How “American” is that car on the showroom floor? Answering that question isn’t quite as simple as you might expect.
For over a decade, Kogod School of Business professor of information technology and analytics Frank DuBois has set out to provide the most comprehensive, data-backed analysis in the US automotive sphere.
Earlier this fall, Dubois released the 2024 Kogod Made in America Auto Index, his yearly ranking of the automobiles with the most—and least—American-made features.
Far more detailed than comparable surveys, Dubois evaluates more than 500 car models each year on their country of origin and more than a half-dozen factors—considering not just the physical attributes of a car, but more “unseen” components like its parent company’s headquarters, and where the vehicle’s research and development took place.
With the help of publicly available data and visits to several car dealerships, Dubois’ 2024 auto index made some striking conclusions.
Electric vehicle giant Tesla occupied several of the top spots this year, followed—several spots down the list—by the Ford Mustang.
Also making a big jump: the Volkswagen ID.4 EV, following the company’s move to shift its manufacturing facility for the vehicle from Germany to Tennessee.
Meanwhile, tariffs proposed by President-elect Donald Trump threaten to shake up the auto landscape in 2025, all as the industry contends with recent years’ surging demand for EVs — boosted by $7,500 tax credits offered as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
We spoke with Professor DuBois about how his rankings have evolved since beginning the annual index in 2013.
DuBois: I came up with this index based on other critical items besides just those four factors—percentage of car value that are US and Canadian car parts, country of origin for engine and transmission, and final assembly location— that were in the American Automotive Labeling Act (AALA).
I tried to bring in these other factors like where did the research and development take place? What percentage of the value of the car is from R&D? What percentage of the car is US-sourced labor? Where does the transmission come from? Where is inventory coming from? Where is the engine, and the body, interior, and intellectual part of that?
So, basically, I was adding more variables to the calculation over and above just looking at US and Canadian sourcing.