They told me they wanted an "American" car, so they bought a Dart....

I had conversation with my cousin the other day about his girlfriend's car. Apparently she bought a Dart and wasn't happy with it. I asked why in the hell they bought it in the first place since a Kia Rio is the same price. Her reply? "Well, I only buy American cars...." She was not happy when I explained the entire FCA thing and how her car was an Alfa Romeo in blue jeans. The entire conversation got me thinking though, so I went deeper down the rabbit hole as to what is an "American" car today:

http://www.askmycarguys.com/what-does-it-mean-to-buy-an-american-car-today/

I know I missed a bunch and there are a lot more examples. The other day I had yet ANOTHER person turn down my used car recommendation (for a Toyota Matrix) but they were happy to look at a Pontiac Vibe. Personally I've been on the lookout for a first gen Mercury Villager because I like the VQ engine and have had good luck with Nissans (since the Villager is just a rebadged Quest).

I wonder how many BMW SUV owners were shocked to find that their beloved ultimate driving machine was imported all the way from....Spartanburg.

I had a Villager. Out of the 100+ cars I've owned, it was absolutely the worst of them all. A truly terrible vehicle.

In reply to slefain:

That only looks at the manufacturing of the product. It misses the rest of us.

In reply to alfadriver:

Oh yay. I guess my iphone is American then after all because it was designed by some one in California?

I think the distictions are so blurred in the global economy when it comes to multi national corporations that the brand is what they are selling and country of origin is not all that important to them. The heads of the giant corporations don't see the world in terms of countries, they only see it in terms of potential consumers.

Part of my point was that today buying a car based on what country you think it came from isn't easy, and really shouldn't be the sole basis of your decision. Like how the Ford Aspire was just a Kia underneath. If someone's sole decision to buy an Aspire was based on keeping money in an American company, they wouldn't be happy knowing that the money they spent went to pay Korean workers who built it. Conversely, buying a Toyota Tundra may put money in Toyota's pocket, but it also puts money in an American workers pocket.

In reply to T.J.:

Why so hostile? There's many hundreds of millions of dollars of wages that are not in assembling cars here at Ford. That seems like a pretty significant impact on the local economy, if not on a higher regional one.

Same goes for GM.

These are the jobs I keep trying to sell as great wage jobs, too.

I'm not trying to justify sending money overseas for making cars, but pretending that equal US content Ford/Honda/BMW are all the same is not at all true.

Brand nationality is at best convoluted, at worst a joke. For the past 20 years Chrysler has spent more time under German and Italian ownership than American.

You have brand nationality, greater ownership, build location, intended markets, ect. Then let's up it with intercompany rebadging with examples of the aforementioned Villager and Vibe.

What is more American? My US built, "North American Market" Japanese car or an Italian designed, Mexican built American car?

Now THAT is an intriguing point alfadriver!

The ancillary jobs surrounding the automotive manufacturers drive a lot of money as well. All the people working at the different headquarters for example. But then you have to think about all the foreign automakers with North American headquarters that are also contributing to their local economies. We have Mercedes and Porsche here in Atlanta, but we also have a HUGE data center for GM.

See, this rabbit hole is deeper, just keep it civil folks.

In reply to alfadriver:

Most Honda's built here are also designed here.

In reply to slefain:

Engineering is hardly "ancillary", and to alfadriver's point, as much of a value-added portion of the vehicle as the screwing of fenders to a chassis.

If I had to choose between having an economy full of people designing, testing, and experimenting with stuff, versus an economy of people screwing things together, I'd lean towards the former. But the reality should be a mix.

From my experience, companies that are HQ'd overseas with manufacturing ops here in the U.S. tend to have minimal engineering staff here, basically just enough to support the local functions. All of the big value-added engineering happens back in the homeland (Germany, Japan, etc.).

In reply to slefain:

Mercedes and Porsche are here, too. As are Hyundia/Kia. And Toyota.

But the 3 of the put together would sum my one building. Which a pretty small part of our non-manufacturing staff here.

Like all other OEMs, we also have overseas site- Research has a branch in Aachen, Germany.

It's convoluted, but it's also pretty safe to think that MOST of the non-manufacturing staff are in the home country. Given that the sites that put this stuff up are journalist sites, they should go out and do the work- most of us are public companies, which means finding out what the country by country breakdown ends up being is available. Be real journalists and work for the information. It would be very interesting.

(it also brings up an easy to flounder subject, but I wont go into that)

And you can't really say that the parts are designed or built in any one place anymore, either. US-based suppliers sell to foreign-based OEMs, and foreign-based suppliers sell to US-based OEMs. The auto industry is global. IMO, and this is not a popular opinion where I live, there's no such thing as an "American" or "foreign" car anymore. Hell, Toyota and Nissan both have big R&D centers right here in SE Michigan.

In short, buy what YOU want. It's your money.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to alfadriver: Most Honda's built here are also designed here.

Which part? And by designed, does that include all of the engineering and development? Being that they are so far away, I don't know what they do in Ohio.

Have some insight of other OEMs, as some of their former workers end up here, too.

In reply to alfadriver:

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be hostile. Ignore my iphone crack and I think we are saying the same thing.

I thought it was interesting that Honda directly employs close to 30,000 people in the US. It's not quite as much as the "big three," but it's not as far off as you would think. Ford employs something like 70k in the US.

Tom_Spangler wrote: And you can't really say that the parts are designed or built in any one place anymore, either. US-based suppliers sell to foreign-based OEMs, and foreign-based suppliers sell to US-based OEMs. The auto industry is global. IMO, and this is not a popular opinion where I live, there's no such thing as an "American" or "foreign" car anymore. Hell, Toyota and Nissan both have big R&D centers right here in SE Michigan. In short, buy what YOU want. It's your money.

I was at a manufacturing expo a few months ago and I saw a company who's biggest seller is a GPS antenna used by a foreign automaker. The antenna is made in the USA, then sent to an overseas facility that assembles the GPS unit, which is then sent back to the USA for use in assembling the car.

I guess part of what fascinates me about this topic is how globalized the automotive manufacturing world has become.

Here is the answers that you are really looking for.

American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA)

There are a couple of caveats.

• Domestic is defined as US/Canada. There is no distinction as to how much is Canadian content.

• The percentages also consider "value" of the part

When asked by the unknowing, "what American Car should I buy?" I always recommended a PT Cruiser. An Iconic American Retro vehicle (owned by a then German Company and assembled in Mexico.)

If they did not like that answer then maybe the 2011 Ford Fusion (designed by or maybe with Mazda then assembled in Mexico netting a 20% Domestic content but a big Ford logo on the front.) Mean while, at the same time, the Mazda version, the Mazda 6, was assembled in Flat Rock, MI. just 20 minutes away from Ford's world headquarters.

My wife's Buick Rendezvous was built in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. Remember when GM built Buicks in Flint, MI, and you couldn't drink the water in Mexico? Now GM builds Buicks in Mexico and you can't drink the water in Flint.

In reply to bluebarchetta:

Good one. Actually some of the newest Buicks are made in Korea, China and Hungary!
No more in Mexico.

Meah, if someone wants to think their Chevy is "American" because of the name, why bother to argue with them about it? About all you can get from that is to piss them off, so what's the gain?

Another point: if you are buying used, the whole "Buy American" thing goes out the window, and it doesn't matter what you buy! You are not handing money to the people who built the thing. You are handing money to the dealer, or some guy down the street. That money stays here. That is unless they go buy a foreign built "American" car.

Pretty sure my car is american and my truck is mexican!

My Accord say 85% domestic USA parts and when I mention that to folks they always follow up with - yeah, but the profit goes to Japan.

I then mention my wife's hillbilly cousins that are employed by Honda down in Alabama? They have good jobs. I usually get no comment.

People in the Midwest are still stuck on this American cars thing. Should I buy that Chevrolet assembled in Mexico?

"Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will no longer make passenger cars in the U.S. by early next year as it evolves even further into an automaker mostly known for pickups and SUVs."

http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2016/07/27/soon-fca-just-make-jeep-suvs-and-ram-us/87605202/