VIN manufacturer and country codes

The first characters of a VIN tell you who made the car and where. Look up a manufacturer code (WMI), check the country codes, and decode your full VIN.

How a VIN is built

Every car has a 17-character VIN made of three parts:

Characters 1–3 — WMI

The World Manufacturer Identifier: the maker and country. Character 1 is the region, characters 2–3 the manufacturer.

Characters 4–9 — VDS

The Vehicle Descriptor Section: model, body, engine and restraint system. Character 9 is a check digit.

Characters 10–17 — VIS

The Vehicle Identifier Section: character 10 is the model year, character 11 the plant, and the last six are the serial number.

VIN country codes

The first character of the VIN shows the country where the car was built.

First characters	Country
1, 4, 5	United States
2	Canada
3	Mexico
6	Australia
9	Brazil
J	Japan
KL–KR	South Korea
LA–L0	China
MA–ME	India
SA–SM	United Kingdom
TR–TV	Hungary
VF	France
VS	Spain
W	Germany
XL–XW	Russia
YS–YW	Sweden
ZA–ZR	Italy

1, 4, 5United States
2Canada
3Mexico
6Australia
9Brazil
JJapan
KL–KRSouth Korea
LA–L0China
MA–MEIndia
SA–SMUnited Kingdom
TR–TVHungary
VFFrance
VSSpain
WGermany
XL–XWRussia
YS–YWSweden
ZA–ZRItaly

Common manufacturer codes

Manufacturer codes by region

Europe

North America

Asia

Oceania

South America

WMI assignments follow the ISO 3780 / SAE standard. CarVinVin is independent and not affiliated with any manufacturer.