Re: What Is an American Car?

"Mike Hunter" wrote in message news:XPCdnUA88LXB9eLUnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net...

Five of my six Mustang GT convertibles, from '99 through '09, had a
> 80% content label and were made in one of two plants in Michigan.
> One the '05 had a 90% content label and made in the Rouge plant. ;)

Making stuff up again Mike? I think you have at least two claims wrong in this post...

I don't think your 2005 or 2009 Mustang were labeled as having 80% domestic content. There is no way I can verify your claim and I know you can't. However, I am positive that the label on 2007 Mustangs claimed 70% domestic content (verified this myself by inspection of numerous Mustangs on two new cars lots). They all said 70% (V6, V8, Coupe, Convertible). My research into why they all said the same thing revealed that it is standard practice to post the average content for all models for a give model year. Clearly not all Mustangs have the same domestic contents. I would assume V6 automatic coupe models had the lowest (European sourced engine and transmission), and V8 manual convertible models had the highest (NA sourced engiens and transmissions, plus higher added US content becasue they are convertibles). However, the average for all models was only 70%. But that was just for 2007. I did not go back and look when the 2008's came out. However, if you owned a 2007, I think you are mistaken in claiming it had a domestic content of 80%. Based on the articles linked to below, I don't think the label on a 2009 Mustang claims a domestic content greater than 75% either. I'd stop by the dealers to confirm this, but I am scared they'd hold me hostage until I bought something. So, while it is possible (probably likely) that a V8 Convertible Mustangs actually has domestic content of 75% (or greater), I don't think they are labeled that way.

?/ontheline/more/120907_us_automakers.html By the way, your 2005 Mustang was built at the Flat Rock Auto Alliance Plant, not in Dearborn. Production moved to Flat Rock for the "all-new" 2005 Mustangs. It is incredible how many things you can get wrong in a day...

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote in message
> news:497f1e8d$1@kcnews01...
>>
>> "Jeff" wrote in message
>> news: snipped-for-privacy@m4g2000vbp.googlegroups.com...
>> On Jan 26, 12:49 pm, "C. E. White"
>> wrote:
>>> > What you say is true, except not all vehicles built by Ford, GM, >>> > and
>>> > Chrysler meet the domestic content requirements (for instance >>> > Mustangs
>>> > and Fusions, don't qualify as domestic vehicles).
>>
>>> What domestic content requirements?
>>
>>> The only domestic content requirements is that the content be
>>> displayed on a label on the window at the showroom.
>>
>> It goes like this.....The domestic content figures into CAFE
>> regulations, but things are complicated. The window sticker
>> reflects US/Canada content. Fuel economy rules include
>> US/Canada/Mexico content. So for some vehicles (Fusion for
>> instance), the window stickers might indicate a relatively low
>> "Domestic" content (since the cars are assembled in Mexico, with a
>> significant number of Mexico sourced parts) but still count as
>> domestic vehicle for CAFE rules. Other vehicles (maybe the Mustang)
>> count as imports for CAFE. It is very difficult to find a list of
>> which vehicles fall into which category. Overall fleet averages are >> easy to find
>>

>> Files/Nov2008_CAFE_Performance.pdf). For instance, Fords 2008 >> "domestic" passenger car fleet's CAFE average was 29.8 mpg (thru >> November 2008) and Ford's "import" passenger car fleet's CAFE >> average was 30.6 mpg (thru November 2008). Unfortunately I can't >> find a breakdown of which cars are in which fleet. However, there >> clearly are Ford's that don't count as "Domestic" vehicles for >> purposes of CAFE. Likewise both GM and Chrysler have Domestic and >> Imported Passenger Car Fleets for purposes of CAFE regulations. To >> qualify as a domestic vehicle for CAFE purposes, the vehicle must >> have more than 75% US/Canada/Mexico content.>>

> Ed
>
>