Daily Auto News Washington Auto Show: Balance of Power Shifting From Detroit to D.C.
Daily Auto News
A crowd gathered at the doors of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center yesterday around 2 pm, humming with anticipation as the guest arrived. He entered to a round of applause from a gathered group of industry leaders, and made his way through the Washington Auto Show followed by a throng of journalists, walking through the whispered clicks of dozens of cameras.
A rock star? An actor? An industry titan?
No. It was Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The balance of power in the auto industry has shifted from Detroit to Washington.
The Washington Post reports, “Until very recently, the relationship between automakers and policymakers went something like this: The industry asserted its position, and leaders in Washington largely acquiesced.” Today, however, “politicians and lobbyists say” there “has been a gradual erosion of the auto industry’s clout in Washington and in state legislatures.” The automakers, now in debt to the federal government for billions of dollars, are in Washington this week displaying their wares “as they gear up to plead for billions more.”
But, the Post says, the industry’s “rock-solid support in Congress has worn away, as many members say they have been repeatedly misled by the companies’ promises of reform and complaints that new initiatives would spell financial ruin.”
The Detroit News reports that an “unusual number of top officials attending the show reflects the high priority the Obama administration is placing on automotive issues.”
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Carol Browner, White House coordinator for climate and energy policy, joined LaHood in a tour of the show yesterday. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell toured as well, led through the displays personally by GM Vice President of Global Design Ed Wellburn.
Edmunds’ Green Car Advisor explains, “The auto industry gets a great opportunity to lobby some key congressional and administration officials this week as the Washington auto show gets underway, and by all accounts industry executives aren’t missing a step.”
They’re focusing heavily on green cars, displaying their latest hybrid and electric vehicles in an effort to convince policymakers that Detroit is finally heeding the call to build more fuel-efficient cars. The industry’s lobbying efforts, the Post notes, now focus on “asking Congress to pass laws that will spur consumers to buy such vehicles.
It’s a radical change for an industry that once used its clout to prevent fuel-efficiency laws from passing. “Has the industry lost its power to say no?” Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, asked the Post. “The industry is saying, ‘Yes, however. . . . Yes, let’s work it out.’ It’s a different starting point in the discussion. The nature of the industry has changed.”
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