Today, determining what is and is not a truly “domestic” vehicle is getting harder and harder. For instance, is a car assembled in Michigan with a Canadian-built engine and a Mexican-made transmission really American? Here's an interactive graphic that helps sort things out.
Whenever I get together with some of my relatives, we have some interesting debates about what constitutes an “American car” these days. My late father always believed in buying a Big Three vehicle. I can remember him arguing with one of my favorite uncles who has sworn his allegiance to Honda since the early 1980s (he used to drive Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles).
Today, determining what is and is not a truly “domestic” vehicle is getting harder and harder. For instance, is a car assembled in Michigan with a Canadian-built engine and a Mexican-made transmission really American? What about a pickup truck that’s assembled in Indiana by an Indian manufacturer (that’s something that we’ll see sooner than later)?
TheNew York Timesrecently created aninteractive graphicthat helps sort out part of the puzzle. It provides a list of all vehicles assembled in North America, along with the country-of-origin of their engines and transmissions.
Hey, Is That Really an American Car?
By Austin Weber
June 24, 2009
Austin has been senior editor for ASSEMBLY Magazine since September 1999. He has more than 21 years of b-to-b publishing experience and has written about a wide variety of manufacturing and engineering topics. Austin is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
