I think that's the case everywhere - certainly all cars in the UK haha immobilisers as standard.
However, there are some brands of car where it's possible to gain access to the CAN bus, and inject "start the car" messages, so then it's just a case of a standard ignition lock theft (which is easily done in old school sawn off bit of scaffold pole style).
Some cars headlight wiring connects to the same CAN bus as the immobiliser, making the theft easy from outside the car. Don't have the link handy, but there was an article on here a few weeks ago about it.
Before the keyless entry fad most cars had a locking steering column that would require you to break the the locking mechanism, which you could do by twisting it really hard with a crowbar. (If you were lucky the owners had “The Club” which was advertised in The Rush Limbaugh Show, and you could use that to get leverage.)
Between dealing with that and the immobilizer, stealing a car was a big hassle and car thefts were rare.
However, there are some brands of car where it's possible to gain access to the CAN bus, and inject "start the car" messages, so then it's just a case of a standard ignition lock theft (which is easily done in old school sawn off bit of scaffold pole style).
Some cars headlight wiring connects to the same CAN bus as the immobiliser, making the theft easy from outside the car. Don't have the link handy, but there was an article on here a few weeks ago about it.