How a lot would a 100% ‘Made in the United States’ car price? It’s difficult

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A white 2025 Ford Expedition SUV with bronze external trim rolled off the meeting line at Ford Motor‘s Kentucky Truck Plant. It was once assembled — from its body to final touch — by means of American staff on the manufacturing unit. But it is some distance from being utterly “Made in the USA.”

A majority of its major portions — a minimum of 58% as mentioned on a window sticky label — have been made out of doors the rustic, together with 22% from Mexico. That contains its Ford-engineered, 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 Ecoboost engine, the center of the car.

The well-liked massive SUV is a first-rate instance of ways difficult the worldwide automobile provide chain is, and underscores the truth that even cars rolling off U.S. meeting traces from quintessentially American firms comparable to Ford can depend closely on nondomestic content material.

The huge Kentucky meeting plant, which has greater than 9,000 folks development the Expedition, F-Series pickup vans and Lincoln Navigator SUV, is strictly the type of facility President Donald Trump is pressuring automakers to construct within the U.S. via his use of competitive price lists.

After Trump put 25% price lists on imported cars and plenty of automobile portions, automakers began scrambling to tout U.S. investments and localize provide chains up to imaginable. But whilst the rustic would have the benefit of jobs and financial output if all auto portions have been sourced and manufactured within the U.S., professionals say it is simply now not possible.

“Some parts that have been offshored will still be cheaper to manufacture in those locations rather than the USA at scale even with some of the imposed tariffs,” mentioned Martin French, an established provider government and spouse at Berylls Strategy Advisors USA.

Processing and manufacturing crops for issues comparable to metal, aluminum and semiconductor chips, particularly older ones used for automobiles, in addition to uncooked fabrics comparable to platinum and palladium, are not prevalent sufficient within the U.S. with out setting up new crops or mines. Those are processes professionals say would take a decade or extra to create at scale.

On best of that, the higher prices of a 100% U.S.-made car may just worth many shoppers out of the brand new car marketplace. That may just in flip result in much less call for and most likely decrease manufacturing.

“We can move everything to the U.S., but if every Ford is $50,000, we’re not going to win as a company,” Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned final week on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “That’s a balancing act that every [automaker] will have to do, even the most American company.”

Farley mentioned 15% to 20% of commoditized car portions are tricky, if now not unattainable, to supply these days within the U.S. That contains issues comparable to small fasteners, labor-intensive wiring harnesses and nearly $5,000 in semiconductors in keeping with car, that are these days sourced in large part from Asia.

S&P Global Mobility reviews there are on moderate 20,000 portions in a car when it is torn right down to its nuts and bolts. Parts might originate in anyplace from 50 to 120 international locations.

For instance, the Ford F-150, which stocks a platform and a few portions with the Expedition, is completely assembled within the U.S. however has kind of 2,700 major billable portions, which exclude many small items, in step with Caresoft, an engineering benchmarking and consulting company.

The Trump management may just ease upper costs for an American-made car by means of providing tax breaks or client incentives, just like the electrical car credit score of as much as $7,500 that Trump prior to now promised to get rid of.

But the prices of a 100% American-made car are some distance larger and extra complicated than they may appear in the beginning blush. It’s even exhausting to trace what comes from the U.S., as automakers are required to record a mixed share of Canadian and U.S. content material in a car, now not simply U.S. content material.

The subject matter prices on my own, except production investments, would upload hundreds of greenbacks to a car’s worth level, which might wipe out earnings for automakers and pressure worth will increase for customers, a number of automobile analysts and managers advised CNBC.

The folks, who got anonymity so they might talk freely, estimated it could upload hundreds of greenbacks with every step you took to get nearer to 100% U.S. and Canadian portions.

Think of Ferrari: Every vehicle from the long-lasting automaker comes from Italy, with as many parts as imaginable sourced from the corporate’s place of origin.

But even Ferrari’s multimillion-dollar sports activities vehicles have portions or uncooked fabrics for issues comparable to airbags, brakes, tires, batteries and extra that come from non-Italian providers and amenities.

“If you did it at really low volume and you’re extremely innovative and different with the vehicle, you could make $300,000-$400,000 vehicles that are all-American,” Wakefield mentioned. “To do it at scale, it would be 10-15 [years] and $100 billion to do that.”

Vehicles that meet the 75% U.S./Canada portions usual for the 2025 mannequin yr come with the Kia EV6, two variations of the Tesla Model 3 and the Honda Ridgeline AWD Trail Sport, in step with the newest car content material knowledge required by means of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nearly 20 others are at 70% or upper, whilst some cars nonetheless want to be added to the knowledge.

That compares with 2007 model-year NHTSA knowledge, the place the highest 16 cars — all from GM and Ford — had 90% or extra U.S. and Canadian content material. Ford’s Expedition at the moment was once a few of the very best at 95%, however that was once sooner than the expanded globalization of the automobile trade provide chain after the Great Recession — and sooner than a number of main technological advances in vehicles made new portions and fabrics extra essential.

For a long time, there was a pattern for much less U.S./Canadian content material on account of the globalization of provide chains and the rise in the usage of Mexico as a supply of portions and parts, in step with American University’s Kogod School of Business.

The best 10 cars with essentially the most U.S. and Canadian portions on moderate have 63.6% to 69.2% portions content material from the ones international locations from the 2019 via 2024 mannequin years, in step with Cars.com.

Imported cars from many luxurious manufacturers, particularly German producers in addition to Toyota’s Lexus, function little U.S.-sourced content material. Many have none or 1%, in step with the federal knowledge.

The U.S./Canada percentages, beneath the American Automobile Labeling Act of 1992, are calculated on a “carline” foundation slightly than for every person car and could also be rounded to the closest 5%. They are calculated by means of automakers and reported to the federal government.

However, a top threshold of North American portions doesn’t suggest the cars are produced within the U.S. The 2024 Toyota RAV4, for instance, was once reported to have 70% U.S./Canadian portions and is in-built Canada.

“You could have a vehicle, theoretically, that is made in the U.S., but only has 1% parts, content,” mentioned Patrick Masterson, lead researcher for Cars.com’s “American-Made Index.” 

Cars.com’s annual index of the highest U.S. cars takes car meeting, portions and different components into consideration. No cars from Ford or General Motors made the highest 10, whilst two Teslas, two Hondas and a Volkswagen took the highest 5 spots.

The find out about ranks 100 cars judged via the similar 5 standards it is used because the 2020 version: meeting location, portions content material, engine foundation, transmission foundation and U.S. production staff. More than 400 cars of model-year 2024 antique have been analyzed to qualify the 100 cars at the checklist.

The white 2025 Ford Expedition that just lately rolled off the meeting line in Kentucky is predicted to attain upper than the prior mannequin yr, which ranked 78th, on account of an build up in home content material.

Masterson mentioned there is been higher hobby and recognition for the “American-Made Index” this yr amid Trump’s tariff insurance policies and nationalism.

“Traffic on the ‘American-Made Index’ this year is way, way up. … People are concerned about this, perhaps more than ever,” Masterson mentioned, later including “it would be extremely difficult to make a 100% U.S.-made [vehicle].”