Posted: July 7, 2009

Last year, if you wanted to buy the most red-blooded American vehicle you possibly could, you would have been best served with a Ford F-150 pickup. This year, if your goal is to support the good old U.S. of A, you would have to buy a Toyota Camry.

The Detroit News explains, "The Toyota Camry is more American than the Ford F-150, at least according to Cars.com's annual American-Made Index."

Cars.com explains, "There's no easy way to determine just how American a car is. Many cars built in the U.S., for example, are assembled using parts that come from somewhere else. Some cars assembled in the U.S. from strictly American-made parts don't sell very well, meaning that fewer Americans are building those models. Cars.com's American-Made Index highlights the cars that are built here, have the highest amount of domestic parts - with eligible models having parts-content ratings of 75 percent or higher - and are bought in the largest numbers by Americans."

By that standard, the Japanese company's midsize car wins out. The News notes, "Toyota had the most individual models on the list with four, including the Sienna minivan in the sixth spot, followed by the Tundra full-size pickup, and the new Venza crossover at No. 10. Detroit's Big Three automakers collectively have five vehicles in the top 10 spots, which is their lowest showing since Cars.com started the index in 2006 and was conducted twice a year initially."

So why did the F-150 drop from the top slot? PickupTrucks.com notes, "Overall F-Series sales have tumbled nearly 40 percent year-to-date, and the F-150 has seen a steady drop in its U.S.- and Canadian-made parts over the past few model years." In fact, "If you're only looking at domestic-sourced parts content, the F-150 doesn't even make the top 10 list of vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Toyota Tundra has the highest U.S. parts content of any pickup, at 80 percent."

Cars.com notes, "GM, Ford and Chrysler generally have higher domestic-parts content across their lineups than their European and Asian competitors," but there are important exceptions to that rule. "The Chevy Aveo, for example, is built in Korea with 1 percent domestic parts. Chrysler's recently discontinued PT Cruiser was built in Mexico, with a domestic-parts content of just 27 percent."

If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.