100% American Made Car

[Axtremus]

Is it possible to produce a new, 100% American made car?

Take, for example, the Ford F-series (supposedly the best-selling car in the USA in 2024) as the baseline. Build something with the same functionality, performance, and reliability -- and do it all in the USA.

Everything from raw material, for every component, every part, to final assembly. All sourced from the USA, all manufactured and assembled in the USA.

If you want, you can also add "no foreign worker" (e.g., only natural born citizens) are to work on that car's R&D, design, marketing, sale, and delivery to customers. You can also assume "no union" if you wish, no policy and no union rule that would limit automation. (And I also let you decide whether the robots/automation tools can be imported or must also be 100% American made.)

Can it be done? Can a new, 100% American made car as stipulated above be built?

How long would it take to get there, say, until the first such car is delivered to a customer?
How much will it cost (assuming no government subsidy) at retail?

[Mik]

Do you have a point here? Is anyone saying we could or should do this? It's a pretty outlandish proposition, especially when you get to the no foreign born workers. The American auto industry has always, in our lifetimes at least, had foreign made parts (i.e. Ford 351 Windsor).

[Axtremus]

Just want to see how close we can get to "100% American made" for automobiles.
The "no foreign worker" part is optional, as clearly qualified by the "if you want" verbiage right up front.

[Axtremus]

Bump.

[89th]

I haven't tracked this news story, too lazy to google. I heard 25% tax on consumers for any car imported to the USA. Does that just mean companies will do most of the work outside the country (e.g., Mexico) then bring it over for final assembly so they can stamp "Made in America" on it? Also... a car made in Mexico is American, btw.

[jon-nyc]

Possible in what sense? Like could you, today, source every last thing you need from the US, and have every subcomponent of every part also come from the US? I doubt it but I don’t know.

[LuFins Dad]

@89th said in 100% American Made Car:

I haven't tracked this news story, too lazy to google. I heard 25% tax on consumers for any car imported to the USA. Does that just mean companies will do most of the work outside the country (e.g., Mexico) then bring it over for final assembly so they can stamp "Made in America" on it? Also... a car made in Mexico is American, btw.

No, foreign made components are hit, too.

[LuFins Dad]

As far as possible? Sure. You would have to drop some of the more sophisticated electronics for the time being, and it surely would be much more expensive, but you could do it.

[Jolly]

32% of the Ford F-150 is made of American parts. The percentage goes up if the engine is the 2.7L turbo V6. Ford has 16 plants outside of the U.S.

[89th]

I was thinking about selling my CRV for something else, maybe Honda Pilot, for the family of 5... may hold off on that a while if the price might jump up $5-10k thanks to Trump's tax. Also... if car prices do go up that much (who knows), and later tariffs are removed, how motivated do you think manufacturers will be to suddenly lower the price that consumers just got used to paying?

[LuFins Dad]

@89th said in 100% American Made Car:

I was thinking about selling my CRV for something else, maybe Honda Pilot, for the family of 5... may hold off on that a while if the price might jump up $5-10k thanks to Trump's tax. Also... if car prices do go up that much (who knows), and later tariffs are removed, how motivated do you think manufacturers will be to suddenly lower the price that consumers just got used to paying?

Doesn’t that make this the time to do it? Before the tariffs take effect? Just saying…

[89th]

Yeah but I think you have to do it before like April 3rd, and I'm going to a water park next week. A very expensive water park trip, now, apparently.

[LuFins Dad]

@89th said in 100% American Made Car:

Yeah but I think you have to do it before like April 3rd, and I'm going to a water park next week. A very expensive water park trip, now, apparently.

The financing deals are pretty fair right now…

[jon-nyc]

I asked ChatGPT how many of the 10 cheapest economy cars are made in the US.

Determining the exact number of the ten cheapest economy cars sold in the U.S. that are manufactured domestically requires specific data on each model’s assembly location. However, based on available information, several of these affordable models are assembled within the United States. Here’s an overview:
1. Nissan Versa: Assembled in Mexico. 
2. Hyundai Venue: Assembled in South Korea.
3. Chevrolet Trax: The 2025 model is assembled in South Korea. 
4. Kia Soul: Assembled in South Korea.
5. Nissan Sentra: Assembled in Mexico. 
6. Kia K4: Assembled in Mexico.
7. Hyundai Elantra: Assembled in the United States at Hyundai’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama. 
8. Toyota Corolla: Assembled in the United States at Toyota’s plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi.
9. Volkswagen Jetta: Assembled in Mexico. 
10. Toyota Corolla Hatchback: Assembled in Japan.

Based on this information, two out of the ten cheapest economy cars—the Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla sedan—are assembled in the United States.

[xenon]

Corolla seems like it would be a winner on the face of things. But would that mean more profits flowing out of the US to Japan?

[LuFins Dad]

@jon-nyc said in 100% American Made Car:

I asked ChatGPT how many of the 10 cheapest economy cars are made in the US.

Determining the exact number of the ten cheapest economy cars sold in the U.S. that are manufactured domestically requires specific data on each model’s assembly location. However, based on available information, several of these affordable models are assembled within the United States. Here’s an overview:

1. Nissan Versa: Assembled in Mexico. 
2. Hyundai Venue: Assembled in South Korea.
3. Chevrolet Trax: The 2025 model is assembled in South Korea. 
4. Kia Soul: Assembled in South Korea.
5. Nissan Sentra: Assembled in Mexico. 
6. Kia K4: Assembled in Mexico.
7. Hyundai Elantra: Assembled in the United States at Hyundai’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama. 
8. Toyota Corolla: Assembled in the United States at Toyota’s plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi.
9. Volkswagen Jetta: Assembled in Mexico. 
10. Toyota Corolla Hatchback: Assembled in Japan.

Based on this information, two out of the ten cheapest economy cars—the Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla sedan—are assembled in the United States.

Assembled is the key word, here. Where are the parts coming from.

[jon-nyc]

Who knows. All of them have plenty of parts from abroad I would bet. And I don’t know how the tariffs are going to deal with that. Ironic that the Chevy will get penalized more than the Toyota.

[xenon]

Tariffs = massive inefficiencies through compliance and surface for corruption. We’ve already learned these lessons. It’s not theory.

[LuFins Dad]

[Jolly]

@xenon said in 100% American Made Car:

Tariffs = massive inefficiencies through compliance and surface for corruption. We’ve already learned these lessons. It’s not theory.

Catch Vance's speech today?