How much a 100% ‘Made in the USA’ vehicle might cost

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A white 2025 Ford Expedition SUV with bronze exterior trim rolls off the meeting line at Ford Motor‘s Kentucky Truck Plant. It was assembled — from its body to completion — by American staff on the manufacturing unit. However it’s removed from being fully “Made within the USA.”

A majority of its foremost elements — no less than 58% as said on a window sticker — had been made outdoors of the nation, together with 22% from Mexico. That features its Ford-engineered, 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 Ecoboost engine, the center of the automobile.

The favored massive SUV is a primary instance of how difficult the worldwide automotive provide chain is, and underscores the truth that even autos rolling off U.S. meeting traces from quintessentially American corporations akin to Ford can rely closely on non-domestic content material.

The huge Kentucky meeting plant that has greater than 9,000 individuals constructing the Expedition, F-Sequence pickup vans and Lincoln Navigator SUV is precisely the type of facility President Donald Trump is pressuring automakers to construct within the U.S. by his use of aggressive tariffs.

After Trump put 25% tariffs on imported autos and plenty of automotive elements, automakers began scrambling to tout U.S. investments and localize provide chains as a lot as potential. However whereas the nation would profit from jobs and financial output if all auto elements had been sourced and manufactured within the U.S., specialists say it is simply not possible.

“Some elements which were offshored will nonetheless be cheaper to fabricate in these places somewhat than the USA at scale even with a few of the imposed tariffs,” mentioned Martin French, a longtime provider government and associate at Berylls Technique Advisors USA.

Processing and manufacturing vegetation for issues akin to metal, aluminum and semiconductor chips, particularly older ones used for autos, in addition to uncooked supplies like platinum and palladium, aren’t prevalent sufficient within the U.S. with out establishing new vegetation or mines. These are processes specialists say would take a decade or extra to create in scale.

On high of that, the elevated prices of a 100% U.S.-made automobile may worth many shoppers out of the brand new automobile market. That would in flip result in much less demand and certain decrease manufacturing.

“We are able to transfer every part to the U.S., but when each Ford is $50,000, we’re not going to win as an organization,” Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned final week on CNBC’s “Squawk Field.” “That is a balancing act that each [automaker] must do, even essentially the most American firm.”

Farley mentioned 15% to twenty% of commoditized automobile elements are troublesome, if not unattainable, to at the moment supply within the U.S. That features issues akin to small fasteners, labor-intensive wiring harnesses and nearly $5,000 in semiconductors per automobile, that are at the moment sourced largely from Asia.

S&P International Mobility studies there are on common 20,000 elements in a automobile when it is torn right down to its nuts and bolts. Components might originate in wherever from 50 to 120 international locations.

For instance, the Ford F-150, which shares a platform and a few elements with the Expedition, is completely assembled within the U.S. however has roughly 2,700 foremost billable elements, which exclude many small items, in response to Caresoft, an engineering benchmarking and consulting agency.

The Trump administration may ease increased costs for an American-made automobile by providing tax breaks or shopper incentives, very like the as much as $7,500 electrical automobile credit score Trump beforehand promised to get rid of.

However the prices of a 100% American-made automobile are far larger and extra advanced than they could appear at first blush. It is even arduous to trace what comes from the U.S., as automakers are required to report a mixed proportion of Canadian and U.S. content material in a automobile, not simply U.S. content material.

The fabric prices alone, excluding manufacturing investments, would add 1000’s of {dollars} to a automobile’s worth level, which might wipe out earnings for automakers and drive worth will increase for shoppers, a handful of automotive analysts and executives instructed CNBC.

The individuals, who got anonymity to talk freely, estimated it will add 1000’s of {dollars} with every step you took to get nearer to 100% U.S. and Canadian elements.

Mark Wakefield, a associate and international automotive market lead at consulting agency AlixPartners, mentioned nothing’s essentially unattainable with time, however the funding wanted for U.S. and Canadian sourcing and added prices would improve exponentially the nearer an organization got here to a 100% “Made within the USA” automobile.

“The fee will get quantumly extra the upper the nearer you get to 100%,” Wakefield mentioned. “Getting above 90% will get costly, and getting about 95% would get actually costly, and also you simply begin entering into issues that you simply’d need to a take a very long time [to do].”

To get that final 5% to 10%, if, or when, you would, Wakefield mentioned, it will begin “getting actually costly” and certain take a decade or extra to arrange uncooked materials sourcing and reshore manufacturing of some elements.

“I do not assume you would do it greater than about 95% on common, at any price in the meanwhile, simply because it’s essential construct loads of stuff that is going to take a very long time,” he mentioned. “The processing and the uncooked materials stuff, it takes a extremely very long time, as a result of these are multibillion greenback services that course of it.”

Two executives with auto suppliers instructed CNBC it will be “unrealistic,” if not unattainable, for a corporation to profitably construct a 100% U.S.-made automobile presently. One other government at an automaker estimated the typical price improve for an American-assembled U.S. full-size pickup would bounce no less than $7,000 to supply as many parts as at the moment potential from the U.S. and Canada.

One skilled, generalizing the prices, mentioned it may price $5,000 extra to get a automobile that is underneath 70% U.S./Canadian elements to 75% or 80%; one other $5,000 to $10,000 to hit 90%; and 1000’s extra to a better proportion than that.

Utilizing that as a foundation, the typical transaction worth of a brand new automobile within the U.S. is at the moment round $48,000, in response to Cox Automotive. Say that automobile is made up of $30,000 in supplies and elements. Including the above prices would come out to roughly $10,000 to $20,000 extra for corporations.

Vehicles.com studies the U.S. is by far the most costly nation to fabricate a automobile in. The typical new-car worth of a U.S.-assembled automobile is greater than $53,200, in response to its knowledge. That compares with roughly $40,700 in Mexico, $46,148 in Canada and roughly $51,000 in China.

Excluding uncooked supplies, somebody may theoretically begin a brand new automotive firm — let’s name it U.S. Motors — from scratch. U.S. Motors may spend billions of {dollars} to construct new factories and set up an completely American provide chain, however the automobile it will produce would doubtless be low-volume and excessively costly, specialists say.

Consider Ferrari: Each automotive from the enduring automaker comes from Italy, with as many parts as potential sourced from the corporate’s homeland.

However even Ferrari’s multimillion-dollar sports activities automobiles have elements or uncooked supplies for issues akin to airbags, brakes, tires, batteries and extra that come from non-Italian suppliers and services.

“In the event you did it at actually low quantity and also you’re extraordinarily modern and totally different with the automobile, you would make $300,000-$400,000 autos which might be all-American,” Wakefield mentioned. “To do it at scale, it will be 10-15 [years] and $100 billion to try this.”

Getting autos to 75% U.S. and Canadian elements and remaining meeting within the America is a much more achievable goal that “would not actually drive you to do uneconomic issues,” Wakefield mentioned, noting that a number of autos meet that normal at this time.

However even reaching that threshold on a bigger scale would doubtless take billions of {dollars} in new investments from automakers and suppliers to localize manufacturing. Some automakers may make the transfer extra simply, whereas others would require huge shifts in sourcing and manufacturing.

Automobiles that meet the 75% U.S./Canada elements normal for the 2025 mannequin 12 months embody the Kia EV6, two variations of the Tesla Mannequin 3 and the Honda Ridgeline AWD Path Sport, in response to the most recent automobile content material knowledge required by the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration. Almost 20 others are at 70% or increased, whereas some autos nonetheless must be added to the information.

That compares to 2007 model-year NHTSA knowledge, the place the highest 16 autos — all from GM and Ford — had 90% or extra U.S. and Canadian content material. Ford’s Expedition at the moment was among the many highest at 95%, however that was earlier than the expanded globalization of the auto trade provide chain after the Nice Recession — and earlier than a number of main technological advances in automobiles made new elements and supplies extra necessary.

For many years, there was a pattern for much less U.S./Canadian content material due to the globalization of provide chains and the rise in using Mexico as a supply of elements and parts, in response to American College’s Kogod Faculty of Enterprise.

Imported autos from many luxurious manufacturers, particularly German producers in addition to Toyota’s Lexus, characteristic little U.S.-sourced content material. Many have none or 1%, in response to the federal knowledge.

The U.S./Canada percentages, underneath the American Vehicle Labeling Act of 1992, are calculated on a “carline” foundation somewhat than for every particular person automobile and could also be rounded to the closest 5%. They’re calculated by automakers and reported to the federal government.

Nevertheless, a excessive threshold of North American elements additionally doesn’t suggest the autos are produced within the U.S. The 2024 Toyota RAV4, for instance, was reported to have 70% U.S./Canadian elements and is inbuilt Canada.

“You possibly can have a automobile, theoretically, that’s made within the U.S., however solely has 1% elements, content material,” mentioned Patrick Masterson, a lead researcher for Vehicles.com’s “American-Made Index.” 

Vehicles.com’s annual index of the highest U.S. autos takes automobile meeting, elements and different elements into consideration. No autos from Ford or Normal Motors made the highest 10, whereas two Teslas, two Hondas and a Volkswagen took the highest 5 spots.

The examine ranks 100 autos judged by the identical 5 standards it is used for the reason that 2020 version: meeting location, elements content material, engine origin, transmission origin and U.S. manufacturing workforce. Greater than 400 autos of model-year 2024 classic had been analyzed to qualify the 100 autos on the checklist.

The white 2025 Ford Expedition that just lately rolled off the meeting line in Kentucky is anticipated to attain increased than the prior mannequin 12 months, which ranked 78th, due to a rise in home content material.

Masterson mentioned there’s been elevated curiosity and recognition for the “American-Made Index” this 12 months amid Trump’s tariff insurance policies and nationalism.

“Site visitors on the ‘American-Made Index’ this 12 months is approach, approach up. … Persons are involved about this, maybe greater than ever,” Masterson mentioned, later including “it will be extraordinarily troublesome to make a 100% U.S.-made [vehicle].”