Cars.com Names Most-American Vehicles

July 07, 2009

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CHICAGO — Cars.com recently announced the results of its annual American-Made Index, which ranks the "most-American" vehicles based on the percentage (by cost) of their parts made in the U.S., where they're built and their popularity among American buyers.

Topping this year's automaker list was the Toyota Camry, which took the No. 1 spot from the Ford F-150, which had the highest ranking for five consecutive years. The Ford F-150 placed No. 2 this year.

In fact, Toyota had four of the top 10 spots — more than any other automaker — including the Sienna at No. 6, the Tundra at No. 7 and the Venza at No. 10.

Meanwhile, the Big 3 claimed five spots, which marked its lowest total since Cars.com started the index.

"This year was unique for our index, to say the least," shared Patrick Olsen, editor-in-chief at Cars.com.

"The difficult sales environment and changes in cars' domestic-parts content — both important factors in our index's equation — played a huge role in how the rankings changed from last year," he continued.

For example, as part of the index's methodology, Cars.com excluded any vehicles slated to be "discontinued without a clear successor."

This had a major impact with Pontiac models, as most of them were ineligible, including the G6, a traditional "mainstay" on the list.

That said, General Motors still had three vehicles make the list. The Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra 1500 pickups scored high largely due to their domestic parts scores, while the Chevrolet Malibu was ranked highly partly because 80 percent of its parts are domestic and the model has had strong sales.

"In today's global economy, there's not an easy way to determine just how American a car is," Olsen stated. "Most cars built in the U.S., for example, are assembled using at least some parts that come from somewhere else.

"Cars.com's American-Made Index helps consumers identify the most-American vehicles based on production location, percentage of domestic-parts content and American sales volume for each vehicle," he added.

The following is the complete top 10:

1. Toyota Camry

2. Ford F-150

3. Chevrolet Malibu

4. Honda Odyssey

5. Chevrolet Silverado 1500

6. Toyota Sienna

7. Toyota Tundra

8. GMC Sierra 1500

9. Ford Taurus

10. Toyota Venza

Officials noted that the list excludes hybrid models of the Malibu, Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500, which are broken out separately or, in the case of the Malibu Hybrid, suspended for consumer sales.