"Buying American" means buying foreign, and "Buying Foreign" means buying American

[Rybold]

"Many cars that you think were built in the USA might have come from our great northern neighbor, Canada, or down south in Mexico. While it might wear a badge that says Ford or Chevrolet...

"President Obama recently challenged the American public that if they were thinking 'about buying a new car, I hope it will be an American car,' ” Skinner says. "But sometimes we might think we are supporting our homeland when in fact we are contributing to the coffers of companies abroad."

Buick Lacrosse, Canada
Chevrolet HHR, Mexico
Chevrolet Aveo, Korea
Chevrolet Impala, Canada
Chrysler PT Cruiser, Mexico
Chrysler 300, Canada
Dodge Charger and Challenger, Canada
Ford Fusion, Mexico
Ford Flex, Canada
Lincoln MKX and Town Car, Canada
Mercury Grand Marquis, Canada
Mercury Milan, Mexico

As for cars with “foreign” brand names, Phil says many are actually built in the United States, including the Toyota Camry and Avalon, built in Georgetown, Ky.; BMW's Z4, built in Spartanburg, S.C.; and the Honda Element and Accord, built in East Liberty, Ill. (Odyssey is built in an assembly plant in Troy, Ohio).

The following link tells how you can look at the VIN number and tell where it was made:

If buying American is your preference, check the first digit of the VIN | Up to Speed | Los Angeles Times

[cwerdna]

Some other notable "foreign" cars built in the US:
Nissan Altima, Altima Hybrid, Maxima, Xterra, Frontier, Pathfinder, Quest, Armada, Titan: Smyrna, TN or Canton, MI (http://www.nissanusa.com/about/corpo...h-america.html). I hear that QX56 production got moved back to Japan.
Acura TL: Marysville, OH
Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc., Marysville, Ohio - Products mentions that the Accord, CR-V, Element are also made in Ohio
some Toyota Corollas: Fremont, CA (ending March 2010 when NUMMI is closed down )
Subaru Tribeca, Outback, Legacy and some Toyota Camrys: Lafayette, IN (Subaru of Indiana Automotive INC)
Hyundai Santa Fe and Sonata: Montgomery, AL (http://www.hmmausa.com/vehicles.aspx)
BMW X5 and X6: Spartanburg, SC (http://www.bmwusfactory.com)
Mercedes ML, R-class, and GL-class - Tuscaloosa County, AL (http://www.mbusi.com/)

[fuzzy1]

Because of how heavily intertwined the U.S. and Canadian auto industries are, and treaty obligations requiring a Canadian-made auto be sold in the U.S. for every U.S.-made car sold in Canada, I cannot regard 'Canada' as 'foreign' for the purposes of this argument.

In fact, the Monroney stickers I've looked at generally include Canadian content in the domestic portion of the label, not the the foreign portion, because the two are so often indistinguishable.

[JimboPalmer]

Much of America is not in the US.

America is two continents, some part of which is the US. Both Mexico and Canada are part of North America. You may wish to reconsider your Title to this thread.

[ljbad4life]

Buying "American" means buying a Tesla at this point (and phoenix electric cars and aptera). All those companies are 100% built in the USA.

As far as the semantics of America is bigger than the USA, Sure it is, but no other country uses America in it's name. I should be able to call my self dominican, there are plenty of dominican places in the world the Dominican republic isnt the only one.

[cwerdna]

Originally Posted by ljbad4life

Buying "American" means buying a Tesla at this point (and phoenix electric cars and aptera). All those companies are 100% built in the USA.

Huh? I don't think that's right. AFAIK, the Telsa Roadster's body is built in England by Lotus. There are also some carryover parts from the Lotus Elise.

[Jimmie84]

The Cummins filtration plant in Iowa, is moving that part of it's operation to Mexico. Some 400 employees will be out of a job but, Cummins will be assisting those people.

TruckingInfo.com : We've got trucking covered. Your Source for Trucking News and Information

I was chatting with some of the employees there and yes, There are upset but Cummins has no choice. In order to keep the product at a low cost and to keep the company going, They have to get away out of the US to keep profits going.

There is a reason these businesses are leaving our country. Coupled with high taxes, EPA regulations, These places can't stay here.

The problem with buying a Toyota, Honda, Nissan, And Etc is the fact that the sales go back to the country where these busineses are operated.

[Zythryn]

Yes, the Tesla Roadster is produced overseas.
Current plans are that the Model S will be built here in the USA.

[fuzzy1]

... The problem with buying a Toyota, Honda, Nissan, And Etc is the fact that the sales go back to the country where these busineses are operated.

But they still leave a huge chunk of parts and labor money here in the U.S./Canada, likely much more than the profit dollars shipped to Tokyo.

That Chevy Monroney sticker I looked at, built elsewhere with 1% American content, not only left virtually no parts and labor money here, it also brought essentially no profit to Detroit. And for its size, it didn't sufficiently cut the amount of our oil money that gets shipped to the Middle East / Venezuela / Russia.

[ljbad4life]

Originally Posted by cwerdna

Huh? I don't think that's right. AFAIK, the Telsa Roadster's body is built in England by Lotus. There are also some carryover parts from the Lotus Elise.

Oh I was under the impression that Lotus supplied the parts, but tesla assembled them here. So I stand corrected.