Washington Auto Show: Cars Meet Politics

The Washington Auto Show is ideally situated to live up to its tagline, ‘The Automotive Seat of Power.’ With all the goings-on in Washington DC that stand to influence, if not overtly direct, the activities of some of the world’s major auto powers in the years ahead, this is an increasingly important show. In fact, the Washington show’s media day on February 3 has been retitled Policy Day, which accurately reflects the potential for this show to influence the perspectives of legislators in that town. With a new Administration and 65 freshman legislators being sworn in the 111th Congress, opportunity abounds.

The new Administration in Washington will be dealing with the automotive bailout, an untenable reliance on imported oil, a national highway infrastructure sorely in need of repair, consumer difficulty in attaining new car loans, and more automotive issues than any Administration has had to deal with in the past. Is the Washington Auto Show important? In a word, ‘yes,’ and perhaps more so than at any time in its 88 year history.

The show points out that its timing – two weeks after the Presidential inauguration – will make for an historic event. Sometimes, timing is everything. The 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show last November was very ‘green,’ presented the first major auto show opportunity for automakers to show their new 2009 product to media and the public, and had the good fortune of being held in advance of the brunt of the auto industry meltdown.

The Washington show is being held in the very center of the policymaking universe for the most important auto market in the world, offering the auto industry’s first opportunity to present its advanced technologies and ‘green’ activities to the new Administration and policymakers. As has been the case in the past, government officials and members of Congress will attend the show. So too will a few hundred thousand attendees who simply want to see the latest and greatest in automotive iron.

This year, attendees will view more than 700 new makes and models during the show’s public days on February 4-8. Along with the ‘green’ vehicles on the show floor, Green Car Journal will present a Green Car Pavilion that highlights 25 of the most exciting advanced technology vehicles on the road and in development. These include the hydrogen powered Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell, natural gas Mercedes-Benz BlueEfficiency B-Class, Roush Ford F-150 propane pickup, HyMotion Prius plug-in hybrid, Chrysler Town & Country electric concept van, clean diesel BMW X5 xDrive35d, and the VW Jetta TDI, Green Car Journal’s 2009 Green Car of the Year®. Unique battery powered vehicles from the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington DC will be shown, among them an electric Pontiac Fiero and a restored MIT Aztec solar race car.

Other university competition vehicles will be at the Green Car Pavilion. Ohio State University and West Virginia University will be showing their advanced Chevrolet Equinox entries from the Department of Energy’s Challenge X competition. A Saturn Vue from DOE’s new competition, EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, will also be on hand.

Focusing on vehicles that envision the road ahead, Green Car Journal will announce its 2009 Green Car Vision Award™ winner on the show’s Policy Day. Finalists include the Chevrolet Volt, Fisker Karma, Honda FCX Clarity, MINI E, and Mitsubishi i-MiEV – representing range extended electric, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell, and battery electric cars. Last year’s Vision Award winner, Chevrolet’s Equinox Fuel Cell, will be displayed at the Green Car Pavilion.

Green Car Journal’s 2009 Green Car Summit™ takes on greater importance this year with its move to Capitol Hill on February 2. Here, industry leaders will explore the technologies, fuels, and vehicles that will shape our transportation future, focusing on the kinds of issues the new Administration will be facing in the months and years ahead. This event kicks off the Washington Auto Show’s ‘green’ activities in a high-profile way, at a time when green vehicles are more important to the auto industry’s future than ever.