As Americans struggle despite a reviving economy, a tough pickup truck straight out of Detroit was named Monday as the leader on Cars.com’s American-Made Index.
Second place may come as a surprise: Toyota Camry. Although it’s made by a Japanese company — and the profits are shipped across the Pacific — the car is made at U.S. plants with mostly U.S. parts.
The American-Made Index, in its ninth year, rates cars based on two key pieces of information that can be found on the window stickers of every new car: final assembly point and the vehicle’s domestic-parts content. The labels show the percentage of U.S. and Canadian parts. (By congressional mandate, the American Automobile Labeling Act lumps Canada into the same “domestic” pool.) In addition to showing where the car was built, the label will tell you where its engine and transmission were made, as well.
It doesn’t hurt that Ford’s F-150 and its heavy-duty variants are, together, the nation’s top-selling vehicle of any sort. Toyota Camry is the top-selling car in the USA.
After F-150 and Camry come GM’s Michigan-built three-row crossover siblings, Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia. Dodge Avenger sedan, meanwhile, placed third last year but faces immediate discontinuation without a clear successor and is disqualified.
The 2014 list has four newcomers: the Chevrolet Corvette, Honda Ridgeline, Honda Crosstour and Dodge SRT Viper. This is the first year any of those have made the list.
That’s because only these 10 cars were eligible for the index, the fewest in the study’s nine-year history. For the 2014 model year, just 13 models assembled in the USA have domestic-parts content of 75% or higher, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Three of those, including the Avenger, were disqualified because they’re being discontinued.
In the 2013 model year, 14 cars met that threshold. Twenty cars met the threshold in the 2012 model year, and 30 cars met it a year before that.
Here’s the 2014 list by model and where it is manufactured:
1. Ford F-150; Dearborn, Mich., and Claycomo, Mo.
2. Toyota Camry; Georgetown, Ky., and Lafayette, Ind.
3. Honda Odyssey; Lincoln, Ala.
4. Toyota Sienna; Princeton, Ind.
5. Toyota Tundra; San Antonio
6. Toyota Avalon; Georgetown, Ky.
7. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray; Bowling Green, Ky.
8. Honda Ridgeline; Lincoln, Ala.
9. Honda Crosstour; East Liberty, Ohio
10. Dodge SRT Viper; Detroit
