Made in America

[destrekor]

Neat infographic/article in Car and Driver

Contrary to popular belief, America still builds cars—a lot of them. Nearly 8 million cars and trucks came out of  U.S. plants last year. Step back and look at the entire North American continent, and production adds up to more than 12 million units. But even if a vehicle is made by an American company by American workers, it’s not necessarily an American car, at least according to our government. By Uncle Sam’s reckoning, if  75 percent (by value) or more of a car’s parts come from the U.S. or Canada, it’s considered a domestic product; less than that, and it’s not. The maps here tell you not only where your North American–made car is built, but just how American it really is.

Article: Domestic Bliss

I'll save the massive post and not include the image.
The article on the website is actually a more enjoyable format than the magazine format (which a PDF of the original article is also available on the site, btw). The map background of the pdf does serve the intended "map" concept a bit better, can hardly tell what's going on in the small map on the website.

I'm happy to see the two Jeeps (and 1 Dodge on the same platform) built here in Toledo are roughly 80% American.

 

[Throckmorton]

I'm surprised by some of those numbers. The Mustang is only 65% American parts, and the Honda Accord is 80%?? Must be that Chinese transmission bringing the Mustang down

 

[ElFenix]

the pre-2011 mustang had an engine from germany (v6) and transmissions from france (autos). V8 was from the US and manuals from mexico.

i wonder if this uses 2011 mustang data?

 

[destrekor]

the pre-2011 mustang had an engine from germany (v6) and transmissions from france (autos). V8 was from the US and manuals from mexico.

i wonder if this uses 2011 mustang data?

Well parts outside of the U.S. and Canada are factored against the percentage, as in, not domestic.

So, yes, just because a vehicle has parts made outside of the U.S., doesn't mean those parts are cheap parts. But it still makes the vehicle "less domestic", not necessarily being a good or bad thing, but a statistic nonetheless.

A half American, half European car (Ameripean), or an Ameripan (USA/Japan) car, might actually just be a better vehicle than a full American car. The reverse might be true. I will support and give praise for the vehicles that are truly domestic (especially my hometown-hero Jeep assembly plant)... but I'm still going for whatever car fits my needs and performs well and is built to hopefully last. I refuse to buy strictly American everything... for what I can I do, but I just buy what is best for my uses and income.

 

[TraumaRN]

The only thing that I think is wonky is that Uncle Sam counts Canada as domestic but not Mexico. What's Mexico the beaten red-headed step child?

 

[PottedMeat]

Cool chart.

Wilmington Delaware: 2014 Fisker Nina 75,000

Hmm why bother putting that in the list and isn't 75,000 a pretty generous estimate?


Interesting how the Ford Explorer is the only one up with 85%+ domestic parts content.

 

[EightySix Four]

Cool chart.



Hmm why bother putting that in the list and isn't 75,000 a pretty generous estimate?


Interesting how the Ford Explorer is the only one up with 85%+ domestic parts content.

Yeah, that's pretty weird that they included Wilmington. That was where GM used to build the Sky and Solstice twins.

 

[fbrdphreak]

LOL at Chevy Aveo with 2% domestic parts content

And another LOL with the Camry having more domestic parts than the Mustang.

DEY TOOK UR JAHBZ!

 

[TehMac]

The only thing that I think is wonky is that Uncle Sam counts Canada as domestic but not Mexico. What's Mexico the beaten red-headed step child?

Unions. Unions help pay certain Uncle Sam politicos and keep them in office...

 

[evident]

:thumbsup: for the accord being made in the USA!

 

[desy]

Canada is treated the same because we have the Autopact, which if memory serves was setup to manufacture cars in Canada by the big 3 and we weren't allowed to setup our own competing car companies giving them market exclusivity.

 

[Lizardman]

Cool chart.



Hmm why bother putting that in the list and isn't 75,000 a pretty generous estimate?


Interesting how the Ford Explorer is the only one up with 85%+ domestic parts content.

I live across the street from that plant. They are not making shit yet.

The state gave them big tax breaks to build the refurb the plant, but so far nothing but security guards wondering around.

 

[ElFenix]

Well parts outside of the U.S. and Canada are factored against the percentage, as in, not domestic.

right, but iirc the 3.7 is assembled in the US and the V8 is in canada so i think the fraction of 'north american' parts has now gone up in the mustang. that's why i wonder if they're using old data. because the 2009, with its german engine and french transmission, was 60%.

 

[Pariah]

Interesting how the Ford Explorer is the only one up with 85%+ domestic parts content.

What's even more interesting is that is uses 90% domestic parts if it is built in Louisville, but 85% if in Chicago. It's not like Chicago and Louisville are that far apart. Why are they using different sourced parts?

Number of cars with 80% or more domestic parts:

Toyota - 4
Honda - 1
Mitsubishi - 1

GM - 0

 

[ShawnD1]

Number of cars with 80% or more domestic parts:

Toyota - 4
Honda - 1
Mitsubishi - 1

GM - 0

80% or higher:
***
Honda Accord
***
Ford Explorer
Mercury Mountaineer
Ford Focus
***
Mitsubishi Eclipse
***
Toyota Camry
Toyota Sequoia
Toyota Avalon
Toyota Tundra
***
Dodge Dakota
Dodge Nitro
Dodge Caravan
Chrysler Town & Country
***
GMC Savana
***

What shawn already knows:
Corolla from California = 35% :'(
Corolla from Ontario = 35% :'(


Comments at the bottom are funny:

Interesting the Toyota Tundra is the only full size "American made" truck.

 

[exdeath]

Take whatever part that was made in Mexico, China, Japan, whatever, open it up. You'll see Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments, etc, all American technology baby. Don't care if the plastic box and rivets say made in China, means jack shit.

 

[Throckmorton]

Take whatever part that was made in Mexico, China, Japan, whatever, open it up. You'll see Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments, etc, all American technology baby. Don't care if the plastic box and rivets say made in China, means jack shit.

And the chips, boards, and wires are all made in China. Soon all the R&D will be there and India too...

 

[fbrdphreak]

Take whatever part that was made in Mexico, China, Japan, whatever, open it up. You'll see Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments, etc, all American technology baby. Don't care if the plastic box and rivets say made in China, means jack shit.

And the chips, boards, and wires are all made in China. Soon all the R&D will be there and India too...

And Intel has an important R&D center in Israel. I expect the other companies have non-US facilities like that as well.

Pretty much no company operates solely within U.S. borders, even if you exclude manufacturing. It is what it is these days.

 

[Throckmorton]

And Intel has an important R&D center in Israel. I expect the other companies have non-US facilities like that as well.

Pretty much no company operates solely within U.S. borders, even if you exclude manufacturing. It is what it is these days.

Israel is fine with me, they're competing fairly on wages. But moving every damn factory to China is nothing but a race to the bottom. Even the Taiwanese companies are outsourcing their production to China...