These Are The Vehicles Data Shows Are The ‘Most American' For 2025

Forbes

5 hours ago

The Tesla Model 3 was named the "most American" car for 2005 based on a study conducted by Cars.com.
In decades past, the concept of 'Buy American' with regard to car, truck and SUV purchases was largely patriotic, supporting domestic automakers and their union autoworkers against the onslaught of what had been a tsunami of increasingly popular import models reaching U.S. shores in the 1980's.
It's now becoming a crucial financial consideration, thanks to import tariffs being slapped on vehicles and components imported from other countries. In addition to vehicles imported directly to the U.S., this includes domestic-branded cars and trucks assembled in Canada and Mexico, and the multitude of parts sourced from China, not to mention a hefty tariff being slapped on imported steel.
Some brands say they are in the position to absorb the added costs, at least for the time-being, while others will have no choice but to pass along all or part of the tariffs on to consumers and/or readjust their model mixes accordingly. Sources predict hikes to wind up as high as $5,000 to $10,000 on imported vehicles and $2,000-$3,000 on those built within U.S. borders.
What will surely muddy the proverbial waters for consumers is the fact that the lines between what is a domestic and what is an import vehicle have narrowed considerably over the years.
More Asian and European brands (Hyundai, Kia, BMW, etc.) have been setting up shop to both build and sell vehicles to U.S. car buyers and even export them to other countries. The traditional 'Big Three' domestic brands now build or all or part of certain vehicle lines in Canada (Chevrolet Silverado 1500) and Mexico (Ford Maverick, GMC Sierra 1500), with some crossing borders more than once on the way to dealers' showrooms. Some are imported entirely from other countries like South Korea (Buick Encore GX and Envista), and are rebranded for U.S. sales
To help consumers make informed choices in this regard, and being especially valuable to help them skirt as much as any added-on tariff costs as possible, Cars.com has compiled its annual American-Made Index that details which cars, trucks and SUVs can be considered the 'most-American' vehicles for the 2025 model year.
The study found that Tesla vehicles are by far the purest domestic rides on the road, with the Models 3, Y, S and X topping the list in that order. Eight models among the top 20 come from Honda/Acura, which in and of itself shatters the notion of what is and what isn't a true American vehicle.
Two of the only three domestic-badged entries among the top 20 come from Jeep, a brand with bona fide patriotic roots, with the other being the Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck. Counting the Teslas, seven of the 20 most American models are either full electric or hybrid-powered models.
However, what most might consider the most American vehicle of all, the industry's top-selling Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck, winds up at number 37 on the website's domestic-content list. That's 30 places below the seventh-ranked midsize car-based Honda Ridgeline pickup by virtue of the latter being built exclusively in the U.S. using higher percentages of domestic content.
The lowest-ranked domestic-badged model is the full-electric Cadillac Lyriq, sitting at number 98 out of 99 vehicles ranked, with the list being anchored by the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. only sitting above the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid in this regard. Of note, all of the 99 models on the Most American list have at some component of final assembly in the U.S.
You can find Cars.com's Most-American Index with all 99 models ranked here.
Ratings are based on five key factors graded on a 100-point basis: the location of final assembly; the U.S. manufacturing workforce employed (if any); the percentage of U.S. and Canadian-sourced parts; the country of origin for available engines and the countries of origin for available transmissions.
Much of this information is required by federal law to be included on the pricing sticker affixed to all light-duty vehicles sold in the U.S.. Consumers can also long onto the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website, which posts the percentages of domestic and foreign content in cars from past and current model years.
One significant caveat, however, is that the above-mentioned labeling law treats Canadian (though not Mexican) parts and assembly as essentially coming from the U.S. The Cars.com American Made Index helps to compensate for this anomaly by factoring in the countries of origin for engines and transmissions, as noted above, to more prominently weigh in a given model's two most cost-intensive components.
Also, since federal requirements don't mandate calling it out, Cars.com analyzes each automaker's domestic workforce that's directly involved in vehicle assembly and parts manufacturing, and factors that data against that manufacturer's U.S. output relative to the industry overall.
Excluded are heavy-duty vehicles, low-production models and those not yet on the market as of spring 2023 or ones that are being discontinued or with production being moved overseas.
Source: Cars.com's American Made Index 2025