The Most American Cars On The Road Today
It's hard to believe as we get ready to celebrate the nation's birthday today, but the most "American" car sold today is a Toyota, according to an annual study by Cars.com.
How is it possible? The website, a competitor to AOL Autos, ranks vehicles for their Americanness based on mashing up facts such as where the car is built, the percentage of parts sourced in the U.S. and total number of vehicles sold. When the website factors those together, a popular Toyota model edged out the Ford F150 pickup truck.
It is the fourth year in a row a Toyota has taken the top honor.
"When people think about buying an 'American' car, they might just think automatically of the Detroit Three," said Patrick Olsen, Editor in Chief at Cars.com. “"n reality, this classification isn’t as cut and dry as it used to be. Today, Fiat owns a majority stake in Chrysler, companies like Toyota are increasing production of their vehicles in the U.S. and parts are coming in from all over the globe. Our index accounts for all of these factors to determine where vehicles rank."
Some popular models from General Motors and Ford – such as the Chevrolet Silverado and Cruze, and the Ford Fusion and Focus – do not make the list because too much of cars' content is sourced from outside the U.S. In the case of the Fusion, that car is also assembled in Mexico.
This year, Toyota, Honda and General Motors combined for 8 of the 10 vehicles on the list.
Why do GM, Ford and Chrysler build models, or source a lot of parts, in other countries, especially Mexico? The North American Free Trade Agreement makes it easy for manufacturers build products in Mexico and Canada. Hourly pay-rates are lower in both of those neighboring countries. And Canada and Mexico have national healthcare. The high cost of employer-based pay-for-service healthcare, the system we have in the U.S., is a key impediment to creating more middle-class manufacturing jobs. The U.S. system is not only expensive, but private insurance companies are free to jack up premiums at will, making healthcare costs highly unpredictable for employers.
Not everyone is happy with how Cars.com does its annual study. The American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) pushed back on the site's findings this week, calling them "deeply flawed."
The AAPC--a lobbying organization representing GM, Ford and Chrysler, and U.S. parts makers--though tries to make the case that, for example, all Fords are more American because Ford employs and builds more cars by far in the U.S. than Toyota.
The function, though, of the Cars.com study is to rank individual models, not companies. "The Cars.com study is a very legitimate exercise," says AOL Autos Editor-in-Chief David Kiley. "This gives consumers information they deserve to have when making a car purchase, and it also educates people who read it about what happens in real life to jobs in a free-market global economy when most countries have national healthcare while the U.S. does not."
How much is a car's Americanness likely to sway a car buyer before they sign on the dotted line? A lot, it turns out. According to a separate Cars.com survey conducted in May, nearly 25 percent say they do prefer to buy American and nearly half of those people would be swayed to buy a foreign make if they knew it was assembled in the U.S.
Check out the gallery here of the top ten "most American cars," and why they made the list.
Auto Loan Calculators
Do the math before you buy! Save time and money with our easy-to-use car loan calculators.
- Affordability Calculator
- Car Payment Calculator
- Car Lease Calculator
- Home Equity Car Loans
Budget Calculators
- Compare Car Loans
- Buying New vs Used
- Rebate vs Lower APR
- Cash vs Financing
Comparion Calculators
Latest Auto News
- Video: Zach Sobiech was a Nissan GT-R fan, will always be our hero
- Report: Kia to make push upmarket with Quoris next year, new Sedona also likely
- Study: Car emissions can turn good cholesterol bad
- Official: Mitsubishi previews new Attrage global sedan
- Bob Lutz and VL Automotive, Wanxiang trying to buy Fisker
- Video: Meet the man whose house is designed around his car
- Official: Renault and Red Bull Racing team up for awesome sports Megane [w/video]
