Originally Posted by cjriojas
Well said Chris!I am amazed...
Back in 1994, CAFE started classifying vehicles as import and domestic by where the actual vehicle was made. Vehicles made and produced in the United States, regardless of brand, are considered domestic, while vehicles produced outside the United States are considered imported.
However, many of us view a Toyota vehicle made in Ohio, a Nissan built in Kentucky, or a Mercedes-Benz vehicle made in Alabama as an import, while others view a Pontiac vehicle made in Australia as a domestic vehicle. This perception is due to the respective brands' longstanding association with their parent countries: Nissan with Japan, Audi with Germany, and Chevy with the United States.
To clear this obscurity, whether a vehicle can be labeled import or domestic can be easily determined. A vehicle must have labels specifying their percentage value of U.S./Canadian parts content, the country of assembly, and countries of origin of the engine and transmission. These are typically part of, or adjacent, to the vehicle's Monroney sticker. Each vehicle sold in the US carries a VIN, and the VIN identifies the vehicle's country of manufacture and what company made the vehicle. Vehicles manufactured in the US have VINs beginning with the numbers 1, 4, and 5 — regardless of where the company is based. Thus, a Toyota Camry made in the U.S. will have a 1, 4 or 5 at the start of its VIN, while one imported from Japan will begin with the letter J. Actually, ASE is the entity responsible for assigning the three-digit "World Manufacturer Identifier" that begins the VIN label. The VIN is assigned according to the dirt the plant's built on, not the headquarters of the company.
With all of this said, a Toyota Camry can be classified as a domestic vehicle, but as Chris and George have stated, the large number of profits do return to the country of origin. Toyota and Nissan, among others, do build plants and design studios here in the US, which puts their profit dollars back into the US economy, but the main portion of monies made goes back to Japan. The technical data I spoke of above classifies the individual VEHICLE, not the manufacturer as a whole. Bottom line, the manufacturer is based in a certain country, but an individual vehicle may be classified as domestic or import by CAFE here in the US.
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