Foreign Automakers Build More Vehicles In America Than American Brands

In a significant shift for the U.S. auto industry, foreign-owned manufacturers outpaced Detroit’s Big Three in domestic vehicle production last year for the first time.

Companies such as Toyota, Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz assembled over 4.9 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2023, marking an increase of about 500,000 units from the previous year. In contrast, General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis produced 4.6 million vehicles, a decrease of approximately 150,000 from 2022.

Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid, the U.S.-based electric vehicle manufacturers, produced 754,342 cars domestically during the same period, the information was gathered via a report from Autos Drive America and the American International Automobile Dealers Association.

This production shift highlights the growing influence of international automakers in the U.S. market. According to The Detroit News, foreign manufacturers have increased their U.S. production over the past 25 years by more than 85%, from around 2.4 million to 4.9 million vehicles annually. Meanwhile, domestic production by the Detroit Three has halved, with much of it shifting to countries like Mexico, Canada, and China.

Foreign automakers now have manufacturing facilities in nine states and component and battery plants in 13 states, predominantly in the South, with notable exceptions in Ohio and Indiana. This expansion underscores the aggressive strategies of foreign brands to establish a strong manufacturing presence in the U.S.

The growing production disparity has significant implications for the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. As the market share of the Detroit Three shrinks, so does the bargaining power of the UAW. The union has been pushing to organize more foreign-owned plants, seeing some success with a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee but failing in a recent vote at a Mercedes plant in Alabama. The UAW is also focusing on domestic EV producers like Tesla, highlighting the existential importance of these campaigns for the union's future.

This article was co-written using AI and was then heavily edited and optimized by our editorial team.

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