Cars Still Mostly Made in America

Cars and Drivers

Published: March 7, 2024 12:10 pm

We all have our preferences when it comes to cars – standard, compact, sport utility, truck, or electric – but some of us go even further in our requirements, only opting to purchase vehicles that are made in a certain area. Many people, car enthusiasts included, often bring up the merits of American vs foreign-made vehicles. Many car brands, like Audi, may be engineered in their country of origin, but due to outsourcing of parts, manufacturing, and assembly, they look to other locations for completion. Very few cars are now 100% made in their country of origin, America included.

The only car company that claims to be 100% made in America is Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric car company, which has all parts and assembly done on-site, making it the only major car brand that produces cars wholly domestically. According to Cars.com, Tesla has consistently ranked as the most American-made auto brand in the last few years. Their annual report published last summer found that iconic American automaker Ford ranks second to Tesla as a brand, with 77.5% of its total U.S. auto sales coming from cars produced here.

When you break it down, and look at individual models, rather than the company as a whole, the study found that car buyers here who care about their car being produced using American parts, in American factories, with American workers, should look to other brands, including many that most would not even think of as being American at all.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed Cars.com’s latest American-Made Index for 2023 to identify the cars still mostly made in America. The study reviewed 388 vehicles sold in the United States and scored each based on five criteria: assembly location, parts content, engine origin, transmission origin, and U.S. manufacturing workforce. Using the most recent data available, sales figures came from GoodCarBadCar.net, and are for the first quarter of 2023. Listed here are the top American-made cars, as per Cars.com, from least to most American-made.

The Cars.com report ranked individual brands but also reported the shares of car brands sold in the U.S. that were assembled domestically. Comparing these two lists shows that while some car makers tend to manufacture a large proportion of their cars outside of the country, they can have certain models that are very American in origin. (Also check out: America’s best and worst new car brands.)

The U.S. may have dozens of car brands, including several large ones, but only a few of the cars still mostly made in America are from American brands. Tesla’s four models make up half that group, with Jeep, Dodge, Chevrolet, and Lincoln each having one entry.

It may be surprising that Ford as a manufacturer ranks as one of the brands with the highest percentage of total U.S. production, but does not have a single entry in the top 25. Meanwhile, Japanese brands dominate the list, with 14 models in the top 25. Honda has five models, including the Pilot, which ranks fifth. (Find if any are also among the deadliest cars to drive in America.)

Here are cars that are still mostly made in America.