Honda may be a Japanese automaker, but its popular Ridgeline pickup is near the top of the American-made list produced by car-shopping Web site Cars.com.
It’s in part because the truck is built in Alabama, but Cars uses more than just where a car is built to determine its American-made Index. That’s because cars might be assembled in one plant, but parts might be coming from suppliers all over the globe.
How American-made Is Determined
Cars looked at 379 vehicles from the 2026 model year, and the ultimate American-made list came down to 86, although the list expands to 100 when certain trim level and powertrain variations - such as a car offering both internal-combustion engine and hybrid versions - are factored in. Here’s how the company determines where a vehicle falls on the American-made Index.
The five main criteria are: Location of final assembly, percentage of American and Canadian parts, countries of origin for all available engines, countries of origin for all available transmissions, and American manufacturing workforce.
The Ridgeline came in fifth on the list, with other Hondas built next to it in Lincoln, Alabama, also in the top 10 - those are the Honda Odyssey minivan (6th) and Honda Passport mid-size SUV (10th). The Honda Pilot large SUV, also built in Lincoln, was 32nd.
Honda has long had a strong manufacturing presence in the U.S. The Honda Accord mid-size sedan (8th on the list this year) has long been built in Marysville, Ohio. Other Hondas on the list included the Honda CR-V Hybrid (42nd on the list, built either in Ohio or Indiana), the Honda Accord Hybrid (60th, also built in Marysville), the non-hybrid CR-V (80th, again built in Ohio or Indiana), and the Honda Civic Hybrid and Honda Civic (84th and 86th, built in Indiana, Canada, or Japan).
What This Means For Honda - And Consumers
As noted, Honda has long built cars in the States. Honda is not alone - most Japanese, European, and Korean manufacturers, if not all, build cars in the U.S. That also includes European companies under Chinese ownership such as Volvo and Polestar.
What these means for Honda and other brands is that they can tell car shoppers that if they buy from them, they are supporting American jobs. And not just American jobs, but blue-collar manufacturing jobs - often, blue-collar manufacturing jobs in rural and semi-rural areas where jobs aren’t plentiful. It’s one thing for a foreign automaker to employee a small group of white-collar workers at a North American headquarters office, and yet another for that same automaker to offer a few thousand more manufacturing jobs at plants across the nation. Not to mention that building cars in the U.S. can boost supplier employment.
As for the Ridgeline itself, its “Americanness”, for lack of a better word, helps it compete with Detroit Three’s compact and mid-size trucks in a different way than just driving dynamics, specs, fuel economy, or price. It’s hard for a Ford or Chevy partisan to dismiss the Ridgeline as some wimpy foreign truck when it’s built in Alabama. Sure, the Ford Ranger and Ford F-150 are both built in America, too, but according to Car’s methodology, they are actually not quite as American than the Ridgeline.
To be sure, not every car buyer cares where it is built, and some buyers might care a little but not so much that it’s a dealbreaker. And some folks might, for whatever reason, prefer a car that’s not built in the U.S.
But Honda Ridgeline buyers who do put an emphasis on buying cars in America will be reassured to see that the truck is in fifth place on Car’s list. The Alabama-built truck has the right to say it’s just as American as anything from the Detroit Three.
About The Author
Tim Healey is an experienced automotive writer and editor from Chicago. He has covered automotive news at Consumer Guide Automotive, Web2Carz, AutoGuide, and was the managing editor at The Truth About Cars. Tim is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association. You can find him on Facebook, X/Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
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