<VV> Country of Origin - Virtually No Corvair, but interesting

[Sethracer at aol.com]

For reference not all Corvairs were built in the US. Canada, Switzerland,  
Mexico, Denmark, Belgium and Venezuela all assembled Corvairs. All Corvair  
engines - except maybe that Porsche designed prototype (just kidding) - were 
 made in the USA as were all stick and automatic transmissions. Just for 
fun, I  checked the sticker from my wife's 2009 Saturn Aura. US built and both 
engine  and transmission of US origin. Cool! (Especially since both my wife 
and I are  also of US origin) <grin>.  - Seth  
>From America On Line Autos - Written by Craig Howie 
It used to be pretty obvious which cars were built in the U.S. (Detroit's 
Big  Three of Ford, GM and Chrysler) and which weren't (everything else). 
Then in the  1980’s the Japanese started building cars here, which made for 
some interesting  arguments about what constituted an “American” car. But in 
today’s global  economy, it's even harder to answer the question: Is your car 
made in  America? 
Many consumers looking to buy an American-built vehicle are having a hard  
time finding one that's assembled here with 100-percent American-built  
components. That’s because it's actually impossible, at least if you’re talking 
 about buying a car from the major carmakers. 
Made In U.S.A. (Partly) 
For example, while Jeep's Patriot may be built in Belvedere, Ill., its  
transmissions originate in Mexico, Japan and Germany. Similarly Ford's  
Michigan-assembled Mustang may be as American as mom, Marines, and apple pie,  but 
its transmissions come from China, France, the U.K., and Mexico. Chrysler's  
PT Cruiser isn’t even built in the U.S. – it’s assembled in Toluca, 
Mexico,  though its transmission is U.S.-sourced. GM, meanwhile, builds its Chevy 
Camaro  in Canada and its GMC Sierra pickup in Mexico. 
Confusing? Yes. But that’s not the start of it. BMWs are now built in the  
U.S. and so are some Mercedes vehicles (in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and  
Vance, Alabama, respectively). With Japanese carmakers having established  
multiple assembly plants across the U.S. and American car companies 
operating  plants in Canada and Mexico lines are blurred further. 
So what makes a car American? It's a rancorous debate that's sure to rumble 
 on, but consumers can make up their own minds based on information that’s  
appeared on the labels of every new car for sale for years. This states 
where  the vehicle was assembled and where the engine and transmission 
originated. 
Mark Birmingham, an industry analyst at the Center for Automotive Research, 
 said consumers who want to buy American primarily should look at where the 
 vehicle is assembled, as often that indicates a large presence not just in 
 manufacturing. 
“There is something to be said for buying a Detroit ‘Big Three’ label,” 
he  said, “in the sense that all of administrative, development and 
white-collar  work is indirectly supported." 
Who Builds What Where? 
 
Ford’s Fusion, Fiesta, and Lincoln MKZ models are built in  Mexico, while 
the Edge, Flex, Lincoln MKX, and Lincoln MKT are built in Canada.  Other 
North American models are built in the U.S.

According to NHTSA documents provided to AOL Autos, Ford’s compact Focus is 
 assembled in Wayne, Mich., with 90 percent of its parts sourced from the 
U.S.  and Canada, but its transmission originates in Germany. While the 
Taurus is  assembled in Chicago, Ill., about 65 percent of its parts are of U.S. 
origin.  But its engine and transmission are both built in the U.S. 
The F-Series pickup truck, that most iconic of domestic vehicles, is  
assembled in Kansas City, Missouri, and Dearborn, Michigan, but with just 55  
percent of parts made in the U.S. or Canada. More than 15 percent of its parts  
come from Mexico, although all of its engines and both transmission systems 
are  built in the U.S. Some transmissions for the Mustang (assembled in 
Flat Rock,  Michigan) come from China. 
GM vehicles assembled in Canada include Chevrolet's Camaro, Equinox and  
Impala and the GMC Terrain, while vehicles built in Mexico include Cadillac's  
SRX and Escalade EXT, Chevrolet's Aveo, HHR, Silverado, and GMC's Sierra. 
GM  vehicles built in the U.S. include Buick's LaCrosse, Lucerne and Enclave, 
 Cadillac's CTS, DTS and STS-V, Chevrolet's Cruze, Corvette, Malibu and 
Tahoe,  and GMC's Yukon. 
According to figures from IHS Global Insight, of the GM vehicles assembled  
domestically, several Corvette engines are built in Canada, with several  
transmission variants originating in Mexico. Its Chevrolet Silverado 
(assembled  in Fort Wayne, Indiana) carries U.S.-built engines across all models, 
but  several transmissions are built in Mexico. For the Cadillac CTS assembled 
in  Lansing, Mich., several engines originate in Canada and Mexico, and the 
 transmissions for various models in the CTS range come from Japan, France, 
 Mexico, and the U.S. Some engines for GM's Chevrolet Cruze, assembled in  
Lordstown, Ohio, come from Szentgotthard, Hungary. 
Chrysler says about 61 percent of the components it uses for its Chrysler,  
Dodge and Jeep lines come from the U.S., while about 20 percent come from 
Mexico  and Latin America, about 10 percent from Canada and just under 10 
percent from  the rest of the world. It maintains large production facilities 
across the U.S.,  but also builds its 300 and Dodge Challenger and Charger, 
in Canada, and the PT  Cruiser in Mexico. 
Of the Big Three's foreign competition, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia all  
proudly trumpet their domestic-built credentials. (Honda was the first 
Japanese  carmaker to build a car plant in the U.S., in Marysville, Ohio., in 
1979, and  more Honda vehicles are now built in the U.S. than in Japan.) 
Toyota builds its  Camry and Avalon models in Georgetown, Kentucky, its Sienna 
and Highlander in  Princeton, Indiana, and has large plants in Huntsville, 
Alabama, and San  Antonio, Texas. Hyundai builds the Sonata and Elantra in 
Montgomery, Alabama,  and shares a plant in West Point, Georgia, with Kia, which 
recently celebrated  the 100,000th Sorento rolling off that line. 
Nissan and VW both have longstanding ties to Mexico, with plants in  
Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca (Nissan) and Puebla (VW). Nissan assembles its  
small cars like the Versa in Mexico and its larger truck and SUV lines in  
Smyrna, Georgia. VW imports all its vehicles into the U.S., though it will be  
opening a new plant in Tennessee. 
Mercedes-Benz assembles its ML-, R- and G-Class vehicles in Vance, Alabama, 
 with a U.S./Canadian parts content of 62 percent, but both its engines and 
 transmissions are unsurprisingly sourced from Germany. BMW, meanwhile, 
assembles  its X-series SUVs in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with mostly German 
 componentry. 
Electric carmaker Tesla's bodywork is completed by Lotus in England, and 
then  shipped to California for assembly. It will jointly develop electric 
cars with  Toyota at the NUMMI plant in Northern California. 
It's a little surprising that some excellent automotive products are born 
of  such a mix and muddle of production systems. But today's intertwined 
global  economy – and car market – ensures that no matter where it comes from, 
today's  cars mostly are built to high standards. 
Otherwise, Americans wouldn't buy them.