Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Plants/Manufacturing
Cars.com releases revised American-made index
Cars.com has updated its American Made Index, and the list has flip-flopped some models right off, while others have hopped onto the top ten. Cars.com uses the parts origin information from the window sticker, along with the location the vehicle is manufacture at and sales numbers to determine which vehicles have the most US-based content. Ford's F150 and Explorer are the chocolate wafer to the rest of the list's cream filling, sandwiching everyone else between their respective #1 and #10 rankings. General Motors has the most vehicles in the top ten list, with the quartet of Cobalt, Malibu, G6, and Silverado 1500. Not surprisingly, Toyota's Tundra, built in Indiana and Texas, makes the grade at #5. Chrysler's Sebring is that company's only placing on the list, though even the same generation of a particular model can place high one year and fall off the next as automakers juggle OEMs and running changes. If sales of light trucks continue their precipitous fall, the AMI may look radically different the next time around. Four of the ten are body-on-frame trucks, and there's also a pair of minivans, all set to suffer in sales as buyers start to move en masse to more efficient vehicles.
[Source: Cars.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
compy386 5:33PM (7/01/2008)
1. To me these lists are pointless because they only consider manufacturing and not engineering/sales/etc. The majority of dollars spent producing a vehicle is not on the production but on the other factors.
2. While I do like buying things locally (which is why I buy Fords), if its not produced in your back yard, it's not local. People need to understand a little economics and realize that money spent overseas always comes back in the form of investments or purchases. Whether something is produced in the US or not is irrelevant.
Reply
Kevin L 6:09PM (7/01/2008)
compy386 is correct. Any final product made in the U.S. will affect the G.D.P. of the U.S. regardless of where component parts are assembled.
Also, foreign countries buy our goods with money we used to buy their goods. So when you buy a Toyota, someone in Japan can buy a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge.
SITEiNK 6:19PM (7/01/2008)
That's not entirely accurate.
Money sent overseas (by buying foreign-sourced products) usually does not make it back here.
Some estimates are that less than 5% of the total value of an American-owned foreign-sourced product returns here.
Count that nill for foreign products that are foreign-sourced.
The money that returns here goes mainly to cxo's, and not to the majority of the populous.
While R&D and sales is a huge part of the money spent, each main factory spawns numerous suppliers that position their factories closely in order to take advantage of just-in-time manufacturing.
It is actually very important where things are made.
SITEiNK 6:57PM (7/01/2008)
Kevin L :
It seems logical right? But the statistics show it is not actually so. Our trade imbalance has been growing at an alarming rate. Due mainly to the disproportionate amount of goods we recive from China. Even though most of the items are just foreign-sourced by American companies.
People in the east just don't buy American products like we buy foreign products. Although Chinese-made Buicks are taking off with the upper class in China, it's actually very rare to see an American-made car in the east.
When was the last time you actually saw a pair of American made shoes here? One quick look through a Wal-mart or Target will show that most of the content in those stores is foreign sourced and it is not because we have sent all of our items over seas that we don't have enough for our own shelves. Over seas the stores stock very little if any American-made products.
So where is this being made up for with the purchase of our American-made products? It's just not happening.
Fords do quite well in the U.K., but we have a good trade balance with them and most other developed nations and again most of those products are actually made there, not here.
GDP does take into account the percentage of American-sourced parts, not just the product as whole. Every little bit matters.
One brake rotor made in China produces several jobs - in China. From everyone in that brake factory, to design engineers, to people in the sourcing of the raw material, to the people involved in packaging, and to those involved in shipping and logistics to get those items here.
It all adds up and has a huge impact on our GDP and local economies.
The end result of over out-sourcing is that even your job will be effected, even if your job has nothing to do with the industries outsourced.
saluki 5:38PM (7/01/2008)
Everybody else,
Suck it
-Honda
Reply
Disgruntled Goat 5:56PM (7/01/2008)
These lists are interesting but I'd like to see someone do a complete analysis of how many are employed or the direct dollar impact of a particular model. If my main concern is helping American workers I can always just buy whatever is built on US soil but if it's just bolted together with Chinese versus American parts then that might make a difference. Whether the company making the product is based in the US or not is irrelevant.
Reply
SITEiNK 6:33PM (7/01/2008)
Ideally it needs to be owned here and sourced here.
Much like a chain, no link is any less important than the other.
A U.S. based company typically pays more in benefits and taxes.
Foreign companies take a good chunk their profit and send it back to the motherland.
Of course it is better to have foreign products sourced here as much as possible.
China has only recently (last few decades) come alive due to the massive amount of product sourcing that developed nations have sent there. (albeit mainly out of greed)
If sending money and resources there has the effect of waking them up, what effect does it have on us to send all of our resources away?
Dave T. 7:06PM (7/01/2008)
Guys,
If you read the AMI it includes part content, assembly location AND sales. Not sure what other factors you want us to consider but feel free to comment below.
Reply
pjungnitsch 10:23PM (7/01/2008)
'sales numbers to determine which vehicles have the most US-based content.'
Seems odd to me. Sales numbers doesn't have anything to do with the US-based content of a particular vehicle.
By that reasoning, if both are assembled in the US, a F150 with 20% US made parts would be declared having 'more US-based content' then a Taurus with 100% US made parts.
Reply
srDRIVEN 11:19PM (7/01/2008)
Trucks rule
Reply
inteller 8:12AM (7/02/2008)
very disturbing to see the lack of Ford's on this list. Besides the obvious trucks and SUVs (going the way of the dodo BTW) Ford has nothing.
Reply
steelerfan 10:53AM (7/02/2008)
Another thing that must be considered is where the suppliers and raw materials are coming from. Foreign based companies generally bring their suppliers with them and they are not US companies.
I have read that buying a domestic automobile helps the US economy 3 times as much as a foriegn based company even if it is manufacturing in the US.
Reply
old blighty 12:46PM (7/02/2008)
thought the sebring was made in mexico?
Reply
121891racer 8:56PM (7/03/2008)
What does "FTW" stand for in the picture?
Reply
Judy T. 12:58PM (8/03/2008)
Just a couple comments:
1) If you really want to help the economy, you must extend your "buy American" mentality to everything you consume. When you consume goods other than automobiles, do you check the label to see where the item was manufactured?
2) Having been royally screwed twice by Ford Motor Company in my younger years (35 years ago), I ventured into the "foreign" market. If you heard my stories, you would probably agree with my reasoning.
3) My personal experience with "foreign" autos is that they have FAR SUPERIOR quality to any Ford I owned, have lasted longer, have a higher resale value, and get better gas mileage.
4) Regarding all the "content" arguments: our AMERICAN corporations have voluntarily gone overseas to produce everything (including the one I work for). Why? Because wages are lower, benefits are lower, and there are no unions demanding everything under the sun (if you're laid off, you're laid off - why should you get 95% of your pay for doing nothing - anybody out there study economics? Specifically the laws of supply and demand? No demand - stop producing. How can that possibly work when you continue to pay workers for doing nothing????)
5) Lastly, I live in the United States. Last time I checked, my freedom of choice is still guaranteed by our constitution. That translates to, I will spend my hard earned money where I believe it should be spent, not where politicians and union people tell me to spend it. If I am going to lay out $30,000 - $40,000 for a vehicle (and yes, I BUY, not lease) I expect to drive that vehicle for at least 10 years. My foreign auto does; never had that experience with any domestic auto I've owned. Why would I spend my money on something I know won't last?
Reply