Autoblog

Cars.com reveals American Made index for 2012

Scott Burgess — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 17:59:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Truck, Ford, Honda, Toyota

Put on your flag shorts and Liberty Bell hat. Cars.com has released its American-Made Index, proclaiming that four out of the top five American-made vehicles are Japanese brands.

The Toyota Camry, built in Kentucky, was ranked the most American vehicle sold today, with the Michigan-built Ford F-150 coming in as the second-most American vehicle. The Honda Accord, Toyota Sienna and Honda Pilot round out the top five. And yes, all of these models are available in red, white or blue.

Cars.com's criteria for selecting the most American vehicle includes sales volume, percentage of American sourced parts and where the vehicle is assembled. Vehicles must have at least 75 percent domestic parts to even qualify for the list, which kept the F-150 off last year.

However, the accounting system devised by Cars.com was called "flawed" by the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Detroit's car makers in Washington D.C.

"The truth is: Three of the 16 major automakers doing business in the US - Chrysler, Ford and General Motors - produce more than half the cars assembled here, use twice as many U.S. parts per vehicle than their competitors, are headquartered in the U.S. and employ two-thirds of America's autoworkers," said former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, current president of the AAPC.

Nothing like using July 4 for political grandstanding.

Cars.com reveals American Made index for 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rasmussen Reports: More Car Buyers Looking For "American"

David Kiley — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:58:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying

A Rasmussen Reports poll fielded in November - before General Motors' IPO - finds a rise in the preference of "American-built" vehicles, as well as a willingness to accept U.S.-built Toyota and BMW products as the same as buying an "American" product.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they look for an "American-built" car first when they're in the market for a vehicle. That sentiment is attributed by many analysts and researchers to a sense that people are showing more and more sentiment for "buying local." That's just a few points below the 44 percent who said they look for "the best possible deal regardless of where it was manufactured" while just 12 percent said they look first for a foreign-built car.

The sentiment favoring American-built car brands has risen quite a bit since Rasmussen conducted a similar poll in June 2008 when just 32 percent said they looked for an American brand first.

Good news for foreign owned automakers building vehicles in the U.S. Forty-one percent of respondents said they viewed buying a foreign brand of car that's manufactured in the U.S. as "the same as buying an 'American' product" meaning those people believe a Mexican-built Ford Fusion is just as American as an Ohio-built Honda Civic. Forty-two percent, however, dissented from that notion while the rest were unsure.

The poll also found 59 percent saying they "consider just the Detroit Big Three - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler - to be American car companies."

Fifty-four percent of Americans said they are less likely to buy a GM car because the federal government is/was the automaker's majority owner. Still, in a separate survey in early June, 48 percent of those who planned to buy a new or used car in the next year said they are at least somewhat likely to buy either a Ford or a vehicle made by GM. Those findings included 20 percent who were 'Very Likely' to buy a Ford and 26 percent 'Very Likely' to buy a GM product instead.

[Source: Rasmussen | Image: Paul Sancya/AP Photo]

Rasmussen Reports: More Car Buyers Looking For "American" originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Consumer Reports releases annual list of American Top Picks, Ford the big winner

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:32:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Sedan, SUV, Truck, Crossover, Hatchback, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, GM

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery

Each year that Consumer Reports offers up its annual list of Top American Picks, it seems less and less a consolation bracket and more like a reasonable set of choices. To wit, if you wanted the very best family-sized SUV (Chevrolet Traverse) or fullsize pickup truck (Chevrolet Silverado), Consumer Reports will tell you that you're best off choosing American, regardless of which list its from.

Further, CR has found the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan twins have proven to be more reliable than a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Blasphemy, you say? To borrow a marketing phrase from the Blue Oval itself, Drive One and find out for yourself. We have, and we found out that it's a great car. Apparently, it's also reliable. Not surprisingly, the Fusion managed to earn two more awards in its hybrid guise, including CR's Best Overall Car.

All told, seven of the 10 awards handed out by CR went to Ford - an impressive performance. Two Top Picks were filled by vehicles from General Motors while Chrysler didn't have a single model on the list, which isn't particularly surprising since the Dodge Ram is the only model from the Pentastar that CR even recommends. Click here to check out the rest of the winners from CR.

Gallery: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports releases annual list of American Top Picks, Ford the big winner originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vintage American iron thriving in Cuba

Chris Paukert — Mon, 15 May 2006 11:03:00 EST

Filed under: Classics, Government/Legal, South America

At least one of Autoblog's staffers is a sucker for the monthly 'Discovered' and 'Lost & Found' features British rags Thoroughbred & Classic Cars and Classic and Sports Car. Great 'barn finds' make our hairs stand up on end and constantly have us peering into farmyards whenever we drive through the countryside.

In this regard, at least, Cubans have it easy. Their streets fairly team with vintage iron, particularly American classics from the 1940's and 1950's. While this isn't exactly 'news,' Reuters has put a big number to the phenomenon: 60,000. That's how many of the buggers it believes are navigating the communist nation's roads, most of which are in states of tune that would make the cars' original engineers scratch their heads in wonder.

Given a 40+ year trade embargo with the U.S., modern vehicles are essentially unavailable, so many American classics have been pressed into service as cabs and private transports. With the availability of quality, affordable replacement parts being similarly non-existent, locals have taken to jury-rigging their rides with whatever bits they can muster- ancient Russian diesel engines, tatty Kia bits, baling wire, used cigar wrappers, anything. From the sounds of it, they're raising a generation of MacGyvers over there.

Cuban grand pooh-bah, Fidel Castro has announced plans to supplant privateer hacks out of business by buying some 8,000 Chinese cabs and busses. If El Presidente grinds the vintage iron to dust, it'd be a real shame. As it is, there are apparently some genuinely important classics lurking in Cuba, though efforts by American restorers and collectors have largely proven fruitless in getting around trade barriers.

[Sources: Reuters via CNN.com; HavanaJournal.com]

(Top tip, Evan!)

Vintage American iron thriving in Cuba originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 May 2006 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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