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Pickup trucks are as much an icon of life in the U.S.A. as baseball and apple pie. Whenever a headline announces this automaker or that automaker is moving some truck production south of the border, people freak out. But the truth is that all of the Detroit Threeā€“Ford, General Motors, and Dodgeā€“build at least some truck models in Mexico.

Ram probably builds the most pickup trucks in Mexico. Some of its half-ton ā€œRam 1500 Classicā€ trucks are assembled in its Saltillo plant. It looks like the Rams 1500 Classics with a regular cab are more likely to be built there because that configuration is more popular in Mexico. The Saltillo plant also assembles every single heavy-duty Ram truck: 2500s, 3500s, and beyond. In addition, almost all Ram engines come from Mexico. This includes all V8s and the new twin-turbocharged I6s for the 2025 model year.

Heavy duty Ram pickup truck in Saltillo, Mexico
Ramā€™s Saltillo plant | Stellantis

General Motors has two truck brands: Chevrolet and GMC. But Chevy and GMC trucks are mechanically identical and built in the same factories. The only trucks GM builds in Mexico are some of the half-ton ones: Chevrolet Silverado 1500s and GMC Sierra 1500s. All of the automakers heavy duty trucks and midsize trucks (the GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado) are assembled in the U.S.A.

Ford offers the only full-size truck lineup completely assembled in the U.S.A. That said, almost all of its V8 engines come to Detroit from across the river in Windsor, Canada. Every single Ford Maverick is assembled at the companyā€™s Hermosillo plant in Mexico.

Want to know where you truck is assembled? Look at its VIN. If the first digit is 2, it was assembled in Canada. Mexico: 3. And for the U.S., 1,4, or 5.

Itā€™s tough to rank the most ā€œmade in the U.S.A.ā€ trucks. There is the location where they are assembled. But thereā€™s also where their parts come from. Trucks that are half-ton and smaller must display the location of their assembly and the percentage of their parts that hails from the U.S.A. and/or Canada on the window sticker. Using this data, Cars.com ranked the most U.S.-made trucks. Hereā€™s the 2023 list:

  1. Honda Ridgeline
  2. Toyota Tundra
  3. Jeep Gladiator
  4. Ram 1500
  5. Hyundai Santa Cruz
  6. GMC Canyon/Chevrolet Colorado
  7. Ford F-150 Lightning EV
  8. Toyota Tundra Hybrid
  9. Nissan Titan
  10. Ford F-150 Hybrid
  11. Nissan Frontier
  12. Ford F-150
  13. Ford Ranger
  14. Ram 1500 Classic
  15. GMC Sierra 1500/Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Most folks want a truck built in the U.S.A. because they want to keep their hard-earned money here. But this is actually a complex decision. If you want to support the business-people, engineers, and marketing teams working in the U.S., your best bet is to buy a truck from a company headquartered here. But if you ware looking for as much of your money to go to factory workers in the U.S. as possible, you might consider a different brand.

Next, read how only 1 Jeep landed on the American-made list, or see more about how U.S.-made your car is in the video below: