Tesla had the highest-ranked electric cars in the annual Kogod Made In America Auto Index, which estimates the domestic content of new cars sold in the United States.
The Tesla Model 3 took third place in the overall rankings, while the Model S and Model Y were part of a five-way tie for fifth place, along with the Ford Expedition full-size SUV and gasoline versions of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup trucks. The Ford Mustang topped the list, albeit not the fully electric Mach-E and only versions with the 5.0-liter V-8 engine.
Organized by American University’s Kogod School of Business, the index estimates U.S. content based on publicly available data.
The index doesn’t just consider the percentage of North American parts content, as figured by the government, but also considers the location of a company’s headquarters, the location of R&D, its labor footprint, and other elements.
As an accompanying explainer points out, not all foreign-based automakers are at a great disadvantage here. Honda performs well because it has a high level of domestic content in the vehicles it sells in the U.S., as well as a large U.S. manufacturing footprint.
Although the Ford Mustang is at the top, the Mustang Mach-E isn’t nearly as American-made. With Mexican assembly, battery cells from Poland, and 15% total U.S./Canadian content, it’s far from that.
Most EVs for sale in the U.S. have American-made batteries, however—thanks mostly to Tesla and its Nevada Gigafactory.
President Biden has pushed for union-made, U.S.-built electric cars, but there’s only one available today—the Bolt EV, which is technically on a production pause.
A massive Ford investment in battery plants and production facilities for the F-150 Lightning and other future electric trucks should help bring much more of it back to the U.S.A.
