What Makes a Car American? Japan Auto Manufacturers Reply

11/25/96

A majority of Americans now believe a car by any name is American if it was built in this country by American workers. Nearly three quarters of Americans believe those built in foreign countries by foreign workers are foreign even if they are sold by G.M., Ford, or Chrysler.

The shift in attitudes, which reflects the heavy manufacturing investment by Japanese and other foreign car makers in this country, is recorded in a public opinion poll conducted by International Communications research and released by the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). Fifty-two per cent of the 1021 americans questioned by phone last month felt a car built in this country by American workers in a plant owned by a foreign car company was an American car.

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel