More foreign-brand cars U.S. built

DETROIT, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- More than 40 percent of foreign-brand cars are being made in the United States, according to industry analysts.

For the first time, 3.7 million foreign-brand cars sold in the United States were built in America last year, while 3.4 million were imported, said the Center for Automotive Research, non-profit auto industry analysts in Michigan.

J.D. Power and Associates said 20 years ago 460,000 foreign cars were U.S. built, while 3.6 million were imported, reported the Boston Globe Sunday.

Lonnie Miller, director of industry analysis for R.L. Polk & Co., a Michigan auto information and marketing firm, said younger car buyers and increasing populations of Asian and Hispanic Americans choose cars not based on brand loyalty or national fealty, but on "what car best fits their image, or the car rated most reliable or most fun."