Actually, it doesn’t. Because of US and Canadian unions, many factories in the US are not automated to the same degree as they are overseas. The first car fully assembled by robots with no human hands touching it in the assembly process was the 1990 Nissan 300ZX, which was assembled in Japan.
Number of US branded cars fully or even *majority* assembled by robots even today? Zero. Number of US marque plants capable of doing so? Zero.
“Actually, it doesn’t. Because of US and Canadian unions, many factories in the US are not automated to the same degree as they are overseas.”
In 1995 I toured a Rover automobile assembly plant in Cowley, England. The company had just been bought by BMW, but the robotic technology in use was Honda’s, left over from an earlier joint venture. (Most of the cars being built were re-badged Civics, Accords, and Acura Legends.) All of the painting and almost all of the welding was done by robots. However, I noticed some workers were welding the trunk (”boot”) lids by hand, and I asked the tour guide why that wasn’t also being done by robots. He replied that it had to do with “staffing agreements” (i.e., featherbedding) with the local trade union. All but the Mini and Land Rover bits of Rover cars were out of business soon thereafter.