on the same platform at the same US factory should count as one entity if this is really about measuring the American impact. Also, why are the camry hybrid and Solara excluded from the Camry's figures when Toyota makes no such distinction in their sales figures? I suspect the Camry hybrid's domestic content is FAR lower than the gas only model.

In addition, not creating separate lists per segment leaves out low volume but very American vehicles like the Vette and CTS. What about a top 3 per segment? How many imports would make the list for luxury vehicles or small cars? Not many.

The fact that all of the Detroit 3 have a larger Canadian and Mexican presence than Toyota and Honda (for numerous reasons) automatically means any list with US only plants is going to be favorable to the Japanese. I agree US assembly is a plus but many vehicles assembled in Canada have high US content.

I really would like to know how the Venza qualified based on sales but cars like the CTS or Acadia or Cobalt did not. Don't those vehicles match or exceed Venza sales? We already know the G6 would be on the top 10 but it was excluded even though its still available and will be for months.

H,
What source can you site to back up your statement that Toyota didn't engineer the Venza in the USA? You claim to know where Toyota and "other foreign automakers" spend their "true" R&D dollars. This is proprietary info, what is your source?

OS,
the list is THOROUGHLY researched. Those models either didn't have the minimum parts content or not enough to beat out venza. The venza is on the top ten of parts content period and outsells some vehicles ahead of it like the MKS etc. Trust me, this list isn't thrown together lightly.

The CTS and Edge only have 70% domestic parts and the cobalt has 71% while the Venza has 80% domestic parts. I think the cut off was 75%.

Earlier it was said, "Dr. Methods has hit on a valid point- this list does not allow consumers to see which cars support the US economy the most." Actually, that is opposite of what I was saying. I said the index is a measure of macro level support of the American economy. I was suggesting that people might read the list as, if I want to buy an American car, I should buy xyz. While the list is comprised of American made vehicles based on content and plant location, the ordering is influenced by macro level factors.

I think the list is a great idea--especially the timing of its release. I was simply suggesting a tweeking of the methodology to more accurately fit people's expectations of what the list probably means.

Thanks for the clarification Dr. M!

What about the Michigan built Lambda crossovers? They are under 75% domestic content? I am curious.

Again, when you tweak the requirements you can get whatever list you want. Since 75% is the arbitrary cut off models that outsell the Venza and have slighly less domestic content are excluded. Since sales are important is it logical to say a Venza with 5k monthly sales and 80% content is better for the economy than a Cobalt with 71% content and 13k monthly sales? Does not compute to me. The same way there was an absolute cut off for domestic content there should have been one for monthly sales.

Dave Wuss:

H is correct. Most design duties in the US are concentrated on exterior design. The Venza's platform and mechanicals are shared with numerous other Toyota/Lexus products that were designed in Japan. You wont hear of any engines, transmissions or key mechancial systems being designed in the US by foreign automakers. They have no need for those services here.

Original sheth,
Honda's largest engine and transmission building plants in the world are located in Ohio. They build over 1 million V6 and four cylinder engines every year, along with 800,000 transmissions. They are designed and built in America by Americans and they do great work. I know because I worked there.

I understand the different points of view. I could build a kit car and it would 100% made in the USA, but the impact in the economy would be almost nothing, because I have built only one.

Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, BMW, Hyunday build cars in the USA but they still import a lot of component, same can be said of American companies when they send components to Canada or Mexico to build things.

In Spain there is a small company called Santana Motors.. this company can sell Land Rover Defender cars look alikes but in separate components and they can be mounted in a different country, specially 3rd world countries with a huge import tax in car... but not in components...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santana_Motors

R12:

Where is Honda's US engine design facility located? Never heard of it. I know Honda and Toyota and Nissan build some engines here. They also import engines- particularly Toyota. There's lots of PRODUCTION here by the transplants- not much design and engineering. This is one reason why their levels of US employment are far lower than the Detroit 3 in spite of their hefty sales here. Almost every Asian automaker has some sort of design studio here in the US- that is different from an engineering center that can do a full new vehicle design.

I just read that Honda has 1300 employees in the US that work on US product design and engineering. Not bad, but far less than its domestic competitors. I dont see anything about US employees designing new engines or transmissions.

http://hondanews.com/categories/1091/releases/2049

http://hondanews.com/categories/1169/releases/4042

7 of 21 Honda/Acura models (including ZDX which is not on sale) were developed in the US. naturally most of those 7 are large vehicles like the Ridgeline and MDX which arent sold elsewhere to my knowledge.

With

With the unemployment rate at almost 10%, what I don’t get is why OS and some of you are trying to discredit and dismiss the American men and women working in foreign owned plants as insignificant to the US economy? At this time, we should all be glad that cars like the Camry, Accord, etc. are using more and more US content along with the American Labor force. I bet OS and others would wholeheartedly support companies like GM designing their cars and trucks in America, and then having them manufactured in China, Mexico or any other country with cheap labor, then importing them for sale and profits. Understand that this is about the importance of the US Market to all the major players in the industry (Toyota, Honda, BMW, Nissan, Mercedes, Hyundai, etc.) It’s not only about the Detroit 3, since their decisions have resulted in where they today.

Also, keep in mind that it takes thousands of American employees to work in and around a plant (everyone from Janitors all the way up to Managers and the truck drivers that deliver the raw materials), whereas cars designers are usually formed in small teams using AutoCAD or some other software connected to other design studios around the world. Engineers also work in a similar fashion like designers. I am not belittling either profession.

Hey, sales volume is also part of their equation so it really is a moot issue about percentage of American content.

terry,
the cars on the list all have to have a very high percentage of American content. It's the other factor in the whole equation. If this was all about sales the list would look quite different. Although I guess 1 and 2 would be the same.

There should be one list for "most American" and one list for "biggest impact on US economy" which is really what the much publicized list is trying to estimate based on sales and domestic content. Excluding cars made in canada as if they are as foreign as cars made in GErmany or Japan is a mistake in my book. Cars imported from those countries have minimal (if any) domestic content.

Dave T,
I don't know how you do it. It's clear that some people will never grasp the concept that we live and work in a global economy. Your past example about Walmart and electronics was excellent and right on the money. I hope you guys don't change the Winners/Losers and American Made Index lists as it separates your site from all of the others.

Dave

Dave W-

You're right on the money with that comment. Some people don't want to accept the whole world economy issue...especially when it comes to cars. They insist on driving a wedge between people on the domestic vs foreign issue. Face it...what GM does effects the whole world and what Toyota does effects the whole world. I think maybe it's because automobiles seem to be the last thing thats actually manufactured in america.