The auto industry is an international business, Evans said. It is international automakers who are opening assembly plants — Honda opened a plant in Greensburg, Ind., in 2008, for example — and hiring Americans, he said. And not all “American” cars are made in America, he added.
“I would challenge you to rethink your concept a little bit,” Evans said.
If attitudes are shifting, one reason may be that defining what’s foreign and what’s not is no longer clear-cut.
Tom Vogel of Harrison Twp. said gauging foreign versus domestic isn’t even a “good question.”
“Most Hondas are assembled in the U.S.,” said Vogel, who drives a 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier assembled in Lordstown and a 1998 Ford F-150 assembled in Kansas City, Miss. “Kias and Hyundais are now assembled in the U.S. A Chevy Aveo is imported from South Korea.”
“Not to mention,” Vogel added, “most of the cars today are about 50/50 between U.S. and imported parts.”
Ron Lietzke, a spokesman for Honda of America Manufacturing, said of all Hondas and Acuras sold in the U.S. last year, 84 percent were assembled in North America with most in the U.S.
Although Honda is a Japanese company, it has a sizeable investment in America and Ohio, Lietzke said. Honda has 12,500 employees in Ohio, including 340 workers at a Troy consolidation center.
“The money doesn’t all flow offshore,” Lietzke said.
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