#1, #2 American-Made Cars: Toyota and Honda
| Rank 2011 | Make/Model | U.S. Assembly Location | Rank 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota Camry | Georgetown, Ky.; | 1 |
| Lafayette, Ind. | |||
| 2 | Honda Accord | Marysville, Ohio; | 2 |
| Lincoln, Ala. | |||
| 3 | Chevrolet Malibu | Kansas City, Kan. | 5 |
| 4 | Ford Explorer | Chicago, Illinois | |
| 5 | Honda Odyssey | Lincoln, Ala. | 6 |
| 6 | Toyota Sienna | Princeton, Ind. | 10 |
| 7 | Jeep Wrangler | Toledo, Ohio | 9 |
| 8 | Chevrolet Traverse | Lansing, Mich. | |
| 9 | Toyota Tundra | San Antonio, Texas | 8 |
| 10 | GMC Acadia | Lansing, Mich. |
Sources: Automaker data, Automotive News, dealership data, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
"CarCars.com's American-Made Index (AMI) recognizes cars and trucks that are built here, have a high amount of domestic parts and are bought in large numbers by American consumers (see top ten above). Despite stagnant sales, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord remain atop this year's American-Made Index. Falling domestic parts content axed Ford's popular Escape and Focus, but the Dearborn MI automaker's redesigned, Chicago-built Explorer hit the ground running and entered the list at fourth place.
"CarCars.com's American-Made Index (AMI) recognizes cars and trucks that are built here, have a high amount of domestic parts and are bought in large numbers by American consumers (see top ten above). Despite stagnant sales, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord remain atop this year's American-Made Index. Falling domestic parts content axed Ford's popular Escape and Focus, but the Dearborn MI automaker's redesigned, Chicago-built Explorer hit the ground running and entered the list at fourth place.
Detroit's full-size pickups, once a dominant force on the AMI, remain off the chart. The F-150 held a commanding No. 1 spot in the first three years that Cars.com compiled the index, with domestic parts content as high as 90 percent. Alas, today's Michigan- and Missouri-built F-150 bears only 60 percent domestic content rating. Similarly, the Chevrolet Silverado, which held second place for much of the F-150's reign, has just 61 percent domestic content. Chrysler's Ram 1500 pickup's 70 percent domestic content fares better, but it still falls short of the AMI's 75-percent cutoff."
MP: Three out of the top five, and four out of the top six American-made cars are built by the Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda. Out of the top ten American-made cars, half are built in the U.S. by Toyota and Honda, three by Toyota and two by Honda.
Update: Isn't it a bit ironic that many of the "most American made" cars would get towed from the two UAW parking lots in Flint, MI pictured below? And what about the 17 vehicles on the UAW’s 2011 Vehicles Guide built in Canada by unionized members of the "Canadian Auto Workers" - including the Chevy Camaro, Chrysler Town and Country, Dodge Challenger, Lincoln Town Car - wouldn't they be considered "foreign cars" subject to getting towed by UAW Local 659? And the following vehicles on the list that are built by UAW workers in the U.S. for Japanese automakers Mazda and Mitsubishi would apparently be approved at either lot: Mazda6, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, Mitsubishi Galant, Mazda B-series, and the Mitsubishi Endeavor?
Update: See Don Boudreaux's Open Letter to the President of UAW Local 599.
34 Comments:
Why is the Toyota Tundra listed as a car?, and does it sell better than the F-150 or the Silverado?
"Why is the Toyota Tundra listed as a car?"
I don't think it is listed as a car. This is a list of vehicles, not cars.
"does it sell better than the F-150 or the Silverado"
No, but those trucks do not qualify to be on this list. Cars.com only includes vehicles for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives a 75% or higher domestic parts content rating. F-150 and Silverado both have about a 60% domestic content rating.
"We disqualify models...soon to be discontinued without a U.S.-built successor."
So, they just "didn't exist" for 2011 then?
I wonder what happened to #3 and #4 from last year - Ford Escape and Focus.
Eric H: "I wonder what happened to #3 and #4 from last year - Ford Escape and Focus."
from Cars.com link:
"Falling domestic parts content axed Ford's popular Escape and Focus"
The list includes only vehicles with a domestic parts content rating of at least 75%. Evidently, Ford uses non-"domestic" components costing more than 25% on those vehicles.
The "domestic parts content rating" of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a little misleading. A component is considered "domestic" if it is produced in Canada. I think Canadian factories were included because most of their workers are represented by UAW.
Here's an auto plant that fits the auto it's producing:
The GM all solar-powered Volt plant:
Solar paneling which cost $3 million to purchase and install – only saves them $15,000 a year in electricity.
The sign says 'American Made" not U.S. made. That includes Canada and Mexico. It also says "Union Made" that includes a lot of Canadian made and no Mexican made vehicles at this time.
My recollection is that the USA, back in the Nixon day and succeeding presidents, somewhat pressure the Japanese to set up American assembly facilities.
Of course, now it is cheaper to make product in the USA than in Japan.
Oddly enough, the Bank of Japan has been following a tight money policy that has radically increased the value of the yen, and so Japan is exporting jobs, and wilting.
"The sign says 'American Made" not U.S. made."
By that logic it should include auto production in all of the western hemisphere.
"Oddly enough, the Bank of Japan has been following a tight money policy that has radically increased the value of the yen, and so Japan is exporting jobs, and wilting."
Oddly enough, Japan's unemployment rate is currently under 5%. Benji's boyfriend would kill for those numbers.
Spending, after being adjusted for inflation, Fell 0.1% for Second Straight Month.
Paul-
Your ad hominem poop-flinging aside, be careful when comparing unemployment across nations. They tend to count unemployment differently.
By almost any measure, Japan's economic performance of the last 20 years has been sub-par, below that of almost every other industrialized nation.
The yen has appreciated mightily in that period.
Now, Japan's economy and population are shrinking. Their GDP deflator shows 15 percent deflation in last 20 years. They suffer from deflation.
Asset values, such as equities and property, are off 75 percent in last 20 years in Japan. Imagine your house, and stock portfolio, falling by 75 percent in next 20 years. How would this affect your attitude, your willingness to invest?
Tight money has been a noose around the neck of Japan's economy.
But hey--bondholders are happy. I guess that's all the counts.
"By that logic it should include auto production in all of the western hemisphere."
I suppose it would--as long as it meets the other criterion "Union Made". That's intended as an "and" not an "or" statement.
But its the trade that mo\atters, not whether it is US or foreign, right?
"Oddly enough, Japan's unemployment rate is currently under 5%. Benji's boyfriend would kill for those numbers."
that's because japan has had a demographic collapse in its workforce, not a failure of monetary policy.
good luck explaining that to benji though.
this paper pretty much lays out in mathematical form that money supply growth has lost all predictive (and influential) value in terms of future growth in japan since 1990.
http://www.cirje.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/workshops/macro/macropaper04/miyao.pdf
in the absence of such correlation, there is just no way that japan is a monetary problem.
Morgan Frank-
Go to John Taylor's webpage, and read his 2006 paper on Japan.
Monetary policy is the driving force behind Japan's decline. it is obvious.
If money is not tight in Japan, why does the yen keep appreciating?
Japan still exports over two million vehicles to the U.S. How many vehicles does the U.S. export to Japan anually? Less than 15,000, because of Japanese non-tariff barriers and not for market reasons of quality, size, styling or price.
benji-
"Monetary policy is the driving force behind Japan's decline. it is obvious."
no, it's not obvious. in fact, it's mathematically disproven. read the paper i linked. taylor is just dead wrong. we assumed his conclusions. the math does not lie. if there is no predictive relationship between monetary policy and future economic growth, then the cause is NOT monetary nor susceptible to a monetary solution.
"If money is not tight in Japan, why does the yen keep appreciating?"
seriously? not only are your facts totally wrong (the yen is where it was in 1995) but you are neglecting trade and the deflationary effects of a shrinking population and workforce.
you've already lost this argument several times.
since 1990, japans periods of best GDP growth have come with a strong currency, their worst from a weak one.
as ever, what you call "obvious" is in fact just plain wrong.
also:
your point about unemployment calculations actually works against you here. japan's rate is more like our u4 or u5 which means their 5% compares to our 10%.
they use the IMF standard of % jobless as % of workforce.
seems like you shot yourself in the foot on that one.
But is this what really matters - that we have lower paying factory assembly jobs here? An important question is: Where were the cars actually designed and developed? That is where the better paying jobs will be. These made-in-America claims completely ignore this point.
Doesn't Professor Perry tell us that ipods are American products adding to the country's GDP because Apple's headquarters are in the US of A even though assembled in China and other overseas places? Yet now he tells us that Toyota and Honda are "American-made" even though the companies are headquartered in Japan? Sounds like that great line in "North Dallas Forty" when one players yells at a coach "everytime we say it's a game you say it's a business
and everytime we say it's a business you say it's a game".
Morgan-
You have been reading Shasowstats, astolgy and Nostradamus a bit too much.
It took 358 yen to buy a dollar in 1971, then 224 yen in 1981, then 137 yen in 1991 and 81 yen (about) today.
Japan is suffocating under a bank of Japan that fights inflation the way Karen Carpenter fought being fat.
If I what to know what is happening in an economy, I will trust John Taylor over the cranks at Shadowstats, or their half-baked followers.
"By that logic it should include auto production in all of the western hemisphere."
Correct. I wondered about that also. I suppose that on the 2 or 3 occasions a South American made car approached these gates, decisions were made on a case by case basis. :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
"Oddly enough, Japan's unemployment rate is currently under 5%. Benji's boyfriend would kill for those numbers."
Oddly enough, he may, in fact, be doing just that as a result of some of his policies.
"But its the trade that mo\atters, not whether it is US or foreign, right?"
That's correct. Good for you, you got one right. Keep up the good work.
Ron, I was referring to the same point Bernie Ecch made.
Looks like a double standard to me, too.
Bernie,
You make a valid point if you don't mind comparing apples - no pun intended - and oranges.
iPods and iPhones and iEveryhhing eLses are high profit margin items, with relatively low material and assembly costs. Cars, on the other hand, mostly have relatively lower profit margins, so comparing where a company is headquartered isn't as important.
It's also important to note that the auto market is orders of magnitude larger than the iWhatever market.
"Looks like a double standard to me, too."
Hydra, I believe my response to Bernie covers your concern also.
bunny-
you are being even more of an idiot than usual.
the yen hit 79.98 in 1995.
it went up in value very strongly from the period in the 70's to 1990, the period of peak japanese prosperity.
from 1995-1998, it weakened, and so did japan.
japan has been strong during yen rallies and weak during yen weakness.
this has been pointed out to you over and over, but either your pea brain cannot assimilate it, or you are being willfully ignorant.
the record on the correlation of better GDP growth in japan with a stronger yen is incontestable.
since 2008, what you are seeing is not yen strength, it's dollar weakness.
vs the swiss franc, the jpy has been 1.15 +/- .10 for a decade.
did you even read the article from kobe universtity?
you are just blathering about shadowstats (who were not referenced anywhere here) and making appeals to authority to ill placed authority.
i have read taylor's piece. you know what it lacks? facts. there's no math, no data, it's just opinion predicated on opinion. it proves nothing but taylor's assumptions. it is based purely on supposition. miyao bases his conclusions on hard data. that's how ill conceived armchair thinkers have been debunked since the creation of the scientific method.
that is why miyao's piece so conclusively destroys taylor's. it shoes beyond any doubt at all the the relationships taylor posits DO NOT EXIST.
i've given you the link at least 4 or 5 times.
i'll bet that you have never even read it. you just prefer to regurgitate the same unfounded drivel over and over and refuse to let any actual facts get in your way.
so you tell me genius, what but a demographic collapse could allow japan to maintain average unemployment rates less than half of ours (on a comparable basis) for the last decade?
if they were in a monetary policy driven disinflationary/deflationary spiral, whay does unemplyment stay low? unemployment spiked in the US in 1982 when we engaged in disinflationary monetary policy. the same has been true in every other country that has tried it.
so tell me benny, why is japan different that its unemployment levels are not elevated by policies that do so in every other nation?
if their money was as tight as you say and driving their economic performance as you and taylor posit (and miyao disproves, then why are they not suffering from unemployment?
"Cars, on the other hand, mostly have relatively lower profit margins, so comparing where a company is headquartered isn't as important"
actually, even in cars, we can see the value of IP.
porsche has 50% gross profit margins and almost 15% operating margin.
compare that to ford with 18% and 4%. clearly, the value if the components in a Porsche are much higher than a ford and yet, even so, they command operating margins 4 times higher than ford.
that is the value of the intellectual property.
porsches gross margins are higher than apple's.
(50 vs 41)
apple shines on the op margin line though which indicates how much cheaper it is to design software than cars, but the fact that porsche gets more gross profit per $ of sales than apple by a huge margin means that they actually have more intellectual property in their product than does apple.
It's also important to note that the auto market is orders of magnitude larger than the iWhatever market.
Actually, it's less than a single order of magnitude. In their most recently available year-end statements, Apple's revenues alone were $65b compared to GM revenues of $135b. In revenue terms, the auto sector is smaller than the electronics sector because not everyone buys a car and certainly not every year, whereas gadget turnover is far higher.
I'm beginning to wish I hadn't made that ill advised comment.
How do you know if it is a strong yen or a weak dollar, without some other comparison, like a basket of moneies, or oil, or gold?
"You seek to punish those who, by purchasing substitutes for the vehicles that your members currently are employed to produce, reduce the demand for unionized autoworkers and, thereby, destroy some jobs in unionized U.S. auto plants."
That's a false assumption for the sign by Don Boudreaux. The Union seeks to send a message to their membership not to buy a "foreign" vehicle by using that sign. It also serves the popular opinion that the “Japs” are causing all the problems and everything would go back to the good ole days if everyone bought an apple pie and a Chevrolet: that message gets votes for the leadership.
The danger of the sign is that it shines the light on the wrong problem, so people will not work on the real solutions. The solution is simple: if you build the cars and trucks customers want to buy, the problem will solve itself.
Toyota and the other "transplants" are not the core problem. GM and the UAW needs to work together on product and image to solve their problems.
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