'Most American Cars' Rethought by New Index
There’s a new measuring stick for what constitues and “American” car this year and it gives the crown back to U.S. makers.
Last year, a ranking sheet released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that the most “American” car was actually the Toyota Matrix.
The information was part of NHTSA’s annual AALA report, which was enacted in 1992 and specifies the percentage of U.S. and Canadian content in a vehicle. But Frank DuBois, a professor at American University has a new ranking system making its maiden examination this year.
DuBois’ new index takes more factors into account than the AALA numbers and include labor for assembly, research and development, location of assembly and production, and several others.
The AALA numbers don’t actually rank vehicles, but instead offer a percentage. This year, the Matrix slipped from being 95 percent American to only 65 percent. Four vehicles tied for first place with 80 percent: the Chevrolet Express, GMC Savanna, Toyota Avalon and Ford Expedition. To be fair, the Savanna and Express should relaly only count as one.
On the other hand, the new index puts GM’s Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia (pictured) and Chevrolet Traverse trio at the top. The Dodge Avenger and Ford F-Series trucks came next and tied for second place while the Chrysler 200 took third.
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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