Add to those the familiar Detroit nameplates coming from plants in Canada and Mexico and it’s easy to see how confusing it can be for consumers leaning toward the purchase of an “American” car. Which is the more American product, a Honda Accord built by Ohioans for a company with its headquarters in Japan, or a Ford Fusion built in Mexico for a corporation that is based in Michigan?
Among the so-called transplants — foreign automakers who produce vehicles in the United States — Toyota leads in production. Last year it built more vehicles in the United States than Chrysler, although the margin was small — only about 11,000 vehicles. Honda was the first Japanese automaker to start building vehicles in the United States when its Accords began rolling off the assembly line in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982. In the ’80s and ’90s the Big Three began building more vehicles in Canada and Mexico.
Of course the window sticker of a new vehicle lists its domestic content, including the origin of its engine and transmission, but the intricacies of the North American Free Trade Act and the American Automobile Labeling Act can muddle details on parts from Canada and Mexico.
But “domestic content” is not domestic at all. For the purposes of the window sticker, the government has decided that domestic content will include parts made in Canada. Under the North American Free Trade Act, domestic is even less clear because it also includes Mexico.
Meanwhile, the labor of autoworkers assembling the vehicles is excluded from the calculation. Therefore, foreign carmakers with assembly plants in the United States are penalized because they cannot factor in the value of their American workers’ labor.
Reporting the origin of the engine and transmission is also tricky. Take Honda’s engine plant in Anna, Ohio. Although the engine of the Acura RDX is made there, Japan is listed as the country of origin. That is because one expensive part, the turbocharger, is imported from Japan (and installed by Ohio workers).
Readers can find a listing of all the vehicles built in North America, with the origins of their engines and transmissions and whether the factory is unionized, in an interactive graphic posted online. It includes production data supplied by the automakers. The information is current as of the publication date, but is likely to change in coming months.
