World Manufacturer's Identification
| Position | Section | Information |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | WMI | country code |
| 2-3 | manufacturer | |
| 4-8 | VDS | equipment codes |
| 9 | check digit | |
| 10 | VIS | model year |
| 11 | manufacturing plant | |
| 12-17 | serial number | |
| or | ||
| 10 | VIS | model year |
| 11 | manufacturing plant | |
| 12-14 | WMI suffix | |
| 15-17 | serial number | |
The three characters of the the WMI provide a unique identifier for every manufacturer. The characters one and two indicate the country where the vehicle was built, while characters two and three designate the manufacturer (or division within a larger group).
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Note that the sort sequence for characters in the VIN is A to Z, then 1 to 9, and finally 0, with the letters "I", "O" and "Q" not normally used.
With a total of almost 36,000,000 manufacturer codes it is not possible to list them all, but the ones below have links to decoding their VDS. Companies that have production of less than 500 units per year are (generally) assigned a WMI with the first letter of the company name in position two and the number "9" in the third position. A three-digit WMI suffix is then in positions 12-14 of the VIN, and the actual serial number is limited to the remaining three digits. In several cases, some American companies have received new, unique 4xx and 5xx codes.
 Audi |
 Blue Bird |
 BMW |
 Bova |
 Checker |
  Chevrolet & GMC pickups |
 Chrysler PT Cruiser |
 DAF |
  Dodge Trucks |
 Ferrari |
  Flyer |
 Ford |
 General Motors cars |
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 Harley- Davidson |
 Jeep |
 Land Rover & Range Rover |
 M · A · N American buses |
 Mercedes Benz |
  Motor Coach Industries |
 NABI |
  Nova Bus |
  Orion |
  Prevost |
 Renault |
 Subaru |
  Transportation Manufacturing Corporation |
 Toyota |
 Van Hool |
 Volkswagen |
 Volvo |
| Introduction | WMI World Manufacturer's Identification |
VDS Vehicle Description Section |
Check Digit |
VIS Vehicle Identification Section |
 Canadian Car & Foundry |
Flyer |
General Motors |
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Motor Coach Industries |
Nova Bus Corp. |
Orion |
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