When Steven Thomson visited his local Lincoln showroom, he noticed something peculiar: The Nautilus SUV’s vehicle identification number began with the number 5.
That was odd, because Thomson — a retired parts and service manager and a car guy — always heard that VINs beginning with a 1, 4 or 5 were made in the United States. But the Nautilus, he knew, was built in China by Ford Motor Co.’s joint venture with a Chinese automaker. Meanwhile, other China-built vehicles like the Buick Envision, Polestar 2 and Volvo S90 all have VINs that begin with the letter L.
“It didn’t make sense,” Thomson said about Nautilus’ VIN. “I love Ford. It’s a beautiful car. I don’t have an issue with them making the vehicle in China. I just think they should be really transparent with their customer, especially when it’s a hot-button issue. They should make it easier to see and know.”
The reason for the VIN on the Nautilus is bureaucratic. The first three numbers of a VIN are known as the World Manufacturer Identifier. Each country assigns its own WMIs. China didn’t assign Ford Motor Co. a world manufacturer identifier for a “multi-purpose vehicle,” a required classification under U.S. regulation, according to a letter of interpretation issued in 2024 by Adam Raviv, former chief counsel at the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
China only gave Ford WMIs for passenger cars and trucks. Nautilus production moved to China from Canada that year. China recommended that Ford designate the vehicle as a passenger car, and there it is sold with a VIN that starts with L, spokesman Dave Tovar said.
Concerned that this could complicate VIN assignment in the future if Ford were to build and import passenger cars from China, the Dearborn automaker asked NHTSA if it could use a U.S.-assigned WMI beginning with a 5 in the U.S. market. NHTSA agreed to the request, stating the 50-50 joint venture between Ford and China Changan Automobile Group Co. Ltd. met the legal requirements for the assignment.
NHTSA does not approve individual VINs, a NHTSA official said in a statement. Manufacturers must ensure that their VINs follow the formatting and data requirements set by federal law.
The official added that if the company has sufficient control over a joint venture and primary responsibility for a vehicle’s safety compliance and design, it is considered the manufacturer for VIN purposes and can use its existing WMI for vehicles manufactured abroad.
The Nautilus is the only vehicle built in China that Ford sells in the United States. Tovar said the company assembles more than six vehicles in its home country for every one it imports.
“We have been clear,” he said in a statement, “that the Nautilus is built in China for the global markets Lincoln serves and has a VIN number that accurately represents the vehicle type and manufacturer.”
U.S. regulations state that automakers must disclose the manufacturing location. In addition to a required separate “Country of Origin” label clearly visible to customers, the 11th position in the VIN is designated for the specific plant that produced the vehicle. The character, however, is manufacturer-specific. Customers likely would need to use a VIN decoder to get that information.
Finding the location of where the Nautilus is built is also a mere Google search away. Nonetheless, there’s a perception that looking at the first character of the VIN will disclose the country where it was assembled. The United Auto Workers has a guide online to educate vehicle buyers on this, and customers on forums like Reddit have noticed that the Nautilus’ VIN starts with a 5, despite being built in China.
NHTSA contracts with SAE International — a global professional organization that helps to create industry-wide standards, including for autos — to coordinate issuing WMIs. SAE referred comment to NHTSA.
NHTSA’s VIN regulation is silent as to whether the WMI must indicate the country of manufacture, according to Raviv’s letter. It must indicate the manufacturer and the type of motor vehicle, he wrote.
The letter said other companies headquartered in the United States could use already-issued WMIs on vehicles they produce in other countries. But it limited the assignment of new WMIs for this purpose.
“Out of concern for the dwindling supply of WMIs, NHTSA will direct its contractor not to issue new U.S. WMIs specifically for vehicles produced outside of the United States, even when the manufacturer is a U.S.-headquartered company,” Raviv wrote.
Most vehicles that receive a U.S. WMI are assembled in the United States, but as the Nautilus shows, there are exceptions. As a part of NHTSA’s interpretation letter, it also repealed a past decision, paving the way for a company like BMW AG to apply a German WMI to vehicles it builds in South Carolina.
The Nautilus’ labeling doesn’t appear to be noncompliant with U.S. regulation, but it does reveal a potential weakness around vehicle identification regulation that could create confusion for customers at a time of heightened scrutiny of China-built vehicles. Detroit’s automakers have raised concerns about the threat of Chinese brands selling low-cost electrified vehicles in the global markets, lawmakers are developing regulations to protect national security interests from the increasing presence of Chinese vehicles in North America with the ability to collect data and transmit it to often state-controlled or -connected corporations.
And President Donald Trump — expected to meet this week in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — has hiked tariffs on Chinese vehicle imports. Ford CEO Jim Farley himself has made recent public comments urging strengthened protections against the entrance of Chinese vehicles in the United States.
Most buyers aren’t intensely studying VINs. Despite being Lincoln’s only foreign-built vehicle, the Nautilus is the brand’s top-selling offering. Sales are down 5.5% in the first four months of 2026, but it was the only model from the brand to see an increase in April, up 7.7%. More than half of the vehicles sold at Detroit’s Bob Maxey Lincoln are Nautiluses.
“Never in my 25 years have I been asked,” Marty Rutkowski, new cars sales manager at the dealership, said about the Nautilus’ VIN. Some members of the UAW will emphasize U.S.-assembled products in their purchases, “but not too many. The vehicle itself is fantastic.”
About half of the vehicles sold in the United States are imported. Although many Americans may like the idea of buying a U.S.-built vehicle, that quality determines a purchase for a fraction of buyers, said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at auto search engine iSeeCars.com.
“It’s not something people are looking at,” Brauer said about the VINs. “It’s a non-issue for most people.”
bnoble@detroitnews.com
@BreanaCNoble
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Why the China-built Lincoln Nautilus has a U.S. VIN
Reporting by Breana Noble, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
