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Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Chrysler Corporation are often called the “Detroit Three.” After a series of mergers, they were the three remaining U.S. automakers and dominated the market for most of the 20th century. Today, they are all truly global companies. While Chrysler Corporation imports multiple vehicle from foreign factories, it doesn’t yet make any models in China. But Ford and General Motors do.
What U.S. vehicles are built in China?
There has been much handwringing over whether Chinese automakers should be allowed other sell cars in the U.S. But many buyers don’t know that five 2025 vehicles available at U.S. dealerships are already assembled in China: the Lincoln Nautilus, Buick Envision, Volvo S90, Volvo EX30, and Polestar 2.
General Motors has found the Chinese market loves Buicks. So it engineered the compact Buick Envision for the Chinese drivers in 2014. In 2016, it decided to also import the car to the U.S. The humble Buick Envision became a bit controversial when President Trump threatened steep tariffs against any vehicle built in China. GM argued that this would make the Envision “economically unviable.” But when the administration didn’t budge, the automaker continued to sell the car at the same MSRP and just swallowed the tariff cost.
The Lincoln Nautilus was originally built in Ford Motor Company’s Ontario plant. But it redesigned the vehicle for 2024 and decided to retool its Canada factory. Meanwhile, the Nautilus had been selling so well in China that Ford was building the crossover in its Hangzhou plant. So when Ontario went offline in 2024, Ford began to ship the Nautilus from Hangzhou to the U.S.
While Chrysler Corporation has yet other import any vehicles from China for the U.S. market, it is far from the most “made in the USA” of the Detroit Three.
How American is Chrysler Corporation?
Chrysler Corporation includes Dodge, Ram, Jeep, and Chrysler. By 2012, it had merged with Fiat to create FCA. Then by 2021, FCA merged with Peugeot to form Stellantis. This multi-national corporation still does engineering and manufacturing in the U.S., for many of its U.S. brands. But it’s headquartered in Amsterdam.
So just how much can Chrysler Corporation still claim to be a USA-based company? While many of its owners are overseas, some of its manufacturing and engineering is still in the U.S.
Today, Stellantis includes Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Abarth, and DS Automobiles. This is in addition to Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram Trucks. Its major investors include the Peugeot family and the Agnelli family (which was a founder of Fiat). But it has no major Detroit investors representing the Chrysler side. BlackRock, which is headquartered in New York, does own 3.5% of Stellantis.
Many Stellantis models are still assembled in the U.S. The Jeep Wrangler is assembled in Toledo, the Ram 1500 comes from Michigan, and the Durango/Grand Cherokee are built in downtown Detroit. That said, many other models come from elsewhere. Since long before Stellantis, Chrysler Corporation established multiple plants in Canada which currently build the Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Charger EV. It also built multiple plants in Mexico which now build many engines, the Jeep Compass, and all the heavy-duty Ram trucks.
In addition to its factory workers, Stellantis employs thousands of white collar workers in the U.S. This includes vehicle engineers, software engineers, and marketing teams. But in early 2024, the organization laid off 400 folks in its engineering/tech and software groups as it consolidates across brands. We’ll have to wait to see how many jobs it keeps in the future.