[quote=Rt.66]Maybe the Challenger is not such a good example as its got a US engine and Tranny but assembled in Canada :([/quote]
Ditto could be said about the Camaro.
And the domestic part content of the Mustang is 65%.
BTW: the definition of “domestic” on the sticker is parts from U.S. OR Canada, so even that percentage isnt accurate…True part content sourced from U.S. probably is even lower.
And soon, buying a Chrysler isn’t going to be buying an “american car”. Profits will go to Fiat in the majority. And a good portion of Chrysler cars have a significantly lower domestic part content to begin with, shooting the argument down that buying a Chrysler contributes to more U.S. jobs than say a Toyota Sienna which sources 90% of the parts domestically.
When it came to the automobile, made in America once meant just what it said, made right here in the U.S.A.
Delco assembled radios in Kokomo. Guide made lights in Anderson. Remy turned out alternators in Anderson. Fisher Body stamped metal parts in Marion.
All of it was shipped to a General Motors vehicle assembly line — typically in Lansing or Flint, Pontiac or Detroit — and bolted onto a car.
That was made in America.
No more.
Today, the car is a prime example of the global economy.
Auto parts makers are using ever more foreign parts. And automakers think nothing of going abroad for major components.
General Motors’ Chevrolet Equinox SUV is made in a Japanese-GM joint venture plant in Canada with a Chinese engine.
Ford’s sporty Mustang, a new edition of its iconic 1966 coupe, is made in a Japanese-Ford joint venture plant and runs on a German V6.
Chrysler’s 300C luxury sedan was engineered in Michigan, is assembled in Ontario and uses a Mexican V8 engine and Kokomo transmission designed in Germany. Buy the car, and profits flow to DaimlerChrysler’s Stuttgart headquarters.
Stroll through a car lot these days, and you’ll find it’s hard to tell, even though automakers have made a stab at identifying the origin of their cars. But because auto parts often are sourced from an array of countries, the car’s actual origin can get blurry.
Automakers have stuck domestic content stickers on new cars and trucks since Congress passed the American Automobile Labeling Act in 1992.
Back then, Detroit automakers and the United Auto Workers union demanded labels, figuring loyal shoppers would buy “American” cars.
Chrysler, Ford and GM market share plunged anyway — reaching 55.7 percent combined in January, compared with 72.2 percent in 1992.
A recent national survey found only 25 percent of shoppers on car lots are aware content stickers are on vehicles.
According to the label law, the most American Japanese auto on the road is a minivan, the Sienna, assembled by Toyota in Princeton, Ind.
The Sienna scores 90 percent in domestic content.
But the number doesn’t tell the whole story.
Domestic content can include Canadian-made parts.
Even if every car part, all 4,000 or 5,000 pieces, were made in Canada, the window sticker would still say “100 percent domestic content.”
Blurring the picture even more is that 100 percent doesn’t really mean 100 percent.
Say a big piece of the car, the transmission, consists of 500 separate parts, and 30 percent of the parts are manufactured overseas. As long as 70 percent of the parts come from U.S. or Canadian plants, the entire transmission is labeled domestic content, analysts say.
Mexico makes tons of auto parts, but these parts are still considered “foreign.” The North American Free Trade Agreement that lowered U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade barriers came along a couple of years after the label law appeared.
That’s why GM’s full-size sport utilities such as the Chevrolet Suburban rate 61 percent domestic ….
