How Global The Car Industry Really Is Now

Walk into any dealership and you’ll see badges from around the world. But here’s what most people don’t realize: those labels tell you almost nothing about where your car actually comes from. A “Made in America” sticker might hide parts from a dozen different countries, while that German luxury sedan could pack more American content than you’d think. The car business stopped being about borders years ago.

• Modern vehicles contain parts from an average of 8-12 different countries, with raw materials crossing borders multiple times during manufacturing.
• Major automakers now form partnerships and joint ventures with former competitors to share technology, platforms, and production facilities.
• Popular models like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry have higher U.S. and Canadian parts content than many vehicles from Detroit brands.

Your Car Comes From Everywhere

Take the Tesla Model Y. About 70 percent of its parts come from the United States, with another 20 percent from Mexico. The lithium for those batteries? That’s mined in Canada, Chile, Australia, Argentina, and China. Tesla has plants supporting Model Y production in China and Germany too. So when someone asks where that Model Y is from, the answer gets complicated fast.

The Honda Accord tells a similar story. Built in Ohio, it’s one of the most American cars you can buy. But the engine and transmission arrive from both Japan and the United States. Drive a Toyota Camry? It rolls off the line in Kentucky at Toyota’s biggest factory anywhere in the world. That plant makes axles, steering parts, and engines right there. Yet plenty of other components still ship in from Japan, Mexico, and Canada.

Why Parts Travel The Globe

Car companies hunt for the best combination of quality and price, no matter which country that leads them to. Steel might come from South Korea or Brazil. Rubber for tires gets sourced from Thailand, Indonesia, or Vietnam. Electronics? Probably made in China or Taiwan. Platinum and palladium for catalytic converters arrive from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Here’s where it gets really messy: a single part might cross three or four borders before ending up in your car. Materials get mined in one place, refined somewhere else, turned into components in a third location, then shipped to an assembly plant in yet another country. Try mapping that supply chain and you’ll need a really big chart.

When Competitors Team Up

Companies that used to duke it out in the marketplace now work together on everything from battery factories to software platforms. General Motors partnered with LG to build three battery plants in the U.S., each costing over $2 billion. Ford did the same thing with SK Industries, setting up joint facilities in the United States and Turkey.

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance pools resources from three separate brands. They share platforms, technology, and production facilities to cut costs and speed up development. Toyota and Subaru got together to create the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ sports cars. Same basic car, different badges. Volkswagen just dropped nearly $6 billion on a partnership with Rivian to share electric vehicle technology.

These partnerships blur the lines even more. When Toyota and BMW collaborate on sports car technology, or when Volkswagen invests in Chinese EV startup XPeng, the whole idea of domestic vs import cars starts falling apart. A “Japanese” car might use a German engine, American software, and Chinese batteries.

The Supply Chain Reality

A typical car has around 30,000 parts. Managing all those pieces means coordinating suppliers across multiple continents. China now produces more than 31 million vehicles a year, nearly triple what the U.S. makes. But Chinese manufacturers source engines from Germany, transmission systems from South Korea, and electronics from Taiwan.

According to recent data, only about 47 percent of parts in cars assembled in the United States actually originate from the U.S. or Canada. That’s down from 73 percent in earlier years. Mexico has become a huge player, handling final assembly for 19 percent of GM’s models and supplying parts to nearly every major brand.

The pandemic showed just how fragile these global networks can be. When chip factories in Taiwan shut down, car plants everywhere ground to a halt. Natural disasters in Japan disrupted supplies for months. One bottleneck anywhere in the chain creates problems everywhere else.

What This Means For Buyers

Shopping for a car based on where it’s “from” doesn’t make much sense anymore. That Honda might have more American jobs attached to it than a Chevrolet. That German luxury brand could be assembled in South Carolina with parts from Mexico and China. The Korean sedan sitting on the lot probably has a U.S.-made transmission.

Trade policies and tariffs make this even more confusing. When governments slap duties on imported parts or finished vehicles, they’re trying to draw lines around something that stopped being local decades ago. A 10 percent tariff on “foreign” cars hits vehicles with U.S.-made engines and American workers on the assembly line.

Looking At What Matters

Instead of worrying about badges and birthplaces, focus on what actually affects your ownership experience. How reliable is the car? What’s the warranty? Can your local shop get parts easily? Does the manufacturer have a good service network in your area? Those questions matter more than whether the door handles were stamped in Ohio or Osaka.

The car industry went global because it had to. No single country has everything needed to build a modern vehicle at competitive prices. The best steel comes from one place, the most advanced chips from another, the cheapest assembly labor from somewhere else. Companies that refused to adapt got left behind.

So next time someone tells you to “buy American” or avoid “foreign” cars, remember that your choices aren’t that simple anymore. Every car on the road today represents a truly international effort. The country on the badge stopped telling the whole story a long time ago.