Chart Of The Day: Domestic Content Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

These are the ten vehicles that NHTSA says are made from 90 percent domestically-produced components [via cars.com]. Notice a common thread there? Yes, the correct answer is Ford involvement, but according to cars.com, the task of crowning a “king of domestic content” isn’t as simple as NHTSA’s number.

Cars.com doesn’t give away the secret recipe for its American Made Index, but it says that it weighs parts content (minimum requirement: 75 percent) against sales to find the maximum economic impact. It also models excludes vehicles built exclusively outside the U.S. or models that are being phased out (akaTown Car, and the Mercurys). Here is the top of their list for 2010:

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Wagen Wagen on Jun 25, 2010

    It's a shame that the phrase "fun to drive" doesn't describe a single vehicle on either list. (Well, maybe the wrangler if one expands the driving to include off-road.)

  • D_c_weber D_c_weber on Mar 09, 2011

    We need a domestic content label for products sold in this country. The content should be based on the % of dollars that go to USA citizen's versus the % of dollars that go to non-USA citizens. It doesn't matter that a Ford Fusion is built in Mexico. What matters is that for every dollar that is spent on a Fusion, $0.90 goes to USA citizens. Even though some Mexican's put togetehr the final product, that doesn't make it a Mexican vehicle. Same with a Honda Civic. Sure a few thousand dollars goes to some laborers in Marysville, OH. But, follow the money. All of the profit, engineering, and most parts go to Japanese citizens. I have good froiends that are Japanese. But, when it comes to patriotic duty, balancing the trade deficit comes before the cheapest price and it comes before friends. Afterall, my grandchildren will be the peons to the Chinese and Japanese and Koreans if we don't buy USA today.

  • SCE to AUX All that lift makes for an easy rollover of your $70k truck.
  • SCE to AUX My son cross-shopped the RAV4 and Model Y, then bought the Y. To their surprise, they hated the RAV4.
  • SCE to AUX I'm already driving the cheap EV (19 Ioniq EV).$30k MSRP in late 2018, $23k after subsidy at lease (no tax hassle)$549/year insurance$40 in electricity to drive 1000 miles/month66k miles, no range lossAffordable 16" tiresVirtually no maintenance expensesHyundai (for example) has dramatically cut prices on their EVs, so you can get a 361-mile Ioniq 6 in the high 30s right now.But ask me if I'd go to the Subaru brand if one was affordable, and the answer is no.
  • David Murilee Martin, These Toyota Vans were absolute garbage. As the labor even basic service cost 400% as much as servicing a VW Vanagon or American minivan. A skilled Toyota tech would take about 2.5 hours just to change the air cleaner. Also they also broke often, as they overheated and warped the engine and boiled the automatic transmission...
  • Marcr My wife and I mostly work from home (or use public transit), the kid is grown, and we no longer do road trips of more than 150 miles or so. Our one car mostly gets used for local errands and the occasional airport pickup. The first non-Tesla, non-Mini, non-Fiat, non-Kia/Hyundai, non-GM (I do have my biases) small fun-to-drive hatchback EV with 200+ mile range, instrument display behind the wheel where it belongs and actual knobs for oft-used functions for under $35K will get our money. What we really want is a proper 21st century equivalent of the original Honda Civic. The Volvo EX30 is close and may end up being the compromise choice.
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