Sure, you have American car companies, German car companies, Japanese car companies, and so on and so forth. These determinations are based pretty much on where auto manufacturers are headquartered, but when you get right down to it, are the labels really accurate?

One would assume that when he/she buys an American car, that car was more or less manufactured in America, with American parts. And the same would go for German, Japanese, etc nameplates. This is simply not so in a lot of cases.

For example, according to the Internet Auto Guide, Toyota->ke88, a Japanese nameplate, uses mostly American-built parts in its models. In fact, they use more American parts than any of the American manufacturers - Ford->ke31, Dodge->ke28, and Chevrolet->ke199 included. Some of those Toyota models are also assembled in the United States.

The AIG site recently published a list of the seven cars with the most American parts under the hood. Granted, the top two were models from American manufacturers - the Dodge Avenger->ke2188 and the Chrysler 200->ke3341 - but, according to the report, Toyota uses more American parts, across the board, than any of the so-called American manufacturers. Their models ranked third (Camry->ke246) and fourth (Avalon->ke350) on the list. These two vehicles not only used American parts, but are also built in the U.S. at a facility in Georgetown, KY. In a sense, aren't these really American cars then?

Full story after the jump.

Another foreign manufacturer, Honda->ke34, crept into the countdown in the fifth spot with its Accord. American car giant, General Motors->ke1024, rounded out the rankings with its Chevrolet Impala->ke1792 in sixth place and the Cadillac DTS->ke1202 in seventh.

Americans are urged to "buy American" to keep jobs in America and attempt to keep the American economy strong, but that's hard to do when it comes to transportation. With some cars carrying foreign nameplates, but also being assembled in the United States with U.S. parts and so many American auto manufacturers using foreign parts and assembling their cars on foreign assembly lines, is there really an American car anymore?

In today's global economy maybe automobiles shouldn't even have a country designation. When you get right down to it, most cars on the road come from a variety of countries. One would be hard pressed to find a vehicle with all its parts manufactured and assembled in a single country.