Eight car models built and sold in the United States have at least 75% of their parts made domestically, with the Toyota Camry ranking highest, according to a just-released 2016 Cars.com survey.
The outlook for U.S. automotive manufacturing was slightly better than 2015, when only seven cars made the list, but nowhere near as good as 2010 and 2011, when the car models that qualified for the American-Made Index (AMI) topped 25.
The Camry took the top spot for the second consecutive year. The Honda Accord placed second, and the Toyota Sienna third.
Honda had the most cars on the list—the Accord, Odyssey, and Pilot. The Detroit Three--Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler--didn’t crack the top five. The Chevrolet Traverse was #6, GMC Acadia #7 and Buick Enclave #8.
The last time a Detroit Three vehicle topped the list was 2014, when the Ford F-150 ranked #1.
The Cars.com American-Made Index rates vehicles built and bought in the U.S. Factors include the percentage of parts considered domestic under federal regulations, whether the car is assembled in the U.S. and U.S. sales. Models with a domestic parts content rating below 75% are disqualified, along with models built exclusively outside the U.S. or models soon to be discontinued without a U.S.-built successor.
With sales numbers figuring into the rankings, the fact that the Camry is the top-selling car in the United States made a difference in its standing.
According to the National Highway and Transporation Safety Administration, the U.S.-sold domestic content for Camry is 75%. The Camry is assembled at Toyota's manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Ky., with parts from 270 U.S. supplier locations. The Georgetown facility is Toyota’s largest vehicle manufacturing plant in the world.
The Detroit Three run the majority--25 of 42--of U.S. automotive assembly plants and employ more than two-thirds of all U.S. autoworkers. The other 17 plants come from one U.S.-based (Tesla) and eight foreign-based automakers.
