Assembly Plants and VINs: Where Your Car Was Actually Built

Long Pattern Editorial

Position 11 of every VIN encodes the assembly plant. Learn which plants produce which vehicles, and why plant of origin matters for quality and recalls.

Position 11 of every VIN encodes the assembly plant — the specific factory where the vehicle was built. Each manufacturer defines its own plant codes independently, so the letter F at position 11 of a Ford VIN means something entirely different from F at position 11 of a BMW VIN. Despite this lack of universality, knowing the plant code helps trace quality issues, understand recall scope, and verify a vehicle's claimed history.

Why Plant Codes Matter

When a manufacturer discovers a manufacturing defect, the recall is often scoped to specific production runs from specific plants. A defective weld, an improperly torqued fastener, or a contaminated batch of parts may affect vehicles assembled at one plant but not another building the same model. The plant code in position 11, combined with the production sequence in positions 12–17, allows manufacturers and NHTSA to define precise recall boundaries.

Notable US Assembly Plants

Some of the most significant US assembly plants and their associated codes include:

  • Toyota Georgetown, KY — produces Camry, Avalon, and Lexus ES; code U in Toyota VINs
  • Honda Marysville, OH — produces Accord and Acura TLX; code M in Honda VINs
  • GM Bowling Green, KY — produces Corvette; code 5 in GM VINs
  • Ford Dearborn, MI — produces F-150; code F in Ford VINs
  • Mercedes-Benz Vance, AL — produces GLE, GLS, and GLE Coupe
  • BMW Spartanburg, SC — produces X3, X4, X5, X6, X7

Browse all documented plant codes on our assembly plants page.

International Plants

For vehicles assembled outside the United States, position 1 of the VIN already gives you the country. Position 11 then identifies the specific plant within that country. Japanese-assembled Toyotas, for instance, use numeric plant codes corresponding to specific facilities in Toyota City and surrounding areas.

First Production vs. Late Production

Enthusiasts and analysts often look at the production sequence (positions 12–17) alongside the plant code to determine whether a vehicle is an early production unit (lower sequence numbers) or a late production unit. Early production vehicles may have different part revisions than late production units of the same model year — relevant for both collectors and quality researchers.

Finding Your Plant

Decode the full plant information for any vehicle using our VIN decoder, which queries the NHTSA vPIC database and returns the manufacturer, plant location, and all available details from the vehicle descriptor section.