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Is Your Auto Foreign or Domestic

Imports Now Harder to Pick Out

When it comes to automobiles and trucks, defining what automobiles are American-made defies even some experts.

Car and Driver magazine, arbiter of all things automotive, has given up trying.

The UAW -- which once banned imports from the parking lot of its international headquarters, Solidarity House in Detroit -- now suggests consumers buy so-called UAW-made automobiles, regardless of the manufacturer's nationality.

Is Your Auto Foreign or domestic?

This automobile line has been fuzzy for years, and it is getting even blurrier now with the proliferation of nonunion, German and Japanese auto plants across the South.

The Automobile Confusion:

Joint manufacturing ventures between U.S. and Japanese automakers, such as General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp.

Daimler-Benz AG's 1998 merger with Chrysler Corp.

Overseas shopping sprees by Ford and GM. In the last 13 years, Ford bought up Jaguar automobiles Ltd., Land Rover, Volvo Car Corp. and Aston-Martin Lagonda Ltd., while GM acquired Saab Automobile AB and took control of Daewoo Motor.

Some of the best-known U.S. nameplates are built in Canada and Mexico, like the Ford Windstar minivan, which is made in Canada, and some Dodge Ram pickups, which are made in Mexico. Some foreign brands are built by UAW workers, such as Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s Galant sedan and Eclipse coupe; while other foreign brands made in the United States are built by nonunion workers, such as the Toyota Camry midsize sedan made in Georgetown, Ky., and the Honda Odyssey minivan, built in Lincoln, Ala.

Csaba Csere, Car and Driver's editor-in-chief, said the magazine once evenly split its top-10 rankings between imports and domestics. In the last ten years, he said, "we gave that up because we couldn't tell what was domestic and what was an import anymore."

The overwhelming majority of automobile buyers in America don't care anymore. They're looking for a automobile that best suits their needs at the best price. They don't care where it comes from and what it's called.

As a consumer, you probably want the maximum amount of competition, the maximum amount of car dealerships and manufacturers competing for your business because you know you'll get the best price and the best value.

Auto Consumers also are getting more used to being a part of a global economy.

We travel all over the world when on vacations. . . . Getting all these advantages of a global market -- more selection, better prices, and higher value. The automobile market is just a good example of a market that used to be pretty much exclusively domestic. Now, over the years, it has gone completely global.

In Michigan, as blurry as the line between foreign and domestic automobiles has become, the UAW is still standing up to at least some foreign brands.

At the union's northern Michigan retreat, Black Lake, only automobiles made by the UAW or the Canadian Auto Workers are allowed inside the gate. All others -- park outside.

You will find much more on this topic at WorldsLargestNetwork.com