Yet Another Report Shows How American-Made The Honda Ridgeline Really Is

We’ve already covered how American the Honda Ridgeline is in the eyes of Cars.com and the Web site’s American-made index report. Now I see another report that suggests the Ridgeline really is the most American-made truck on the market.

How American Is The Honda Ridgeline?

This report is from American Trucks. This one uses a different methodology than Cars, focusing on domestic (U.S. and Canadian) parts content, whereas Cars uses parts content, final assembly location, country of origin for engines and transmissions, and American manufacturing workforce.

If you remember, the Ridgeline was the fifth out of 100 vehicles in terms of being American-made. It was the second-highest truck on the list, with only Jeep’s Gladiator (3rd) ahead of it.

American Trucks, focusing on parts content, puts the Ridgeline ahead of the Gladiator, since the former has 75 percent domestic parts content and the latter at 74 percent. The Tesla Cybertruck is third at 65 percent.

So that means the Japanese-branded Ridgeline, which of course is built in Alabama, is arguably the most American pickup truck on the road.

That’s not just among compact and mid-size trucks, it also counts full-size trucks. The Ridgeline is more American, by this measurement, than the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500.

American Trucks uses the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration’s (NHTSA) American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA) for its analysis.

The Ridgeline is not the only truck from a Japanese brand with a high level of Americanness. Toyota’s Tundra full-size truck is over 50 percent and Tundra hybrid is at 50 percent. The Nissan Frontier and non-hybrid Toyota Tacoma are under 50 percent but still respectable at 40 percent.

Why This Matters

Just to be clear, for some car buyers, however much a vehicle qualifies as American-made doesn’t matter. Some people just want the best vehicle, and/or the best one for their individual use case, for the best price. Some folks don’t even pay attention to where a vehicle is built or how much of its part content is domestically sourced.

But others do. A lot of buyers do care about supporting American manufacturing jobs. Some might be union workers themselves.

It also shows how global the automotive industry truly is. It’s true that the American government worked during the Reagan Administration to get Japanese automakers to build vehicles in the U.S. as a matter of keeping manufacturing jobs in America at a time when the Detroit automakers were struggling. That plays a part. But when Japanese automakers are building cars in American using parts sourced from America, Canada, and from all over the rest of the globe, it truly is a global industry.

Having the Ridgeline built in America with so many domestic parts involved gives Honda a selling point, too. It can tout that the Ridgeline is built in Alabama using mostly domestic parts, and it can point out that the Ridgeline is more American than trucks sold by American companies headquartered in or near Detroit.

The methodologies used by the various analyses do vary, but that doesn’t make one right or wrong, it’s just slightly different ways of approaching the topic. And the two methodologies profiled here both show that the Honda Ridgeline is very, very American-made.

Not long ago, just the idea of a Honda pickup truck was weird. Now, not only does Honda make a truck - one that seems to garner raves from its owners, based on our recent coverage - but it’s either the most or second-most American-made pickup truck out there on the market, depending on which report you refer to.

That’s pretty cool.

Images: Honda

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.