"1" does not always mean 100% American.

The outcome from a latest research by Gallup declares a strong growth in buyer interest for American car brands. It's totally fine, only there are less American car brands in existence than earlier. The recent decrease in sales volume of Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer leave just ten really American brands: Chrysler and Dodge, Cadillac and Jeep, Buick and Ford, Mercury and Lincoln, Chevrolet and GMC trucks as against almost 2,000 American brands which has been registered since the industry's beginning.

Thousands of autos that we think were built by United States' automobile plants might have been built by Canada's plants or in Mexico. Although it may be decked with badge that verifies Ford or Chrysler, it's a chance that the car could came out of a U.S.A.-based assembly plant owned by a company abroad. However, the Mercury Grand Marquis, is still being created, but not from an assembly plant in the US. It's built in St. Thomas, Canada, Ontario, while the Ford Crown Victoria has been discontinued.

Here some American cars which have actually been built in other countries:
Buick Lacrosse has been assembled in Canada nowadays. As for Chevrolet HHR it's been built in Mexico. Mercury Milan, Ford Fusion and Chrysler PT Cruiser has been assembled in Mexico as well. Next, Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler 300, Ford Flex, Dodge Charger and Challenger, Lincoln MKX and Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis has been assembled in Canada. Chevrolet Aveo has been built in Korea.

What about foreign cars? Many of it are actually assembled in the United States. For example, the Toyota Camry and Avalon, BMW's Z4, the Honda Element and Accord all these cars are actually built in the United States.

Sometimes when we think we are supporting our homeland makers we are practically contributing to the coffers of foreign companies.
So, are we supporting our own compatriots, when we buy American cars? What about foreign cars which were built in the U.S.A. ? How do we realize the difference?

You can find the solution straight on the auto's dashboard in the 17-digit number which called Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). In fact, you will find the solution located in the first letter or number of the VIN.

A #1 denotes that the car was built in the United States; the #4 and #5 as a rule show that the car was built abroad. A #2 denotes that the car was built in Canada, the #3 denotes that the car came from Mexico. Letters are as well used to identify where the car came from, the letter "J" represents Japan, "K" identify Korea, "W" represents Germany, "S" indicates that car is from England, "Y" for Sweden.

Anyway, some cars which built in the United States are built with 50% or more foreign components. So, a VIN beginning with "1" does not actually mean that these cars are absolutely American.
Another good thing, read the window sticker - U.S. manufacturers are necessary to specify the source of a car's parts and its final assemblage point.

So, if you were thinking about purchasing a new car, hope it would be 100% American car.