These are America's 15 busiest auto plants

Still got that fireworks-induced, patriotic buzz going on? This might help keep you seeing red, white and blue a bit longer. Of the 15 most productive auto plants in the States, Automobile Magazine says the top two spots – and more than half the total tally – are occupied by American car companies.

Ford and its Kansas City and Dearborn plants claimed the top two slots for 2011. The Kansas City plant turned out an impressive 460,338 vehicles last year. Most of that (321,322) were 2012 Escape models with the remainder made up of 135,039 F-Series trucks and 3,977 Mazda Tribute models.

In Dearborn, Ford built 343,888 F-Series pickups and 473 Lincoln Mark LT trucks.

For the No. 3 spot, head south to Alabama, where Hyundai cranked out 227,663 Sonata and 114,499 Elantra sedans for a total of 342,162 vehicles.

Just up the road in Smyrna, Tennessee, is Nissan and its first North American plant where 333,392 cars, trucks and SUVs were built in 2011. Besides Nissans, though, the Smyrna workers also built 2,415 Suzuki Equator pickups which are based on the Nissan Frontier.

A little further north in Georgetown, Kentucky lies the largest Toyota plant outside of Japan. The bulk of the plant's 315,889 output was made up of the Camry sedan.

Ford (Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, MO) - 460,338
Ford (Dearborn Truck Plant, Dearborn, MI) - 342,162
Hyundai (Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Plant, Montgomery, AL) - 342,162
Nissan (Nissan North America, Smyrna, TN) - 333,392
Toyota (Georgetown, KY) - 315,889
General Motors (Fort Wayne, Roanoke, IN) - 307,454
Honda (Marysville Auto Plant, Marysville, OH) - 285,258
Kia/Hyundai - (Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, West Point, GA) - 282,316
General Motors - (Lordstown Complex, Warren, OH) - 279,674
General Motors - (Fairfax Assembly Plant, Kansas City, KS) - 279,250
General Motors - (Lansing Delta Township, Lansing, MI) - 277,277
BMW (BMW Manufacturing Co., Spartanburg, SC) - 277,074
General Motors (Arlington, TX) - 269,624
Honda - (Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Lincoln, AL) - 264,324
Ford - (Chicago Assembly Plant, Chicago) - 262,730

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/07/06/t...t-auto-plants/

 

First three come to no surprise to me. That Hyundai plant in AL has been running nonstop since the 2010 product onslaught

 

The real question is......how many people are actually employed in those plants, and how much are they making? In one sense, we can't complain, because the increasing use of robot-assembly machines has given us better-quality vehicles than before....some of the best vehicles in history. And, of course, there are still some auto-factory jobs that humans still have to do.....robots and automation can't do everything. But there is no doubt that the Age of the Well-Paid Auto Worker (whether UAW or not) now a thing of the past. Like it or not, auto companies are turning out better-made vehicles with fewer, lower-paid employees. Great for company bottom-lines and consumers.............but not-so-great for those who have to make a living (or a retirement) doing so.

 

Chrysler clearly makes the majority of their stuff on Canada and Mexico. My truck was built in Warren, Michigan.

 

With Fiat ownership, don't be surprised to see some Chrysler products, in the future, maybe come from Italian plants...though I doubt if it will be full-size trucks like yours.