GM All American? Not so, maybe 30%

[Prop-a-Gator]

Being involved with manufacturing up until about 5 years ago, I see nothing surprising here. China is a huge emerging market and American/German/Japanese corporations are tripping over each other trying to get a piece of that market. All corporations are the same in this regard.

The company I used to work for (back in Wallaceburg) was Canadian, until it was sold to the Japanese then when the Japanese gave up on it, it was sold to American interests, then quickly sold to a Chinese corporation.

As far as GM being in joint ventures with SAIC and FAW, each corporation needs to be at least 51% owned by the Chinese government to do business over there, so that's no surprise either. All foreign companies are in the same boat when it comes to that. Yeah, it's a lousy regime when it comes to human rights, but when did any big corporation give a hoot about that? Right or wrong, they just don't care. As long as the stock value goes up, that's all that matters.

Also, 70% of GM cars being built outside of the US is no surprise either. GM has built cars in foreign markets - for foreign markets for years. In Europe they have Vauxhall, in Australia, they have Holden. Their US operations have only been a fraction of their business for years.

The only thing that surprised me from this video is that anyone thought GM (or Ford or Chrysler for that matter) were "American" corporations. I guess American's have a hard time letting go of the idea of baseball, apple pie and Chevrolets...all the while as they drive to Walmart for their next disposable TV/Iphone/bicycle/Xbox/stereo etc.

For years, I just couldn't see myself in any "foreign" car, but my wife is driving a Honda Civic that was put together in Alliston Ontario while I had a Chevy Cavalier that was assembled in Mexico. Which one of those was foreign?

My new(er) Cobalt was put together in Ohio, but like I said, I really don't know if any car at all is "American" anymore. I sure do like the look of those Mustangs though...and I know they're put together in Flat Rock - near good ole' Detroit (from domestic and probably foreign sourced parts of course).

I work for a $60B American manufacturer. Part of my job involves strategic supplier selection for the corp. Nothing very surprising here to me either.

BTW... the US govt considers a car "domestic" if more than 75% part content - by value - is sourced from North America. The Mustang - while assembled in Flat Rock - only contains 65% NA sourced parts and therefore does not even qualify as a domestic product. While iconic (and cool - I really like them), the 80k produced a year have far less impact on American jobs relative to much higher volume/higher NA content cars like ---- the Toyota Camry (80% domestic parts). It takes 6000 American workers to produce the 328,000 Camrys sold here last year. The plant that builds the Mustang employs 1600 workers - split between the Mustang and the Mazda6. (Mazda pulled out - leaving the future of the plant in doubt as of 2011, not sure what the final outcome was) It is estimated that each auto industry job supports 9 others in the US. If true, this means Camry production supports 60,000 US jobs. (6000 + 54000) Mustang production supports 10,000 US jobs. (~1000 + 9000)

I know Camrys and Mustangs are apples and oranges, but I'm just making the point that the simple definition of an "American" car vanished long ago. People need to decide for themselves why they want to buy an "American" car. If it is to support US jobs, It is not as simple as picking one of the Big 3. The Dodge Ram heavy duty pickup. All American as they get right? Assembled in Saltillo, Mexico. 70% US/CA parts. The Hemi V8 - also made in Saltillo. In fact the popularity of the Hemi spelled the end of the old Magnum V8s that actually were made in the US.

"Buy American" makes a great bumper sticker, but it'll take some research for your choices to have the intended effect.

My main sources:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...merica-feature

http://abcnews.go.com/US/made-america-us-made-car-creates-jobs/story?id=13813091#.T-MV0Re0wio