If someone built a car entirely made in the USA today this is how much it'd likely cost

If there were a car entirely made in the USA, this is how much it’d cost.

In recent years, more and more cars driven in America have been imported, to the point where they make up half of all car sales.

The Trump administration’s tariff policy came with a clear message: make more cars in America.

But how much would the car cost?

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There’s a lot that goes into the production of cars.

You have to consider the economics of making cars in certain ways, and the country in which a car is made can make a big difference.

Whether it’s BMW cars being made in Germany or Maseratis being rolled out in Italy, geography plays a part.

In 2024, 92 million cars were made worldwide.

The country leading the ranks was China, with a staggering 31 million – included among those stats will be brands like BYD and Xiaomi.

In second place was the USA, with one million.

Of the 16 million cars sold in the USA each year, though, approximately eight million are imported.

With the tariffs that have come into place on foreign cars, the message seems to be pretty clear – the US government wants more cars made in the USA.

It’s a message that has been echoed by trade advisor Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

But how much would it cost to make a car stateside, and is it even doable?

There’s a lot that needs to be taken into consideration.

All the screws and bolts that hold the car together are imported, as making them in the States would be too costly.

Automakers don’t miss out any details when comes to determining how many resources go into a car.

CNBC journalist Mike Wayland did the number crunching on how much a 100 percent American-made car would cost.

He estimated that it would be between $300,000 and $400,000 – a hefty figure.

Most cars made in America – the most expensive country to produce cars – include parts from overseas.

Take the 2025 Ford Expedition SUV for example.

While it’s assembled in a factory in Kentucky, 58 percent of its main parts were made elsewhere.

22 percent of said parts were made in Mexico alone.

Ultimately, the broad consensus is that moving all aspects of production back to the States would increase costs for the consumer.

“We can move everything to the US, but if every Ford is $50,000, we’re not going to win as a company,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said.

“That’s a balancing act that every [automaker] will have to do, even the most American company.”

Mark Wakefield, a global automotive lead at consulting firm AlixPartners, suggested that a lower target could be feasible.

If cars were limited to 75 percent US and Canadian parts, he determined it would be a more realistic target as ‘[it] doesn’t force you to do uneconomic things’.

While some cars already meet that threshold, getting that out on a larger scale would cost billions of dollars from automakers and suppliers.

In 2007, all of the top 16 cars had 90 percent or more of their parts come from the USA or Canada, and were made in the USA.

This figure has gone down in the last decade as supply chains have become globalized.

However it pans out in the future, one thing is clear – this debate isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

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