Full-size pickup trucks are a uniquely American phenomenon, a symbol of Uncle Sam's bravado and brawn. And the Ford F-150 is the biggest U.S. flag-bearer of all. Manufactured in Michigan and Missouri, it's been the best-selling vehicle in America for more than three decades.
But if you want to buy a truly "American-made" vehicle -- and a Cars.com survey says more Americans do -- you might be better off purchasing a Toyota Camry. It turns out the Japanese carmaker's flagship sedan actually has more domestic content in it than the F0rd pickup and in fact, ranks first in Cars.com's annual American-Made Index.
The American-Made Index takes into account three key factors to determine how "American" cars are, including the percentage of parts that come from "domestic" sources, where they are built and total sales (a U.S.-built vehicle that sells in higher numbers is considered more American than, say, a niche model built here).
Models with domestic-parts content ratings below 75 percent are disqualified. The federal government defines domestic content as parts that are built in the U.S. or Canada (good) but not Mexico (bad).
By this measure, two Toyota models -- the Kentucky-built Camry and the Indiana-built Sienna minivan -- rank first and second. Ford's best-selling pickup truck doesn't even make the cut any more because its domestic parts content fell to 70 percent when it was redesigned for the 2015 model year.
Naturally, Toyota was happy to crow about its achievement. “These results are a testament to Toyota’s continued investment and growth in the United States,” said Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz, who also serves as President of
A Ford spokesman said the domestic content of its vehicles often changes from generation to generation, given how many parts go into making a truck as complex as the F-150, but he said there's no doubt Ford is committed to building its top seller in the United States. The F-150 is assembled at plants in Dearborn, Mich., and Kansas City, Mo., and the Super-Duty F-series is produced at a factory near Louisville, Ky. Ford also announced recently that it is moving production of its medium-duty F-series trucks from Mexico to Ohio. Now all F-series trucks will be produced in the United States.
Cars.com Editor-in-Chief Patrick Olsen noted that the number of vehicles eligible for the American-Made Index -- that is, cars with at least 75 percent domestic parts content -- had fallen to the lowest number ever. Only seven cars qualified this year; five years ago, 29 cars were eligible. It's not that automakers are slowing U.S. production, Olsen pointed out. If anything, the opposite is true, as most carmakers are adding capacity to keep up with soaring U.S. demand. What is shrinking is the percent of overall domestic-parts content, which is a reflection of the increasingly global nature of the auto industry and, most likely, of the fact that more parts are being sourced from Mexico, whose auto industry is booming.
You can check a vehicle's domestic parts content right on the window sticker. Usually, the factory where it's made is also listed on the sticker. Or, you can find it on a sticker inside the driver's door.
According to a survey by Cars.com, American consumers care more than ever about buying from domestic automakers. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they would only consider American automakers when shopping for a new car. That’s up from 23 percent in 2011.
But clearly, it's getting harder than ever to define just what is an American car.
