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How To Buy an American Car

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited July 2015 in General
imageHow To Buy an American Car

What is an American car? It's hard to say, because foreign carmakers such as BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota build some of their vehicles here. Domestic carmakers, meanwhile, assemble popular models in other countries and import them to the U.S.

Read the full story here


Comments

  • empoweredbcempoweredbc Member Posts: 50
    Edmunds didn't do a very good job of saying what cars actually top the list of "Most American" cars. They seem to have gotten confused while writing the article.

    Sounds like it's either the Toyota Avalon or the GM Large Crossover.
  • tempesting_tempesting_ Member Posts: 17
    The current Camaro is also designed by a S. Korean.
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    I can see how this might be important to people, but there's a difference between pride and well, being closed-minded. There's nothing wrong with supporting a local company, but the plants in Canada, Mexico, or Japan hire real human beings just like they do here in the United States. These people are trying to earn a living just like you and I, regardless of location. In my opinion, it would be wiser, as a consumer in a complex global economy, to spend time researching the business practices, attitudes, and reputations of the companies that you're thinking about buying from.
  • duck87duck87 Member Posts: 649
    Technically Chrysler is an American company as it's registered in Delaware (I believe); it is 60% owned by Fiat but until they actually merge, it's still considered American. Regardless, you should be buying a vehicle not only based on where and how it's built, but whether or not it's a quality product for the price. There's no point buying American or Korean or Japanese if any of the products suck.
  • frank908frank908 Member Posts: 48
    Yeah well, cut yourself a nice bouquet Canada because the Camaro is com'n back to the states with the next gen.

    Regardless of where it's assembled, I would never think otherwise as to who designed and engineered a car. My MINI CooperS is in German with a French engine. Never once do I think it is British just because the pieces were put together there.
  • lions208487lions208487 Member Posts: 240
    Subaru makes their Legacy in the TN, 60% of that car is built in the States, and the TN plant is the most ECO friendly in the US. However, the parent company is in Japan.

    Keep in mind the when people in the US, claim "American" they ignorantly seem to over look that North America includes Canada and yes, Mexico as well. Anything built in Mexico and Canada is also "American." Who cares what the perception is, as long as the majority of manufacturing and development occurs in the States, it's worth buying and thus supporting our economy. My parents just bought a TL, and guess what, that car too was manufactured in the US.

    Edmunds; as others wrote, why don't you provide the top 10 and the stats to back it up.
  • drcomputerdrcomputer Member Posts: 82
    So why isn't the Tesla Model S on this list?
  • subytrojan_2subytrojan_2 Member Posts: 79
    The Legacy, Outback and Tribeca are assembled in Lafayette, Indiana at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. Cool plant!

    http://www.subaru-sia.com/
  • frank908frank908 Member Posts: 48
    @lions208487; Who calls Canada or Mexico, America? No one. It's the continent, but it's not the country. The United States of America is what the government calls it. It's not called Canada of America or Mexico of America or Greenland of America, and if w
  • jorge05jorge05 Member Posts: 1
    An american car is only the one that comes from any of the following groups: GM, Ford or Chrysler or independent brands like Tesla (no matter whrere they are built or sold). Anything else is foreign, so beleiving that a Toyota or a Hyundai is american just because of its components or of the fact that is built in the USA completely wrong. In an american car, the big USD go to the USA, no matter where it´s built, sold or used and the little cents go to the foreign country and in a foreign car, even if it´s sold, built or used in the USA, the big USD go to Japan, Germany, etc. and the little cents remain in the USA. Financially talking (and I´m an expert in financial matters), it enters more money to the USA (in the form of taxes, tradings, etc.) from a Ford Focus sold, built and used in Spain than from a Toyota Camry sold, built and used in the USA.
  • stovt001_stovt001_ Member Posts: 799
    It can be hard to pin down what nationality a whole brand is. I think most people would identify Scion as a Japanese brand because its parent is Toyota and it started out selling cars that were originally JDM, but it exclusively sells in America. Yet people consider Vauxhall to be British, operating exclusively in the UK, even though it is owned by GM. Infiniti is Nissan owned, started out as an American-centric brand, but is growing internationally. I think most people link the nationality of a particular vehicle to the nationality of its brand, but brand nationality is so often just a fuzzy perception.
  • stovt001_stovt001_ Member Posts: 799
    And to that end, what do you do with identical, badge-engineered cars that are sold by brands of different nationalities, like the old Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, or Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute?
  • clachnitclachnit Member Posts: 35
    @drcomputer: We'll update the story to mention the Tesla Model S soon. For whatever reason, it wasn't even mentioned on the official AALA list that Edmunds consulted when researching the story. Thanks for the query.
    --Carroll Lachnit, features editor, Edm
  • pasaderapasadera Member Posts: 1
    Toyota is not based in Tokyo as stated in the article. Toyota is based in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan, as any good fact-checker could find in a 5 second Google search.
  • 500rwhp500rwhp Member Posts: 99
    edited July 2015

    Subaru makes their Legacy in the TN, 60% of that car is built in the States, and the TN plant is the most ECO friendly in the US. However, the parent company is in Japan.

    Keep in mind the when people in the US, claim "American" they ignorantly seem to over look that North America includes Canada and yes, Mexico as well. Anything built in Mexico and Canada is also "American." Who cares what the perception is, as long as the majority of manufacturing and development occurs in the States, it's worth buying and thus supporting our economy. My parents just bought a TL, and guess what, that car too was manufactured in the US.

    Edmunds; as others wrote, why don't you provide the top 10 and the stats to back it up.

    Nobody calls Canada "America". The US is known internationally as "America" and when people the world around hear "America the Beautiful" there is only one country that comes to mind. Any other argument is simply pedantic.
  • al2travelal2travel Member Posts: 13
    To Jorge05, so you would rather have the profit from the Ford, rather than the materials and wages bought and paid by the manufacturing of the Toyota?
    Must be a new math which I never learned, of course I'm not an "expert in financial matters".
  • scape2scape2 Member Posts: 4,123
    Ask yourself where is this company headquartered? which stock exchange? Look deeper at the transplants that ASSEMBLE not make the cars here in the U.S. Dig deeper and look at their tooling of the plant, the parts suppliers, the support of the plant. The media will not give the full story because they know Americans would be buying Fords/GM faster than they could build them. Think LONGTERM not shorterm in you purchase. Your very own economic future, this countries economic future depends on buying American products and services. EVERYONE is economically connected in this country.. Think about it..
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Hey @scape2, good to see you - been a while.
  • berriberri Member Posts: 10,165
    The media will not give the full story because they know Americans would be buying Fords/GM faster than they could build them.

    But the media gets advertising from most car companies, and likely more from the Detroit companies in US media. So why would the media pick on Detroit? It would be like shooting themselves in the foot.

    Everything is global in that industry now, including executives, plants, vendors, currencies and stockholders. In fact, I believe Fiat Chrysler now has it corporate HQs in either Britain or the Netherlands, neither of which is where they actually produce their cars. Meanwhile Toyota is developing and designing some vehicles and components in the US, including at a relatively new engineering facility in Ann Arbor, MI. Ford has engineers and plants in places like Britain and Germany, and has had them there for many years. Same goes for GM, which has also heavily expanded its presence into China, while Ford is doing the same in India.
  • norsk3norsk3 Member Posts: 1
    Who cares if it's American or whoever builds it. If the car has low maintenance and cheap to run WHO CARES! Let the competition rule who makes the best car! from whoever. If the car costs you to much in maintenance to run just because its american would you buy it?
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    A reporter is working on a story about car shoppers who are only interested in buying cars that are made in the USA. If you're one of these shoppers, and you'd like to talk about your experience shopping for American-made vehicles, please reach out to PR @edmunds.com by no later than Thursday, September 15, 2016.
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