VIN Country Codes — What the First Character Means
The first character of a VIN tells you which country the vehicle was assembled in. Below is the complete ISO 3779 table, plus what the code does — and does not — tell you about the car in front of you.
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The first character of a VIN identifies the country where the vehicle was manufactured, under the ISO 3779 standard. 1, 4 and 5 mean the United States; 2 is Canada; 3 is Mexico; J is Japan; K covers South Korea in the KL–KR range; L is China; W is Germany; S covers the United Kingdom in SA–SM; V covers France in VF–VR; Y covers Sweden in YS–YW; and Z covers Italy in ZA–ZR. Most countries hold a two-character range rather than a whole letter, so reading only the first character will misidentify some vehicles.
Reading the country out of a VIN
Four steps, in order — and the fourth is the one that decides whether the car is worth buying.
- 1Look at character oneThe first character of the VIN is the geographic area the vehicle was assembled in. 1, 4 and 5 are the United States; 2 is Canada; J is Japan; W is Germany.
- 2Then look at character twoMost countries hold a two-character range, not a whole letter. S is four countries — SA–SM is the UK, SN–ST is Germany, SU–SZ is Poland, S1–S4 is Latvia.
- 3Read all three for the manufacturerCharacters one to three together are the World Manufacturer Identifier. WBA is BMW in Germany; 5UX is BMW in South Carolina. Same brand, different plant.
- 4Then check what happened after the factoryCountry of manufacture never changes. Title brands, theft records, accidents and odometer readings do — and those are what a history report reads.
Country codes by country
The twelve largest vehicle-producing countries, each with its manufacturer codes listed in full.
Full ISO 3779 country code table
Every first-character allotment in the standard. Where a country holds a range, both characters are needed to identify it correctly.
| VIN code | Country of manufacture |
|---|---|
| 1, 4, 5 | United States |
| 2 | Canada |
| 3A–3W | Mexico |
| 3X–37 | Costa Rica |
| 38–30 | Cayman Islands |
| 6A–6W | Australia |
| 7A–7E | New Zealand |
| 8A–8E | Argentina |
| 8F–8K | Chile |
| 8L–8R | Ecuador |
| 8S–8W | Peru |
| 8X–82 | Venezuela |
| 9A–9E, 93–99 | Brazil |
| 9F–9K | Colombia |
| 9L–9R | Paraguay |
| 9S–9W | Uruguay |
| 9X–92 | Trinidad & Tobago |
| AA–AH | South Africa |
| AJ–AN | Ivory Coast |
| BA–BE | Angola |
| BF–BK | Kenya |
| BL–BR | Tanzania |
| CA–CE | Benin |
| CF–CK | Madagascar |
| CL–CR | Tunisia |
| DA–DE | Egypt |
| DF–DK | Morocco |
| DL–DR | Zambia |
| EA–EE | Ethiopia |
| EF–EK | Mozambique |
| FA–FE | Ghana |
| FF–FK | Nigeria |
| JA–J0 | Japan |
| KA–KE | Sri Lanka |
| KF–KK | Israel |
| KL–KR | South Korea |
| KS–K0 | Kazakhstan |
| LA–L0 | China |
| MA–ME | India |
| MF–MK | Indonesia |
| ML–MR | Thailand |
| MS–M0 | Myanmar |
| NA–NE | Iran |
| NF–NK | Pakistan |
| NL–NR | Turkey |
| PA–PE | Philippines |
| PF–PK | Singapore |
| PL–PR | Malaysia |
| RA–RE | United Arab Emirates |
| RF–RK | Taiwan |
| RL–RR | Vietnam |
| RS–R0 | Saudi Arabia |
| SA–SM | United Kingdom |
| SN–ST, W | Germany |
| SU–SZ | Poland |
| S1–S4 | Latvia |
| TA–TH | Switzerland |
| TJ–TP | Czech Republic |
| TR–TV | Hungary |
| TW–T1 | Portugal |
| UH–UM | Denmark |
| UN–UT | Ireland |
| UU–UZ | Romania |
| U5–U7 | Slovakia |
| VA–VE | Austria |
| VF–VR | France |
| VS–VW | Spain |
| VX–V2 | Serbia |
| V3–V5 | Croatia |
| V6–V0 | Estonia |
| XA–XE | Bulgaria |
| XF–XK | Greece |
| XL–XR | Netherlands |
| XS–XW | Russia |
| X3–X0 | Russia |
| YA–YE | Belgium |
| YF–YK | Finland |
| YL–YR | Malta |
| YS–YW | Sweden |
| Y3–Y5 | Belarus |
| Y6–Y0 | Ukraine |
| ZA–ZR | Italy |
| Z6–Z0 | Slovenia |
Decode the whole VIN, not just the first character
Enter a 17-character VIN to get the manufacturer, model year, plant and specification — plus title brands, theft records, accidents and open recalls.
Why the first character is a range, not a letter
ISO 3779 divides the world into geographic areas and assigns each a block of first characters. A few large producers hold a whole character — the United States holds 1, 4 and 5 outright, Japan holds J, China holds L, Germany holds W. Everyone else holds a two-character range, and that is where most decoding mistakes come from.
The letter S is the clearest example. SA through SM is the United Kingdom, SN through ST is Germany's second allotment, SU through SZ is Poland, and S1 through S4 is Latvia. A tool that maps the letter S to a single country will mislabel three of those four, silently, every time.
The same is true of V (Austria, France, Spain), Y (Belgium, Finland, Malta, Sweden, Belarus, Ukraine), M (India, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar) and K (Sri Lanka, Israel, South Korea, Kazakhstan). Reading two characters costs nothing and removes the entire class of error.
What the country code does not tell you
It does not tell you the brand's nationality. Honda builds in Ohio, Toyota in Kentucky and Ontario, BMW in South Carolina, Mercedes-Benz in Alabama, Volvo in China and South Carolina. Those vehicles carry the code of the plant, and the plant is the only thing the character reports.
It does not tell you where the vehicle has lived. A car built in Kentucky may have been titled in six states, flooded in one of them, written off by an insurer, rebuilt and retitled somewhere with looser branding rules. None of that touches the first character, which was stamped before the car had a history at all.
And it does not tell you anything about condition or quality. Two cars off the same line, same day, same plant, share a WMI and nothing else that matters to a buyer. The facts that differ — owners, accidents, odometer readings, open liens, unrepaired recalls — are recorded against the individual VIN in title and insurance data, and reading them is what a history check is for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the first digit of a VIN mean?
It identifies the country where the vehicle was assembled, under ISO 3779. 1, 4 and 5 are the United States, 2 is Canada, 3 is Mexico, J is Japan, K covers South Korea, L is China, S covers the United Kingdom and Germany, V covers France and Spain, W is Germany, Y covers Sweden and Z covers Italy.
How do I tell what country my car is from by VIN?
Read the first two characters and match them against the ISO 3779 table. Reading only the first character is unreliable, because most countries hold a two-character range — the letter S alone covers the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Latvia.
Does the VIN country code mean where the brand is from?
No. It records where the vehicle was assembled. A Honda built in Ohio starts with 1, a BMW built in South Carolina starts with 5, and a Volvo built in China starts with L. The badge and the code are answering different questions.
What are the first three characters of a VIN?
They are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. The first character or two gives the country, and all three together identify the specific manufacturer and often the plant or vehicle class — 1G1 is Chevrolet passenger cars, 1GC is Chevrolet trucks.
Can the country code tell me if a car was imported?
Not on its own. Foreign-built vehicles are sold new in the United States by franchised dealers every day. What shows an unusual import path is the title record — which state issued it, when, and whether any brand was applied at entry.
Related lookups
Decode the rest of the seventeen characters, or run the full check.
Get your full vehicle history report
The country code is fixed at the factory. Title brands, accidents, odometer fraud, theft records and open recalls are not — and they are keyed to the same VIN.
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