These days, your German, Japanese or Korean car is just as likely to be imported from the assembly line in Tennessee, Kentucky or Georgia as it is from Stuttgart, Tokyo or Seoul.
Foreign car-makers have been manufacturing sedans, sportscars, SUVs and trucks in the United States since Toyota made world headlines in the 1980s when it opened the first foreign car factory in the United States, in Georgetown, Kentucky, where the Camry is produced.
Since then, Toyota has been joined by Honda, Nissan, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Kia/Hyundai.
There are nearly 700,000 people employed in motor vehicle manufacturing in the United States, and a growing number are employed by foreign car companies building vehicles closer to the customers who buy them.
According to press release from the company: In January 2012, BMW announced it will invest nearly $900 million and add 300 new jobs in its South Carolina plant. By the end of 2012, BMW will employ nearly 7,500 people, able to produce up to 300,000 vehicles a year.
The expansion announcement was made during a ceremony to commemorate a major production milestone – 2,000,000 vehicles have rolled off the assembly line since the company began U.S. production in 1994. The factory, in Spartanburg, produces the X3, X5 and X6 SUVs and the Z3 and Z4 sportscars, which are exported to 130 markets worldwide.
Mercedes-Benz makes the M-Class and GL-Class SUV and R-Class wagon at its factory in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. The sprawling facility uses enough energy daily to power 8,400 single-family homes.
VW opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2011. The $1 Billion facility is the first and only automotive manufacturing plant in the United States to receive the top LEED Platinum certification. The plant builds the fuel efficient Passat sedan, and will manufacture the new Passat replacement in 2013, not yet named.
VW corporate sibling Audi has announced plans to build a factory in the United States, in 2013 or 2014.
The Honda Accord is made in Marysville, Ohio, and Honda is adding production of the Acura NSX hybrid sportscar in Ohio. According to Bloomberg News, 87 percent of Hondas sold in the United States are manufactured in the United States.
According to ABC News, 80 percent of Camrys made in America contain American-made parts, compared with 65 percent in the Ford Escape, made in America by an American manufacturer.
So, it’s not just the name on the hood, its’s inside, including upholstery, sheet metal, engine, even the wiring for the dashboard.
Nissan has an assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, near its U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The factory covers 5.2 million square feet, and can produce 500,000 vehicles annually at full capacity. This is the only Nissan factory in the United States. It produces the Altima and Maxima sedans, the Xterra and Pathfinder SUVs, and the Frontier truck.
The Kia factory in West Point, Georgia, near the state line with Alabama, builds the Kia Sorento and Hyndai Santa Fe SUVs, and the Kia Optima sedan. The Hyundai Elantra is built at another factory in Montgomery.
Most automotive assembly lines offer factory tours. If you’ve never been on a car factory tour, it’s worth a special trip to an area you might not otherwise visit, for the experience of seeing how cars are put together, start to finish. The choreography of the assembly line is fascinating.
