Survey Finds Automaker's U.S. Jobs and Investments Influence Car-Buying Decisions

Survey Finds Automaker’s U.S. Jobs and Investments Influence Car-Buying Decisions

Three out of four Americans care about where the cars they buy are assembled, where auto parts are made and how many jobs each automaker supports. A national survey of 715 likely car buyers found that 79 percent of Americans are more likely to purchase a car if the manufacturer is based in the United States, while 74 percent say they are more likely to buy a car if the company producing it employs significantly more U.S. workers than its competitors. Seventy-eight percent of those polled said they pay at least "some" attention to where the parts of an automobile are made.

DETROIT — Three out of four Americans care about where the cars they buy are assembled, where auto parts are made and how many jobs each automaker supports.

A national survey of 715 likely car buyers found that 79 percent of Americans are more likely to purchase a car if the manufacturer is based in the United States, while 74 percent say they are more likely to buy a car if the company producing it employs significantly more U.S. workers than its competitors. Seventy-eight percent of those polled said they pay at least "some" attention to where the parts of an automobile are made.

"While price, safety and quality will always top the typical car buyer’s checklist, ‘made in America’ still matters," said Jim Doyle, president of Level Field Institute, which conducted the survey. "That’s why nearly every automaker doing business here spends a lot of time and money promoting its U.S. jobs and investments."

Level Field Institute was established by retirees and families of GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and the suppliers and dealers that support them. The organization seeks to promote U.S. jobs, R&D and infrastructure investment by offering clear comparisons of how various automakers contribute to the U.S. economy.

As car buyers who care about these issues learn more about the differences between automakers, their attitudes about those automakers change — and so does their purchase intent, according to Level Field.

For example, when respondents were informed that Ford, GM and Chrysler use nearly 2.5 times more "domestic" parts, on average, than foreign automakers (including the automobiles that those companies assemble here), the percentage of car buyers likely to consider buying a domestic car or truck jumped 5 percent (from 79 percent to 83 percent). Meanwhile, the percentage of car buyers likely to consider buying a Japanese automaker’s car or truck dropped 17 percent (from 52 percent to 43 percent).

Consumers’ purchase intent related to European cars and trucks changed only slightly with this new information; with those saying they are unlikely to purchase a European car increases from 59 percent to 62 percent.

Based on parts data automakers provide the Federal government each year, Level Field estimates that domestic automaker fleets use 79 percent domestic content, on average, while foreign automakers fleets contain 35 percent domestic content, on average. If domestic automakers had reduced their use of domestic content from 79 percent to match foreign automakers, approximately $95 billion in U.S. parts sales would have moved overseas — and between 200,000 and 320,000 auto parts jobs could move with them. Economists estimate that each parts job supports nearly five others. Losing $95 billion in parts sales could therefore cost the U.S. about 1.8 million jobs.