Toyota, not Detroit, tops American-Made vehicle index

"The Cars.com American-Made Index provided a distorted picture to US consumers. Its research result ignored an important factor that one OEM may have a product made in US with high US contents, but in the meantime also sells the same product imported from its home country. For example, import vehicles still account for more than 40% of Toyota total US sales (see

You are confusing the north American parts content with American made parts and materials. The "North American Parts" label includes parts merely assembled in north America from imported parts and materials. Even Camry's, imported from Japan, carry the same "North American Parts" label that is on Camry's that are assembled in the US and they do not have a single part, or any material made in the US.

The 40% is for Toyota ONLY not all of T.M.C.. The latest report from the US Commerce Department says the percentage of imported vehicles sold in the US by "Toyota Motor Company of Japan," has gone UP from 52% in 2007 to 57% in 2009, the last year of record.

Toyota is selling more of their Toyota hybrid, small and midget cars and Lexus vehicles, that are made in Japan and fewer American assembled Camry's, because of increased demand for small and midget cars and declining Camry and Scion sales in the US.

Mike you are confuused [again]. The domestic parts content label (really a US/Canada content label) reflects the average domestic content for a a prticualr model line and includes both imported and domestically built models. In the case of Camry's, when a significant number were imported, the average shown on the label refelcted the fact that the imported Camry's had a very low domestic content (very low probably being 0%). The label was an estimate based on Toyota's projected estimated volume for the relative numbers of US built and imported Camry's (and the realive installation of various options). So while domestically built Camry's might have had a very high domestic content (say 95%), the label would have had a lower number becasue of averaging the imported models into the mix. You can see this same sort of problem with prior model Mustangs (say 2006) - no matter what engine / transmission combination (V6 or GT) they all got the same domestic content label, yet the V6 automatic models had a German built engine and a French built transmission, while the manual GT models hada US made engine and transmission. Clearly they didn't have the same domestic content despite the labeling.

The following explanation is from

Each new passenger motor vehicle must be labeled with the following six items of information:

1. The percentage U.S./Canadian equipment (parts) content;
2. The names of any countries other than the U.S. and Canada which individually contribute 15 percent or more of the equipment content, and the percentage content for each such country (a maximum of two countries);
3. The final assembly point by city and state (where appropriate), and country;
4. The country of origin of the engine;
5. The country of origin of the transmission; and
6. A statement which explains that parts content does not include final assembly (except the engine and transmission), distribution, or other non-parts costs.

The percentage U.S./Canada equipment content, as well as content percentages for other countries are calculated on a "carline" basis rather than for each individual vehicle and may be rounded to the nearest 5 percent. The term "carline" refers to a name of a group of vehicles which has a degree of commonality in construction, e.g., body and chassis. Light duty trucks are considered to be different carlines than passenger cars. A carline includes all motor vehicles of a given nameplate.

Vehicle manufacturers must calculate the equipment content percentages for their carlines prior to the beginning of the model year. They estimate the number of vehicles and subgroups of vehicles that will be built within each carline, e.g., the number of base level and high-line models. For each carline, the calculation of U.S./Canadian content percentage also includes:

1. The U.S./Canadian content (by value) of each item of motor vehicle equipment that will be used to assemble the vehicles within the carline;
2. The total value of each equipment item, i.e., the price the manufacturer will pay for it (this information is typically provided by the manufacturer's suppliers); and
3. The total number of each of the equipment items that will be used to assemble the vehicles within the car line during the model year.

When optional equipment is offered for vehicles within the carline, the vehicle manufacturer estimates the installation rates for that equipment. For example, if vehicles are offered with a manual and automatic transmission, the manufacturer will estimate how many vehicles will be built with each transmission

Ed

Search the US Department of Commerce site for the truth, would be my advice. ;)

That was my point the DELL is confusing to the average buyer and does not reflex the "US content" properly.

Don't waste your time. Mike is making up the US Commerce Department site. It does not eexist and Mike knows it.

Ed