Toyota Tundra Finishes Fourth In Made In America Survey For Stupid Reasons
Tim Esterdahl | Jun 16, 2015 | Comments 6
The third-annual American University’s Kogod School of Business Made in America Index is out and the new GM mid-size Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon top the list followed closely by Ford F-Series trucks. The Toyota Tundra got shafted.
The Toyota Tundra finished fourth in the Kogod survey largely due to Toyota not being headquartered in North America.
About the Survey
Developed by Associate Professor Frank DuBois, a global supply chain management expert at the Washington based school, dives deeper into how American a product is by incorporating a broader view of factors. These factors include such things like headquarters, profit margin and other expenses.
The index also incorporates the American Automobile Labeling Act percentage of U.S. and Canadian parts content. This label applies to all vehicles manufactures after October, 1, 1994. It displays the country of origin and countries of origin for the engine and transmission.
“This index is an alternative ranking system that provides the public with perhaps the most accurate reflection of the true country of origin of a car and the impact of its purchase on the U.S. economy,” said DuBois in a press release. “Hopefully, it holds vehicle manufacturers accountable for the claims they make in marketing to U.S. consumers.”
The index lists 332 vehicle sold in the U.S. We have broken out the trucks from the list.
NOTE: Survey is quite wide, attempts were made to get it to fit the best we could.
| Vehicle | Assembly, Parts, And Materials | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OEM | Make | Model | US HQ | Assembly | Engine | Transmission | AALA No. | Profit Margin | Labor |
| GM | Chevrolet | Colorado | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.66 | 6 | 6 |
| GM | GMC | Canyon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.66 | 6 | 6 |
| Ford | Ford | F-Series Pickup | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.65 | 6 | 6 |
| Toyota | Toyota | Tundra | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.7 | 0 | 6 |
| Chrysler | Ram | Big Horn | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.61 | 3 | 6 |
| Chrysler | Ram | 1500 Pickup | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.61 | 3 | 6 |
| GM | Chevrolet | Silverado | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.45 | 6 | 6 |
| GM | GMC | Sierra | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.45 | 6 | 6 |
| Nissan | Nissan | Frontier | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 6 |
| Nissan | Nissan | Titan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 6 |
| Toyota | Toyota | Tacoma | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 6 |
| KOGOD MADE IN AMERICA AUTO INDEX TABLE KEY | Profit Margin, 6%: 6 if U.S. company; 0 if foreign | Labor, 6%: 6 if assembled in U.S.; 0 if foreign | Research & Development, 6%: 6 if U.S. company; 3 if foreign and assembled in U.S.; 1 if foreign and imported | Inventory, Capital, & Other Expenses, 11%: 11 if assembled in U.S.; 0 if assembled outside of U.S. | Engine, 14%: 14 if U.S. produced; 0 if not | Transmission, 7%: 7 if U.S. produced; 0 if not | Body, Interior, Chassis, Electrical & Other, 50%: 2015 AALA% divided by 2. | |||||||||
| Assembly, Parts, And Materials Continued | TOTAL | ||||||||
| R&D | Transmission | Inventory, Capital, Other Expenses | Engine | Body, Interior, Chassis, Electrical, Other | Total Domestic Content | ||||
| GM | Chevrolet | Colorado | 6 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 33 | 83 | |
| GM | GMC | Canyon | 6 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 33 | 83 | |
| Ford | Ford | F-Series Pickup | 6 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 32.5 | 82.5 | |
| Toyota | Toyota | Tundra | 3 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 35 | 76 | |
| Chrysler | Ram | Big Horn | 3 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 30.5 | 74.5 | |
| Chrysler | Ram | 1500 Pickup | 3 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 30.5 | 74.5 | |
| GM | Chevrolet | Silverado | 6 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 22.5 | 72.5 | |
| GM | GMC | Sierra | 6 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 22.5 | 72.5 | |
| Nissan | Nissan | Frontier | 3 | 0 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 59 | |
| Nissan | Nissan | Titan | 3 | 0 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 59 | |
| Toyota | Toyota | Tacoma | 3 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 30 | 57 | |
“The Kogod Index shows a larger percentage of vehicles are more “American made” this year compared to last year,” said DuBois. “However, it is interesting to note that the top ranked vehicle from the 2014 Index the Ford F-Series Pickup fell to third place due to a 10 point change in its AALA score.”
Our Take
Our beef with the survey is quite simple. Why does it matter if a company has a headquarters in North America? And what exactly qualifies as a “headquarters?” Seems to us, Toyota should qualify for this, just like GM and Ford get credit for headquarters in North America. They have similar setups with large headquarters in all there major markets.
Plus, if you add in the all important headquarters number, the Toyota Tundra would have finished a LOT higher.
They also should have gotten a percentage of profit margin since the Tundra is ONLY built in North America and the profits go back into the communities. Heck, other companies, like Ford and GM should have gotten half as well considering profits in North America often go to offsetting losses in other parts of the world.
Toyota breaks ground on new Texas headquarters with a Tundra TRD PRO and a plow.
Heck, go tell the people of Texas, California or Michigan that Toyota’s investments into their community doesn’t count as being “American.” Garbage. Toyota makes significant investments in many U.S. communities and has entire “headquarters” teams throughout the country. The newest headquarters in Plano, Texas, when it is finished, is going to be hard for Kogod to ignore. Maybe then, Kogod will get a clue about headquarters.
Finally, look at the parts sections of the survey. Toyota dominates the other trucks, yet finishes fourth. This survey is deeply flawed.
Filed Under: Tundra News
The survey is completely bogus and is nothing short of fraud. It is what it is and yet most will believe the truck load of poop.
If DuBois were to include the truth about the EU, the IMF, then the real funding of GM, FCA, and Ford would be classified as dead last. What a marketing sham.
This is how marketing and politics works, say something that is false enough times and it becomes the truth and people believe it.
Profit goes to shareholders. Shareholders for publicly traded companies are located all over the world. Therefore, the profit criteria is stupid.
I’m suspicious of the R&D column for the Colorado/Canyon as the frame for it is based on a Brazilan/Thailand platform: http://articles.sae.org/12607/
Also, both the Tundra and Titan were “R&D’d” soley in the US.
who cares,
it’s a good truck, but it and be happy.
I believe this survey was done JUST to bolster the Detroit 3…. the Tacoma gets a 0 instead of 14 for engines since the 4 cyl. is built outside of US yet MANY of the other trucks have engines built outside and they score 14? the Tacoma V6 is built here. this whole survey is TOTALLY BS. this guy that claims to be an expert CLEARLY is terrible at his job…………. or just has ALOT of money from the UAW for support LOL
The 2015 American Made Index from Cars.com
According to cars.com and fortune.com (June 2015) the 2015 F150 no longer qualifies for the AMI index requirement of 75% “made in America”. Guess Professor DuBois is still wrong.
Additionally, the first and second place winners, Camry and Sienna employ about 7,500 workers in the USA. That is significantly more USA workers than the next 5 vehicle qualifiers on the list from GM and Honda combined.