The first three characters of every VIN number uniquely identify the manufacturer of the vehicle. This is called the World Manufacturer Identifier or WMI code.
WMI Region Notes A-H Africa AA-AH = South Africa J-R Asia >J = Japan KL-KR = South Korea L = China MA-ME = India MF-MK = Indonesia ML-MR = Thailand MS = Myanmar PA-PE = Philippines PL-PR = Malaysia RF-RG = Taiwan S-Z Europe SA-SM = United Kingdom SN-ST, W = Germany SU-SZ = Poland TA-TH = Switzerland TJ-TP = Czech Republic TR-TV = Hungary TW = Portugal VA-VE = Austria VF-VR = France VS-VW = Spain VX-V2 = Yugoslavia XL-XM = The Netherlands XS-XW = USSR X3-X0 = Russia YA-YE = Belgium YF-YK = Finland YS-YW = Sweden ZA-ZR = Italy 1-5 North America 1, 4, 5 = United States 2 = Canada 3 = Mexico 6-7 Oceania 6A-6W = Australia 7A-7E = New Zealand 8-0 South America 8A-8E = Argentina 8F-8J = Chile 8X-82 = Venezuela 9A-9E, 93-99 = Brazil 9F-9J = Colombia