Glossary
WMI (World Manufacturer Identifier)
The first three characters of a VIN. The WMI identifies the manufacturer, the country of assembly, and (for high-volume makers) the vehicle category.
Standard: ISO 3780
Definition
The World Manufacturer Identifier is the first three characters of a VIN. The first character is a region code (1, 4, 5 = North America; 9 = South America; J = Japan; K = Korea; L = China; S to Z = Europe; W = Germany specifically). The second character narrows to a country. The third character identifies the manufacturer, with one exception: makers producing fewer than 500 vehicles a year share the digit 9 in position three and use positions 12 to 14 of the VIS to disambiguate. WMIs are assigned by national standards bodies and tracked in a public registry maintained by SAE International on behalf of ISO. A single manufacturer can hold dozens of WMIs — one per assembly plant or per vehicle category.
Why it matters when buying a used car
The WMI is the first sanity check on a listing. A seller advertising a German-built BMW with a Chinese WMI is either confused about where the car was made, or describing a different vehicle than the one in the photos.
Use this on Carlytics
Often confused with
VIN
A VIN is the 17-character serial number that uniquely identifies a road vehicle worldwide, standardised by ISO 3779.
VDS
Positions 4 through 9 of a VIN. The VDS encodes model, body style, restraint system, engine, and the check digit.
Plant code
Position 11 of a VIN. A single character identifying which factory built the car.