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What Is the Most American-Made Vehicle: Here Are the 2020 Rankings

There is a study released each year ranking American-made content in cars and trucks. The Kogod Made in America Auto Index is out for 2020 measuring US content in vehicles. Here are the rankings for the most American cars. The Ford Ranger tops the list, beating last year’s winner the Chevy Corvette and Volt The …

There is a study released each year ranking American-made content in cars and trucks. The Kogod Made in America Auto Index is out for 2020 measuring US content in vehicles. Here are the rankings for the most American cars.

The Ford Ranger tops the list, beating last year’s winner the Chevy Corvette and Volt

An American flag flies from the window of a 2019 Ford Ranger pickup truck
An American flag flies from the window of a 2019 Ford Ranger pickup truck | Getty

The Ford Ranger tops the list, beating last year’s winner the Chevy Corvette and Volt. However, General Motors has the most domestic content overall. “Introduced last year after an eight-year hiatus, this year’s Ranger now boasts a US-sourced engine, as well as a jump in US/Canadian parts content from 50 to 70 percent,” the index says. “Its domestic content score is 85 compared to its score of 61 in 2019.”

Kogod uses the American Automobile Labeling Act and the American University of Washington, DC, data. It combines the US and Canadian components and then computes a single number. “The rule permits an automaker to take a part that might only have 70 percent to round up to 100 percent U.S./Canadian,” Frank DuBois, director of the study, told Automotive News. 

Last year’s winners Corvette and Volt each scored 84 in last year’s survey. This year the Corvette came in third with a score of 82. There were 372 vehicles in total surveyed for 2020. Of those 73 scored only a 1 overall. Bumping some out of the top 10 this year is Tesla. This is the first year more data was available to determine a score. 

Data compiled overall by manufacturers for US-made vehicles put GM at the top

American made car
American made car | Getty

Data compiled overall by manufacturers for US-made vehicles put GM at the top again this year. It scored 70.6% on average for all of its US-manufactured products. Last year it scored an even 70%. For overall vehicle production, GM fell to 58.2% from last year’s 58.5%. 

Coming in second is Ford with 67.6% content on its US-made products. Last year it scored 70%. Both Ford and Fiat Chrysler tied for overall domestic content with 55%. Last year Ford scored 57%. GM had 11 cars in the top 10 this year. Ford followed that with seven in the top 10. 

For whatever reason Tesla is not forthcoming with studies like this. However, researchers were able to acquire data to be able to include Tesla in the survey. It tied in fifth place for both the Model S and Model Y. They were followed by the Model 3 and Model X tied for ninth place. 

Honda comes in second only to GM in this category

Old decals in window of car
The UNITED STATES – CIRCA 1969: Decals for “Ashbury Park”, an American Flag and “Atlantic City” on car window | Getty

The total domestic product looks at the average for all cars. It shows the extent a manufacturer “serves the US market from a local base. “ For non-US-headquartered manufacturers, Honda leads by a wide margin. It comes in second only to GM in this category.

In case you were wondering, Volvo finished last as a manufacturer with 30% overall domestic content. Just above Volvo was BMW with only 33.3%-exactly one-third.