Stellantis Steers Away from Deceptive Made in USA Claims

Dodge, Ram and Jeep Ads Violated Law According to Ad Watchdog

/EIN News/ -- MADISON, CONN., April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dutch automaker Stellantis has paused its new “American Born” campaign after getting called out by consumer advocacy organization truthinadvertising.org (TINA.org). Released in the wake of news that a 25% tariff would be imposed on imports of cars and certain car parts, the ads touted Dodge, Ram and Jeep vehicles as “made” or “built” in the USA. In reality, the cars are assembled in the U.S. using a significant number of imported parts.

According to the FTC, in order to market a product as “built” or “made”  in the USA, it must be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S. with “no – or negligible – foreign content.” On Tuesday, TINA.org sent a letter to Stellantis informing the Netherlands-based automaker that the car brands’ built and made in the USA claims are deceptive and violate FTC law.

“Stellantis has every right to boast about its domestic assembly plants that create American jobs and strengthen the U.S. economy, " said TINA.org Executive Director Bonnie Patten. “But what it can’t do is deceive consumers about the amount of manufacturing that takes place here.” 

This is not the first time TINA.org has taken action against an automaker’s deceptive U.S.-origin claims. In 2022, TINA.org notified seven automotive companies of their deceptive Made in USA marketing campaigns. One of those companies was Ford, which was previously deceptively advertising its trucks as “built” in Michigan but last week released a new commercial  that dialed back this claim. Now, Ford appropriately states its vehicles are “assembled” in the U.S.

And in 2019, an investigation by TINA.org prompted Mercedes-Benz to halt a national broadcast ad campaign promoting the Sprinter van as “Built in the USA” after the nonprofit found that the overwhelming majority of the Sprinter vans were imported from Germany and the remainder contained significant non-U.S. components.

In addition to automakers, TINA.org has investigated and taken action to root out deceptive Made in USA claims made by a number of companies, including Williams-Sonoma, New Balance, Walmart, Gillette and Almay. The consumer watchdog is also tracking dozens of class-action lawsuits alleging false and deceptive origin claims.

Find out more about TINA.org’s work uncovering deceptive Made in USA claims.

Shana Mueller
                    truthinadvertising.org
                    203-421-6210
                    smueller@truthinadvertising.org