Assembly Plant by VIN: Where Your Car Was Built
A free VIN decode returns the assembly plant city and country from NHTSA's vPIC. See which plant fields come back, which stay blank, and how to confirm them.
NHTSA vPIC has the field, but manufacturers leave it blank on many vehicles. A blank is not an error, and no other decoder can fill it.
Yes. A free VIN decode returns the assembly plant: position 11 of the VIN is the plant of manufacture under 49 CFR 565.15(d)(2), and NHTSA's vPIC database maps it to a city and country. In a 40-VIN sample, PlantCountry came back on all 40 and PlantCity on 39, but PlantState on only 26 and PlantCompanyName on 21. The window sticker's Final Assembly Point line confirms the same thing.
How do I find the plant from a VIN?
- Find position 11 of the VIN. Under 49 CFR 565.15(d)(2) that single character is the plant of manufacture. The manufacturer assigns the code itself, so it carries no meaning until it is looked up against that make's pattern.
- Decode the VIN free at https://free-vin-lookup.com/check, which queries NHTSA's vPIC. Only the first 11 characters are needed: vPIC returns all four plant fields from a partial VIN, flagging error code 6 (Incomplete VIN) but decoding the plant anyway.
- Read PlantCity, PlantState, PlantCountry and PlantCompanyName in the response. A blank field means NHTSA holds no record for that plant code, which is not the same as the plant being unknown to the manufacturer.
- If the plant fields are blank or you need documentary proof, read the window sticker. 49 CFR 583.5(a)(3) requires a 'Final Assembly Point' line giving city, state (for US-assembled vehicles) and country on every new passenger vehicle since 1 October 1994.
- Cross-check the driver's door jamb certification label. 49 CFR 567.4(g)(1) and (g)(2) require the actual assembler's corporate name and the month and year of manufacture, though the label does not print the plant's city.
- Do not read the plant off the first VIN character. It identifies where the manufacturer identifier was assigned, not where the vehicle was assembled, and the two frequently differ.
VIN first character and the countries NHTSA records for those manufacturer identifiers, counted across all 903 unique car, truck and MPV WMIs in the vPIC registry (August 2026). This is where the identifier was assigned, not necessarily where the vehicle was assembled: some entries read UNITED STATES because a foreign maker's US importing entity holds the registration. Read PlantCountry from the decode for the actual assembly country.
| First VIN character | Region | Countries recorded in vPIC for these WMIs | WMIs counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North America | United States (238); country not recorded (13); Norway (1) | 252 |
| 2 | North America | Canada (64); United States (13); not recorded (4); Japan (1) | 82 |
| 3 | North America | Mexico (66); United States (9); not recorded (3); Germany (2) | 80 |
| 4 | North America | United States (82); country not recorded (14) | 96 |
| 5 | North America | United States (72); not recorded (3); Germany (1) | 76 |
| 6 | Oceania | Australia (4); country not recorded (1) | 5 |
| 7 | Oceania range, now issued to US makers | United States (30); country not recorded (8) | 38 |
| 8 | South America | Argentina (2); Costa Rica (1) | 3 |
| 9 | South America | Brazil (5); Mexico (1) | 6 |
| A | Africa | South Africa (3) | 3 |
| J | Asia | Japan (55); not recorded (9); United States (6); Canada (1) | 71 |
| K | Asia | South Korea (14); not recorded (4); United States (1); Israel (1) | 20 |
| L | Asia | China (19); Taiwan (2); United States (1); not recorded (1) | 23 |
| M | Asia | Thailand (3); United States (2); India (1) | 6 |
| N | Asia | Turkey (2) | 2 |
| P | Asia | Singapore (1) | 1 |
| R | Asia | Hong Kong (1); Saudi Arabia (1); United Arab Emirates (1); Vietnam (1) | 4 |
| S | Europe | United Kingdom (25); England, listed separately (4); United States (2); not recorded (2) | 33 |
| T | Europe | Hungary (1); Ireland (1); Switzerland (1); Portugal (1) | 4 |
| U | Europe | United States (1); North Macedonia (1) | 2 |
| V | Europe | France (3); not recorded (2); Italy (1); United States (1); Serbia (1); Austria (1) | 9 |
| W | Europe | Germany (41); United States (7); not recorded (5); United Kingdom (1) | 54 |
| X | Europe | Netherlands (3); South Africa (1); Russia (1) | 5 |
| Y | Europe | Sweden (6); not recorded (1); Finland (1); Norway (1) | 9 |
| Z | Europe | Italy (15); United States (2); Germany (1); not recorded (1) | 19 |
Where the VIN route stops for plant
- PlantState is often empty outside North America. It came back on 26 of 40 sampled VINs, populated for US, Canadian, Japanese and UK plants but blank for Volkswagen's Puebla, Hyundai's Ulsan, Porsche's Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Jaguar's Castle Bromwich builds.
- PlantCompanyName came back on 21 of 40 VINs. A 2013 Ford F-150, a 2023 Tesla Model 3, a 2003 Honda Accord and a 2019 BMW X3 all returned a plant city with the company name left blank.
- Values are formatted inconsistently because manufacturers submit them as free text. vPIC returned PlantCity 'TOCHIGI PLANT, KAWACHI-GUN' for a Nissan 370Z, PlantCompanyName 'Flat Rock Assembly PLant' with the typo intact for a Ford Mustang, and for a Thai-built Mitsubishi Mirage the city 'BANGKOK' alongside the company 'LEAMCHABANG', two different places roughly 80 miles apart.
- An unassigned position-11 character silently returns four blank plant fields with no error. Changing position 11 of a valid 2018 Mustang VIN from 5 to 1, 2, 3 or 6 emptied every plant field while Make, Model and ModelYear still decoded normally.
- vPIC documents PlantCity as the plant 'where the manufacturer affixes the VIN', meaning final assembly only. It says nothing about where the engine, transmission or body was made; those countries of origin are disclosed separately on the window sticker under 49 CFR 583.5(a)(4) and (a)(5).
Where to get it instead
- Window sticker: the Final Assembly Point line. 49 CFR 583.5(a)(3) requires every new passenger vehicle sold in the US since 1 October 1994 to carry a label stating 'Final Assembly Point: (city, state, country)'. Unlike a carline-level parts-content percentage, this line is set per individual vehicle, so it is the one legally mandated statement of the exact plant that built yours. Most manufacturers will reprint the original sticker from the VIN through their owner portals. Source →
- NHTSA Part 583 (AALA) model-year reports. NHTSA publishes each model year's American Automobile Labeling Act submissions, listing every manufacturer, make and carline with its final assembly point plus engine and transmission country of origin. Use it when the sticker is long gone and you know only the make, model and year. It answers at carline level, so a model built at two plants will show both. Source →
- Driver's door jamb certification label. 49 CFR 567.4(g)(1) requires the full corporate name of the actual assembler of the vehicle, and (g)(2) requires the month and year of manufacture, defined as when work was completed at the place of main assembly. It confirms who built the car and when but never prints the plant's city, so pair it with vPIC's PlantCity for the location. Source →
- vPIC WMI registry lookup. When all four plant fields are blank, look up the three-character World Manufacturer Identifier instead. DecodeWMI returns the manufacturer name, common name and vehicle type; GetWMIsForManufacturer adds the country NHTSA has on file. That narrows the origin without pinning the plant, and the country shown is the manufacturer's registered country, not necessarily the assembly country. Source →
Primary sources
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
- vPIC Vehicle API: DecodeVinValues, GetVehicleVariableList and GetWMIsForManufacturerNHTSA
- 49 CFR 565.15, Vehicle identification number content requirementsNational Archives, eCFR
- 49 CFR 583.5, Automobile parts content label requirementsNational Archives, eCFR
- 49 CFR 567.4, Certification label requirements for manufacturers of motor vehiclesNational Archives, eCFR
- Part 583 American Automobile Labeling Act ReportsNHTSA
Assembly Plant by VIN: Where Your Car Was Built — questions
Where can I find reliable resources or tools to identify where my car was built?
Start with a free VIN decode against NHTSA's vPIC database, at free-vin-lookup.com/check or vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov. It returns PlantCity and PlantCountry for almost every light vehicle. If those come back blank, the vehicle's original window sticker carries a Final Assembly Point line required by 49 CFR 583.5(a)(3), and NHTSA's Part 583 reports list the assembly point for every carline by model year.
How do I identify the assembly plant for my vehicle from the VIN?
Position 11 of the VIN is the plant of manufacture under 49 CFR 565.15(d)(2). The code itself is assigned by each manufacturer, so it means nothing on its own; you have to look it up against that make's pattern. Decoding the VIN through vPIC does that for you and returns the plant's city, state and country in plain text.
Does the first digit of the VIN tell me what country my car was built in?
Not reliably. The first character marks the region where the manufacturer identifier was assigned, not where the vehicle was assembled. A 2016 BMW 328i on the German WMI WBA decodes to Rosslyn, South Africa when position 11 is N, and to Munich or Regensburg with other plant codes. Read PlantCountry from the decode instead of guessing from character one.
Why is the plant field blank when I decode my VIN?
Blank means NHTSA has no record for that manufacturer's plant code, not that the plant is unknown. It happens most with older vehicles, low-volume imports and mistyped VINs. Changing position 11 of a valid 2018 Mustang VIN to an unassigned character empties all four plant fields while make, model and year still decode normally, and no error is raised.
Can I find out which company owns the plant that built my car?
Sometimes. vPIC has a PlantCompanyName field, but it was populated on only 21 of the 40 VINs sampled here. Toyota, Nissan, GM and Stellantis vehicles usually return it; Ford, Tesla, Honda and BMW often return a plant city with the company name blank. The driver's door jamb label always names the actual assembler under 49 CFR 567.4(g)(1).
Does a VIN decode tell me where the engine and transmission were made?
No. vPIC's plant fields describe the point of final assembly; its own definition is the plant where the manufacturer affixes the VIN. Engine and transmission country of origin are separate disclosures, printed on the window sticker under 49 CFR 583.5(a)(4) and (a)(5). vPIC returns EngineManufacturer for some vehicles, but that is a company name, not a country.
How do I confirm my car was assembled in the United States?
Decode the VIN and read PlantCountry. It returned UNITED STATES (USA) for every US-built vehicle in the sample above, with PlantState naming the state. To confirm it on paper, the window sticker's Final Assembly Point line gives city, state and country, and 49 CFR 583.5(a)(3) requires the state only for vehicles assembled in the United States.