Jeep, Dodge and Ram Pump the Brakes on Built in USA Claims Following TINA.org Inquiry

Over the weekend, 10 days after the White House announced that it would be imposing a 25% tariff on imported vehicles and certain car parts, Jeep, Dodge and Ram all debuted ads on their YouTube channels touting their vehicles as “made” or “built” in the USA.

But while the ads embraced the slogan “American Born,” the ads themselves were short-lived: By Tuesday afternoon, they were all taken down.

Earlier that same day, TINA.org sent a letter to Stellantis, the Dutch automaker that owns Jeep, Dodge and Ram, informing the company that the car brands’ made and built in the USA claims are deceptive because none of the brands’ cars are actually made in the USA according to FTC law.

The FTC requires products marketed as “made” or “built” in the USA – the agency views the terms the same – to be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S., with “no – or negligible – foreign content.” There is no Jeep, Dodge or Ram model – or any car for that matter – that meets this definition.

For example, the percentage of U.S. content in the Jeep Wrangler is 68%; the Dodge Durango contains 73% U.S. content; and the Ram 1500 Pickup comprises 55% U.S. content. Meanwhile, these models are made with engine, motor or transmission parts sourced from all over the world, from Mexico to Italy to Japan.

The bottom line: The cars are not made or built in the USA but rather assembled in the USA using a significant amount of imported parts.

In its letter to Stellantis, TINA.org noted that:

Stellantis has every right to boast of its brands’ assembly plants in the United States that create American jobs and strengthen the U.S. economy, but it cannot illegally embellish the amount of manufacturing that takes place domestically. Such deception is especially harmful when, as here, it is disseminated during a particularly vulnerable time for U.S. consumers shopping for cars.

Hours later, the YouTube videos were removed from publication. However, the fate of the TV versions of these ads remains unclear. TINA.org has asked Stellantis if it also plans to pull the national TV commercials – one of which aired during the men’s NCAA basketball championship game Monday night – that make the same deceptive U.S.-origin claims for its car brands. The company has not provided a response.

Driving change

This is not the first time an automaker has kicked into gear to correct its misleading Made in USA marketing after receiving a letter from TINA.org regarding deceptive U.S.-origin claims.

In 2019, Mercedes-Benz halted a national ad campaign for its Sprinter van, which TINA.org found deceptively marketed as “built in the USA,” in response to a letter from TINA.org. Then, in 2022, TINA.org notified seven automakers of their deceptive Made in USA claims, prompting a number of marketing changes, which we wrote about in a post earlier this week.

One of those car companies that implemented changes was Ford, which demonstrates in a new ad discussing this “unprecedented moment in automobile history” that it’s possible for a U.S.-based automaker to highlight its domestic workers and contributions to American manufacturing without running afoul of the law.

The key? Avoid making deceptive, unqualified Made or Built in America claims and instead focus on the facts.

Find more of our coverage on Made in USA.