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VIN country codes

Want to know where a car was built? Look at the first character of its VIN. It shows the country or region, and together with the second character it pins it down precisely.

By the Toolvia editorial teamUpdated
Chart of VIN first characters and the countries they represent, including 1, 4 and 5 for the United States, J for Japan and W for Germany
The most common first characters you’ll see on vehicles in North America.

Most common codes: 1, 4 and 5 are the United States, 2 is Canada, 3 is Mexico, J is Japan, K is South Korea, L is China, W is Germany and Z is Italy.

First-character codes by region

First characterRegionCommon countries
1 4 5North AmericaUnited States
7Oceania and North AmericaNew Zealand, and newer United States codes
2North AmericaCanada
3North AmericaMexico (most codes), plus some Central American countries
6OceaniaAustralia
8 9South AmericaBrazil, Argentina, Colombia and others
JAsiaJapan
KAsiaSouth Korea (KL to KR)
LAsiaChina
MAsiaIndia, Indonesia, Thailand
N P RAsiaTurkey, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and others
SEuropeUnited Kingdom, Poland
TEuropeSwitzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary
VEuropeFrance, Spain, Austria
WEuropeGermany
XEuropeRussia, Netherlands
YEuropeSweden, Finland, Belgium
ZEuropeItaly
A B C D E F G HAfricaSouth Africa and others

The second character narrows it down

Each region’s codes are split into ranges using the second character. That’s how one letter can cover several countries. For example, VINs starting with V are French when the second character falls between F and R, and Spanish between S and W. With S, SA to SM is the United Kingdom, while SU to SZ is Poland.

You don’t need to memorise the ranges. The VIN decoder works out the country from the first two characters and shows the exact plant from the manufacturer’s data.

Country of assembly, not brand

The first character shows where the vehicle was assembled, not where the company is based. Plenty of Japanese and German brands build cars in the US, so their VINs start with 1, 4 or 5. A few examples:

VIN starts withBrandBuilt in
4T1ToyotaUnited States (Kentucky)
5UXBMWUnited States (South Carolina)
4JGMercedes-BenzUnited States (Alabama)
19XHondaUnited States
3FAFordMexico
KLChevroletSouth Korea

So a VIN starting with 1 doesn’t mean an American brand, and one starting with J doesn’t guarantee a Japanese one. It tells you where the factory was.

Why the country matters

For most buyers it’s simply interesting. But it can matter for parts, since the same model built in two countries sometimes uses different components, and for imports, where the country code can tell you whether a car was originally built for the US market or brought in later.

Frequently asked questions

What does a VIN starting with 1 mean?

The vehicle was assembled in the United States. 4 and 5 also mean the US.

What does a VIN starting with J mean?

The vehicle was built in Japan.

What does a VIN starting with W mean?

The vehicle was built in Germany.

What does a VIN starting with 3 mean?

Most codes starting with 3 are Mexico. A few ranges belong to Central American countries.

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