Honda is Leading Automaker in Cars.com 2022 American-Made Index
Photo: Honda
Don’t be fooled into thinking that it takes an American badge for a car to be American made. According to the Cars.com 2022 American-Made Index, Honda is tied as the leading automaker for American-made vehicles, with four models in the top 10. It also had seven models in the top 20, more than any other manufacturer.
These models were the Honda Passport SUV (ranked 4th), the Honda Ridgeline pickup (8th), Honda Odyssey minivan (9th), and Honda Pilot SUV (10th). All of these models are assembled in Honda’s plant in Lincoln, Alabama. The Acura MDX, RDX, and TLX, all assembled in either East Liberty or Marysville, Ohio, were ranked 14th to 16th.
Not Just American Made: Additional reasons to buy a Honda
Every year, Cars.com evaluates what cars can be most considered American based on a variety of factors. It looks at where the cars are assembled, where its standard and optional powertrain components are manufactured, how many of its parts come from either the U.S. or Canada, and how many manufacturing employees the company has in the U.S. relative to the number of cars it sells in the country. Fleet-only vehicles are excluded from the data.
“The Honda Passport’s exceptional U.S. and Canadian parts content of 75% — a requirement of the original AMI and a bar dozens of models once met — is the highest of any qualifying vehicle for 2022 and helps buoy its ranking,” wrote Cars.com editor Patrick Masterson.
Photo: Honda
As in the 2021 study, Honda may have a lot of models in the top 10, but it isn’t quite the top brand when looking at the share of sales from domestic assembly. Tesla is the only manufacturer who assembles, in the U.S., 100% of the vehicles it sells there. The next three are all within just a few percentage points of each other: Stellantis (72.3%), Ford (70.8%), and Honda (69.4%). Rounding out the top five is the Renault-Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, well behind at 56%.
Nonetheless, Honda remains the top non-American brand in the Cars.com American-Made Index, performing at the same level as most of the top American brands and well ahead of General Motors.
In other words, if you’ve been looking at Honda cars because you find their features appealing, but have been hesitating because you also want to support American manufacturing…you can stop hesitating.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.