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Cars.com 2019 American-Made Index Reveals Impacts of Globalism: Over 60% of the Top 15 Vehicles Are Produced by Foreign AutomakersCHICAGO, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading digital automotive marketplace Cars.com (NYSE: CARS) today released its 2019 American-Made Index (AMI), which ranks the top 15 new vehicles that contribute most to the U.S. economy — based on criteria ranging from manufacturing plants and parts sourcing to factory jobs. As trade tensions reach a fever pitch, buying American is top of mind for many consumers. But longstanding globalization in the auto industry has blurred the lines of what's exactly American made. For complete information on the 2019 AMI, visit www.cars.com/ami. Take this year's index, where the Jeep Cherokee ranks as the most American-made vehicle of 2019. The Illinois-built SUV comes from Jeep, one of the most iconic American brands, yet it's produced by Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Nine other vehicles came from Honda or Toyota, both Japan-based automakers. Honda has seven models that made the index, including two from its Acura division. Among the top 10 vehicles, the Honda Passport, Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon and Acura RDX are new to the American-Made Index or return after an absence. The full list is as follows:
"Despite a lot of talk around new tariffs and the looming U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, few of the automakers in the top 15 indicated major manufacturing changes as a result," said Kelsey Mays, senior editor at Cars.com. "Even if they had, manufacturing can't change overnight. A single vehicle has tens of thousands of parts from third-party suppliers across the globe." Automakers still assemble around 120 models in the U.S. for the 2019 model year, with U.S.-built sales accounting for just over half of all new vehicles bought by consumers. Neither amount has changed significantly since the 2018 American-Made Index. A mounting list of sedans and hatchbacks have bitten the dust, but that stems from consumers' shift toward SUVs, which began before current trade pressures. "Tariffs or other changes in trade policy could have a major impact on consumers and the auto industry, including rising costs," Mays said. "It's no small task to move supply chains, much less alter where a car or its major components are built – both factors that influence AMI rankings. Such actions take years to plan, negotiate and implement." The AMI, an annual study produced since 2006, was supplemented by a 2019 Cars.com survey1 that probed attitudes about buying American, including:
"Just as the very definition of 'American made' is evolving in the face of consolidation among manufacturers and throughout the entire supply chain, so are attitudes about how important buying American is to car-shopping consumers," said Mays. "Younger generations aren't any less patriotic than past generations, but they likely don't prioritize buying American to the same extent as their parents and grandparents because they grew up with imported brands and digital access to goods from all over the world their entire lives." Mays said that millennials prize having access to information about economic impact, "which is why Cars.com developed the American-Made Index – to educate car shoppers on this often overwhelming purchase decision and give them the full picture to make informed decisions about which vehicle to buy." Cars.com's American-Made Index ranks cars based on five factors: assembly location, parts sourcing as determined by the American Automobile Labeling Act, U.S. factory employment relative to sales, engine sourcing and transmission sourcing. The company analyzed more than 100 U.S.-built vehicles to arrive at the top 15 most American models on the market. For more information on the 2019 Cars.com American-Made Index, including a deeper dive into the data and methodology, visit www.cars.com/ami. 1Cars.com internal data. The 2019 American-Made Index surveyed over 1,000 participants from an independent, third-party provider. The survey fielded on June 3, 2019. ABOUT CARS.COM Cars.com properties include DealerRater®, Dealer Inspire®, Auto.com™, PickupTrucks.com® and NewCars.com®. For more information, visit www.Cars.com.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carscom-2019-american-made-index-reveals-impacts-of-globalism-over-60-of-the-top-15-vehicles-are-produced-by-foreign-automakers-300874032.html SOURCE Cars.com, Inc. |