The topic of automotive manufacturing in the United States has gained significant attention, largely fueled by Donald Trump’s outspoken tweets and comments during his campaign and presidency. Globalization has transformed car production into a multinational enterprise. Nowadays, American automakers manufacture vehicles overseas and import them to the U.S., just as foreign companies establish factories in America to produce cars. So, which automakers manufacture the highest percentage of their models in the U.S.?
To uncover this information, The Drive‘s sister publication, TIME, examined American University’s 2016 Auto Index. This index provides a comprehensive breakdown of how much of each vehicle sold in the country is produced in the U.S. and determined the proportion of products made by various automakers that are built in America.
Leading the pack is Tesla, which manufactures all of its cars in the United States. Jeep follows closely, with 89 percent of its models made domestically; every vehicle in Jeep’s lineup, except for the Italian-manufactured Renegade, is produced in the U.S. Cadillac ranks third, with 86 percent of its offerings built in the country, while Dodge takes the fourth spot at 83 percent, and GMC completes the top five with 80 percent of its vehicles produced domestically. (Click here to see the full list, including specific models.)
Conversely, nine brands reported producing no cars in the U.S. These include Porsche, Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Fiat, Mini, and Smart, all of which import every vehicle they sell in the American market. (Scion was also mentioned, but as the brand no longer exists and its models have been assimilated into the Toyota lineup, it has been excluded from this report.)
In total, around 65 percent of the approximately 17.5 million passenger cars and trucks sold in the U.S. in 2015 were manufactured domestically, according to TIME.
Prior to his inauguration, Trump announced his intention to impose a 35 percent tariff on imported vehicles. This move would be a severe setback for automakers that produce their cars abroad, which, as seen, primarily involves everyone except for Elon Musk and his team.
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