If you like to buy American-made cars, it's getting easier to do that and still pick up a Japanese brand.
Japanese automotive manufacturers produced 3.635 million vehicles in the United States in 2013, up from 3.295 million in 2012. That's a jump of more than 10%. And 71% of the Japanese brand vehicles sold in the U.S. last year were produced in North America, according to the lastest data from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association USA, the U.S. branch of the trade group representing Japanese auto firms.
More of the Japanese brand automobiles made here also were exported in 2013, JAMA reported. The number climbed from 335,680 vehicles in 2012 to 391,336 in 2013 - an increase of 16.6%.
The increased activity was good news for suppliers operating in the U.S. Japanese auto plants purchased a record $57.09 billion worth of U.S. automotive parts, an increase of 11.3% from the $51.28 billion purchased in 2012.
Japanese auto firms employed 82,816 employees in the U.S. last year. Add in dealerships and Japanese auto makers support more than 402,000 jobs in the U.S.
