Car Brands Made in USA: Plants, HQ and Parts Content (2026)

Ask which car brands are made in the USA and you get three different answers, because three different things are being measured: where the company is headquartered, where the car is put together, and where its parts come from. A Ford is an American brand, but a particular Ford may be assembled in Canada or Mexico. A Honda is a Japanese brand, but a Honda Accord is assembled in Marysville, Ohio.

This page separates the three. It gives a brand-by-brand table of US assembly plants and headquarters country, then explains what the federal parts-content label does and does not tell you, and what the 2026 Cars.com American-Made Index found. If your real question is who owns a badge, see our guide to which company owns which car brand. If you are asking about Chinese-built models, see whether Chinese-made cars are sold in the USA.

Car Brands Made in the USA: Headquarters vs Assembly Plant

The table below lists each brand group’s headquarters country and examples of where its vehicles are assembled in the US. The plant examples come from the Cars.com 2026 American-Made Index (published June 23, 2026, model year 2026). They are examples of models in that index, not a complete plant list for each company. A brand with a US plant can still import other models, so the last column says what to check.

Brand group	Headquarters country	US assembly examples (model: city)	What to check
Ford and Lincoln	United States	Expedition and Navigator: Louisville, KY; Explorer and Aviator: Chicago; F-150: Dearborn, MI or Claycomo, MO; Bronco and Ranger: Wayne, MI	Mustang is listed as Flat Rock, MI or Oakville, Canada
Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac (GM)	United States	Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon and Escalade: Arlington, TX; Colorado and Canyon: Wentzville, MO; Corvette: Bowling Green, KY; Lyriq: Spring Hill, TN	Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 are also listed at plants in Canada or Mexico
Jeep and Ram (Stellantis)	Netherlands (parent company Stellantis)	Gladiator: Toledo, OH; Grand Cherokee: Detroit; Ram 1500: Sterling Heights, MI	The brand name is American; the parent company is not
Tesla	United States	Model 3: Fremont, CA; Model Y: Fremont, CA or Austin, TX	Details in our Tesla factory guide
Honda and Acura	Japan	Accord: Marysville, OH; Ridgeline, Odyssey and Passport: Lincoln, AL; MDX and RDX: East Liberty, OH	Not every Honda is US-built
Toyota and Lexus	Japan	Camry: Georgetown, KY; Tundra: San Antonio, TX; Lexus TX 350: Princeton, IN; Corolla Cross Hybrid: Huntsville, AL	Not every Toyota is US-built
Kia	South Korea	EV9: West Point, GA	Most Kia models are built outside the US
Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen	South Korea; Germany	State level only: Alabama (Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz), South Carolina (BMW), Tennessee (Volkswagen)	Plant lists change by year; confirm on the maker site

Two lessons from the table. First, the same model can come from more than one country, so a brand-level answer is always incomplete. Second, headquarters country and assembly country point in opposite directions often enough that neither can stand in for the other. Headquarters tells you who controls the company; the assembly plant tells you where the final build work happens.

What the American Automobile Labeling Act Label Shows

The federal answer to this question is the parts-content label required by the American Automobile Labeling Act, which NHTSA implements in 49 CFR Part 583. Per NHTSA, the label on each new passenger vehicle gives the following information, and NHTSA publishes the annual reports on its NHTSA American Automobile Labeling Act reports page.

• The percentage of US and Canadian equipment (parts) content
• The names and percentages of up to two other countries that each contribute 15 percent or more
• The final assembly point: city, state where applicable, and country
• The country of origin of the engine
• The country of origin of the transmission

Three limits matter. The parts percentage combines the US and Canada, because the law does not separate them, so a high number does not prove American-made parts. The percentage is calculated for the whole carline and may be rounded to the nearest 5 percent, so it is not a precise figure for the exact car on the lot. And the label states that parts content excludes final assembly (other than the engine and transmission), so assembly labor is not counted in it.

In plain terms: the label tells you the assembly city and the engine and transmission origin for the specific car, plus a rough carline parts figure. That is far more useful than the badge on the grille.

How the 2026 Cars.com American-Made Index Ranks Vehicles

Cars.com publishes a yearly American-Made Index. Its 2026 edition is the 21st, was unveiled on June 23, 2026, and analyzed 379 light-duty model-year 2026 vehicles, according to press coverage. A vehicle has to be assembled at a US plant to qualify. Cars.com scores five factors on a 100-point scale: final assembly location, US and Canadian parts content from the AALA label, engine origin, transmission origin, and US factory employment relative to production. Cars.com does not publish the exact weighting, so the ranking is an editorial method, not a government standard.

The top 10 averaged 70 percent domestic parts content, and per Cars.com’s lead researcher nearly two-thirds of this year’s list was produced by foreign automakers. Here are the top 20 with the assembly location Cars.com lists for each.

Rank	Vehicle (model year 2026)	Brand group	US final assembly
1	Tesla Model 3	Tesla	Fremont, CA
2	Tesla Model Y	Tesla	Fremont, CA or Austin, TX
3	Jeep Gladiator	Stellantis	Toledo, OH
4	Jeep Grand Cherokee	Stellantis	Detroit
5	Honda Ridgeline	Honda	Lincoln, AL
6	Honda Odyssey	Honda	Lincoln, AL
7	Lexus TX 350	Toyota	Princeton, IN
8	Honda Accord	Honda	Marysville, OH
9	Acura MDX	Honda	East Liberty, OH
10	Honda Passport	Honda	Lincoln, AL
11	Toyota Camry	Toyota	Georgetown, KY
12	Lincoln Navigator	Ford	Louisville, KY
13	Ford Expedition	Ford	Louisville, KY
14	Lincoln Aviator	Ford	Chicago
15	Ford Explorer	Ford	Chicago
16	Acura RDX	Honda	East Liberty, OH
17	Kia EV9	Kia	West Point, GA
18	Acura Integra	Honda	Marysville, OH
19	Toyota Tundra	Toyota	San Antonio, TX
20	Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid	Toyota	Huntsville, AL

What the ranking corrects

The popular assumption is that American brands fill the top of any American-made list. In this index, Honda and Acura hold five of the top 10 places, and Toyota-built models take three of the top 20. Meanwhile, bestsellers from American brands sit lower: Cars.com lists the Ford F-150 at 28, the Chevrolet Corvette at 35, the Ram 1500 at 55, the GMC Sierra 1500 at 78 and the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 at 82. The Sierra and Silverado listings include plants in Canada or Mexico, which helps explain their position. For the brands behind those trucks, see what GM owns in our brand breakdown.

This is not a verdict that one badge is better. The Jeep Gladiator at number 3 shows an American-owned brand can score near the very top when a model is built at one US plant with high domestic content, and the same index places other American-brand models much lower.

American Brand Versus Built in the USA: The Honest Version

• American brand means the company’s headquarters or heritage is American. It says nothing about where a given car is assembled.
• Built in the USA means final assembly happened at a US plant. It says little about where the parts, engine or profits come from.
• High domestic parts content means a larger share of parts came from the US or Canada, per the AALA label, rounded and averaged across the carline.
• US jobs is a different measure again: Cars.com includes factory employment relative to production as one of its five factors.

Brand ownership also changes. Parents buy and sell badges, so an old assumption such as “Chrysler is American” can be out of date. Our guides on what Fiat owns and who makes Jaguar show how one badge can pass through several owners, and the pages on Genesis, Infiniti, Audi and Lucid cover brands where the answer is not the obvious one.

How to Check Any Car Before You Buy

• Read the window sticker for the specific car: final assembly point, engine and transmission origin, and parts percentage.
• Check the first character of the VIN, which indicates the country of final assembly: 1, 4 and 5 are the United States, 2 is Canada and 3 is Mexico.
• Compare models, not brands: two trims of one model can come from different plants, as the Mustang, F-150 and Silverado entries show.
• For a used car with no sticker, the VIN gives the same country answer, and the plant can usually be confirmed with the maker.
• Remember that the lists above are for model year 2026. Plants and sourcing change when a model is refreshed or moved.

If a model is built at several plants, the plant on the window sticker is the only reliable answer for that exact car.

Keep reading

• How Many Car Brands Are There? Global Count Explained (2026)
• Are American Cars Reliable? Proven Essential Facts
• Where Are Cars Made? Top Manufacturing Countries in 2026

Frequently Asked Questions About Car Brands Made in the USA

What car brands are made in the USA?

Almost every major brand sold here has at least one US assembly plant: Ford, Lincoln, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Jeep, Ram, Tesla, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Lexus and Kia all appear with US plants in the Cars.com 2026 American-Made Index. Brands without US plants, such as most European luxury marques, import their cars. The model matters more than the brand.

Are Toyota and Honda considered American cars?

Their parent companies are headquartered in Japan, so they are not American brands. Many of their models, though, are assembled in the US and score near the top of Cars.com’s 2026 index: five of its top 10 are Hondas or Acuras, and the Lexus TX 350 and Toyota Camry are on the top 20 list.

Is a Ford or Chevrolet always built in the USA?

No. Some models are built at more than one plant. Cars.com lists the Ford Mustang as built in Flat Rock, Michigan or Oakville, Canada, and the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 as built in Roanoke, Indiana; Oshawa, Canada; or Silao, Mexico. Check the label on the specific car.

What is the most American-made car?

Cars.com’s 2026 American-Made Index ranks the Tesla Model 3 first and the Tesla Model Y second, followed by the Jeep Gladiator, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Honda Ridgeline. Cars.com does not publish its exact scoring formula, so treat the ranking as one method, not an official government list.

How do I find out where a specific car was assembled?

Read the window sticker. Under the American Automobile Labeling Act, each new passenger vehicle carries the US/Canadian parts percentage, the final assembly point, and the engine and transmission country of origin. The VIN also encodes the country: its first character tells you the country of final assembly.

Data as of October 12, 2026: assembly locations from the Cars.com 2026 American-Made Index; label contents per NHTSA’s Part 583 listing. Plants and sourcing change, so confirm on the window sticker.