Most (And Least) American-Made Cars For 2020

With the 4th of July on the horizon, we’re starting to get into a patriotic swing of things. When it comes to the automotive industry, one would assume that doing the most patriotic thing is to buy a vehicle from one of The Big Three. Not only do these brands employ millions of Americans, but they all boast about building vehicles in the country, too. That’s rarely the truth, though, as import brands usually dominate any type of American-made lists. For 2020, Cars.com put out its American-Made Index and, surprisingly, there quite a few American carmakers near the top.

Here are the top 10 vehicles from the entire list of 91 from most to least American-made 2020 vehicles.

1. Ford Ranger
2. Jeep Cherokee
3. Tesla Model S
4. Tesla Model 3
5. Honda Odyssey
6. Honda Ridgeline
7. Honda Passport
8. Chevrolet Corvette
9. Tesla Model X
10. Chevrolet Colorado

Compared to last year’s 2019 American-Made Index, the 2020 list of vehicles is surprising. Last year, Toyota and Acura had multiple models make it into the top 10. For 2020, a lot of those vehicles now sit within the top 20. Instead, only three models in the top 10 come from an import brand.

Tesla and Honda dominate the top 10 list with three models each. Tesla’s the biggest surprise here, as the automaker was missing entirely from the 2019 American-Made Index. For 2020, the electric automaker has three out of the four vehicles it produces make the list, all of which are built in Fremont, CA. Once again, Honda impresses with multiple vehicles in the top 10, with the Odyssey leading the way forward as the brand’s top American-made model.

While Ford now takes the number one spot with the Ranger, we’re surprised to see the F-150, Mustang, Expedition, and Explorer finish lower down the list. Out of those four models, the Expedition finishes the highest in 20th. Toyota’s absence of a vehicle within the top 10 is surprising, too. Last year, the automaker had two vehicles – the Avalon and Tundra – within the top 15 vehicles, but 2020 sees Toyota drop out of the top 15 entirely. The Tundra is now its highest-ranking vehicle in 16th place. The Camry, which was the top-ranking vehicle on the outlet’s American-Made Index in 2016, now sits in 41st place.

A lack of vehicles high up on the list from one of FCA's many brands is surprising, too. Besides, Jeep, Dodge only has one vehicle on the list – the Durango that sits in 45th place – while the Ram 1500 (47th) and Ram 1500 Classic (63rd) are well behind other brands. Chrysler isn’t even on the list.

Cars.com also put out a list containing its estimate of how many passenger vehicles each major automaker sells in the U.S. that are also built here. Here are the top 9, including the industry average, from highest to least.

1. Tesla: 100%
2. Ford: 79.9%
3. Honda: 67.2%
4. FCA: 61.2%
5. Industry Average: 51%
6. Subaru: 50.1%
7. GM: 48.4%
8. BMW: 47.7%
9. Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi: 46.1%
10. Toyota: 43.9%

If purchasing a vehicle that’s built in America is important to you, Cars.com’s American-Made Index is a good resource to use for shopping, but it’s certainly not perfect.

To make the 2020 index, Cars.com looks at five major factors: final assembly location, country of origin for all available engines, country of origin for all available transmissions, percent of parts from the U.S. and Canada, as well as the number of manufacturing employees in the U.S. relative to an automaker’s respective footprint. Compared to its American-Made Index from last year, the outlet made a change in the way it looked at the amount of workforce an automaker has in the U.S. compared to the number of vehicles it manufactures in the country. Last year, the index factored workforce against U.S. sales.

Since automakers aren’t required to provide data under the American Automobile Labeling Act on vehicles that weigh more than 8,500 pounds, you won’t find any of those on the list. Furthermore, automakers that build less than 1,000 vehicles a year are excluded from the list because of a lack of information. Fleet-only cars and cars that are set to be discontinued after the current model year without an American-built successor are also excluded.

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