American-made Index: Tesla wins with four out of the 10 most American-made cars

With Independence Day officially upon us, it’s only fitting for auto fans to wish the U.S. a happy birthday by noting the most American-made vehicles. And being that Tesla’s electric vehicles account for so many of the country’s top 10 most American-made vehicles, it’s especially worth celebrating for fans of the U.S. automaker.

A new study conducted by Cars.com shows that Tesla represents four out of the 10 most American-made cars, as detailed in a report from Business Insider. Of Tesla’s cars on the list, the Model Y landed the first spot on the publication’s 2022 American-Made Index, with the Model 3 ranking second. In fifth and sixth place were the Model S and Model X, only falling behind the Lincoln Corsair and the Honda Passport.

The American-Made Index analyzed 95 different vehicle origins based on five pieces of criteria: assembly location, parts content, engine origin, transmission origin and overall U.S. manufacturing workforce.

The original study says that final assembly locations are “arguably the most important factor for index qualification,” taking place at 48 car factories in the U.S., run by 16 major automakers. Tesla currently manufactures all four of its models at its Fremont, California plant, in addition to manufacturing multiple variants of the Model Y at the automaker’s new Gigafactory Texas in Austin.

Above: Cars.com's 2022 American-made Index. YouTube: Cars.com

In addition to Tesla’s vehicles, 10 other EVs made it into the study, including the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Polestar 3 and the Volkswagen ID.4, among others. The study also showed data for the remainder of vehicles that didn’t make the top 20 cut, finding the five least American-made vehicles, in order from least to most, to be the Hyundai Elantra, the GMC Sierra 1500, the Chevy Silverado 1500, the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic.

Another noteworthy gem from the study includes the fact that a recent survey found a 21 percent increase year over year in consumer interest in buying hybrid or all-electric vehicles for their next auto purchase. Despite a pandemic riddled with supply chain issues and inflation hitting the auto industry, demand for EVs continues to increase as more models become available.

To be sure, Tesla has led the charge for the electrification of global auto markets, and the impacts are no less evident than in the U.S. market. Even as the automaker expands its global reach with the new Gigafactory Berlin, Tesla is undeniably the most American-made brand for the current U.S. market — though it’s tough to say what the next few years and added competition could bring.

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