To most of the nation, Washington is synonymous with natural splendor–a land of trees and water, mountains and plains.
But in the next few years, the Evergreen State may fashion another image: Motor City of the West.
Executives from the Big Three automakers have met with scientists from Boeing, Paccar and the state’s aluminum industry to discuss Washington’s automotive future.
Convened by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the summit included displays of Ford’s new electronic car, Western Washington University’s electric car and Paccar’s latest fuel-efficient truck.
Energy Secretary Federico Pena and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), viewed the autos before speaking to delegates about the Clinton administration’s interest in developing new environmentally friendly vehicles.
Automakers are struggling to find ways to build lightweight cars and trucks that meet strict fuel-efficiency and emissions standards. Aluminum can reduce a vehicle’s weight by as much as 30 percent.
Washington has an established aluminum industry comprising 10 smelters along the Columbia River, many of which buy electricity from dams operated by the Bonneville Power Administration. That puts the state in a promising position not only to supply raw metal to plants in Detroit, but also perhaps to attract auto plants.
Boeing officials attended the meeting because the company has considerable experience working with aluminum and other lightweight composites. Auto executives also wanted to learn more about the technology that lets Boeing create computer-generated prototypes instead of building expensive models.
Washington’s various assets make it an attractive site for the auto industry, said Gary McVay, director of the Northwest Alliance for Transportation Technologies, a group of automakers and local companies formed by the Northwest National Laboratory.
“We have Boeing, we have the Bonneville Power Administration and we have as good a university system as anywhere,” he said. “We got all the pieces, if we could just put it together.”
A string of car plants along the Columbia River might be a fanciful notion at the moment. But manufacturers ranging from computer-chip makers to steel mills have moved into the state or announced plans to expand.
From June 1996 to June 1997, Washington had the fastest growth rate for manufacturing jobs in the country, about 7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
