Why all-American cars do not exist at the Philadelphia Auto Show

For someone into the "buy American" thing — or curious about those presidential threats to tax Mexican and German car imports — a trip to the Philadelphia Auto Show (winding down Sunday afternoon) can be instructive.

Guessing the actual country of origin of a show-floor model is not simple, as "the trend to globalization just keeps growing," Auto Show executive director Kevin Mazzucola said.

More than once — after chatting with manufacturers' reps or studying the government's "Monroney" sale stickers on some show-floor vehicles — this car buff started humming the Disney ditty "It's a Small World After All" and thinking, "What happens if a trade war stops replacement  parts at the border?" Because even some iconic "American" cars would die by the side of the road without their foreign components.

Some of the cutest come-ons at the show are among the most deceptive. While touting the latest in German engineering, the rugged Volkswagen Golf Alltrack Sportwagen was built in Puebla, Mexico. So, too, are the VW Jetta, Golf compacts, and the retro-Beetle — the first-run Beetles were made in Mexico since the 1960s and "continued on even after sales in the U.S. ended,"  a VW presenter noted. "We moved a lot of production there to keep our cars affordable." (Mexican autoworkers make $600 a month, before overtime, Bloomberg reported.)

A veritable United Nations on wheels, the VW Sportwagen packs 45 percent German parts, 25 percent Mexican, 30 percent here 'n' there. The automatic transmission that shifts the Alltrack edition hails from Japan. The manual transmissions in lesser-level Sportwagens come from Argentina.

While perfect for top-down cruising at the Jersey Shore, a Buick Cascada might respond if you asked "Yakshemash?" — "How are you?" in Polish.

Designed by GM's Opel (rooted in Germany) with more than a nod to the mostly Swedish-made Saab 9.3 convertible that GM rudely snuffed, the Cascada undergoes its final assembly in Gliwice, Poland. And its gene pool includes 32 percent Polish parts, an engine from Hungary, and a transmission from Korea. Not your papa's Buick.

Nor is the Buick Envision, a midsize crossover between the Encore Compact Utility Vehicle (made in South Korea) and the larger Enclave. While designed here, the Envision is GM's first export to the United States built in China and composed mostly of Chinese and Korean-made parts.

It won't be the last. Autoweek has gone on about the current-gen Buick Regal (initially imported from Germany, now assembled in Canada) moving production to China. Ditto for the Buick Encore, already 15 percent Chinese sourced. "And next year, the new Chevy Equinox and  GM Terrain are supposed to  share the same platform as the Envision," a Buick rep shared. The Envision's fit and finish seemed fine and Buick-like.

Identifying the domestic and foreign content in cars is not a new sport. Congress passed the American Automobile Labeling Act in 1992, requiring that new cars, pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs carry a sticker specifying the percentage of U.S./Canadian parts, where final assembly occurred, and the country of origin for the engine and transmission. Concerns rose after the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994 and auto factories south of the border revved up.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration annually posts findings. For 2016, it rated as most domesticated the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Arcadia, and Honda Accord (all boasting 80 percent U.S./Canada content) followed 5 percentage points down by the Honda Pilot, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Camry, and Toyota Sienna. Surprised?

This rating system is not without controversy stoked by Cars.com and the Kogod Made in America Auto Index. The latter is a rival ranking system made by global supply chain expert Frank DuBois at American University.

The critics argue that the Canadian provinces aren't blood relations. They disagree with the AALA policy of "rounding up" parts with 70 percent U.S.  content to a full 100 percent domestic rating. Cars.com believes more weight should be put on high-volume cars. DuBois takes off points for foreign-owned firms that build cars here — as more than a dozen now do — then take profits home.

Gazing at the next-gen prototype of its Americanized Camry, Toyota spokesman Corey Proffitt noted that "the Cars.com 2016 American-Made Index put us at the top for the second year in a row. Our Georgetown, Kentucky, plant is our largest in the world. We make engines and transmissions here. We've invested billions in 10 U.S.  factories and major R&D centers."

Perhaps angling to please the new administration, the 2016 Kogod Auto Index pushed the domesticated Honda Accord down to 14 on its Made in America winners list, and the Camry to 31. Both earned a zero (out of six) score in the U.S. "profit margin" column.

But as Cars.com found, car shoppers don't much play the patriot card. Just 13 percent of survey respondents last year would consider only a U.S. manufacturer when shopping — down from 28 percent the year before. Quality, styling, and performance count more.

And respondents were largely oblivious to country of origin. Less than a third knew the Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, and Honda Pilot are American-made despite the country-of-origin notes on their window stickers. (FYI — while most Honda Civics we saw were made in Indiana, the snazzy Honda Civic Hatch Sport hails from Swindon, England, with parts sourced in the U.S., Japan, U.K., and Thailand. All hybrid Hondas still ship from Japan.)

Also waving the U.S. flag was Subaru of America, the Cherry Hill-based unit of Fuji Heavy Industries, unveiling its first made-in-Indiana 2017 Impreza compact sedan and five-door hatchback at the Philly show. Larger Legacy and Outback models have been made here for a while. According to the Japanese show Samurai Wheels shown here on channel 35.2, Subaru is much bigger in the U.S. car market than at home.

Conversely, high-end "Euro" makers kept it on the down low that they're making cars in the U.S., as BMW does with most SUVs, and Mercedes-Benz with its C-class sedans. Which Volvo is now made in China? The Volvo S60 Inscription, with a longer wheelbase and a bigger backseat "because most of the owners like being chauffeured around," a booth rep said.

As for the shift to Mexican manufacturing that has President Trump in a tizzy, everyone from Ford (with the Fiesta, Fusion, and Lincoln MKZ) and Chevy (the hatchback Cruze)  to Honda (Fit, CR-V), Mazda (3), Nissan (Sentra), and a combination Infiniti and Mercedes (with their joint luxury Compact Utility Vehicle) are now guilty as charged. Changing that will be hard.

"If the maquiladoras [factories] south of the border would suddenly close and their work sourced to new plants in the U.S., that work would largely now be done by robotic — not human — hands," warned Autoweek.com on Monday.