Mr. Auto Goes to Washington

Today the CEOs of the three largest domestic auto companies brough before Congress their new plans for their companies and the reasons why they are requesting federal assistance. The details of these proposals are coming out and they range from interesting to should-have-been-done-a-long-time-ago. These hearings were related to the second piece of automotive focued funding which has been proposed to be taken from part of the TARP funding of $700BN.

Perhaps more interesting was the working group meeting that took place yesterday at the Department of Energy. This meeting was focused on the first piece of automotive focused fnding, which was approved last year and funded last month. It is a $25BN package under the auspices of the Department of Energy, which is directed at retooling auto manufacturing and component manufacturing facilities to make them capable of producing “green” cars.

The meeting was run by the energy efficiency team at DOE, and was a time to explain the "Interim Final Rule" that the Department of Energy and the Administration had written to classify and codify the way in which money would be awarded to auto companies pursuing a new fuel efficient product or process.

I found the list of attendees on the DOE website and have included them here for your reference. Clearly some folks sent their lobbyist and legal hitters, but many showed up themselves....let's hope not in private jets. This is a small, but precocious list of who's who in the auto world. Check it out..... (perhaps you too can guess who is hiding behind the names of the big law firms).

Venable LLP
Office of Sen. Feingold
McBee Strategic Consulting
Hogan Hartson
Saturn Electronics and Engineering
Fisker Automotive
EcoMotors
Visteon Corp.
Delphi Corp
Brown Timothy
Advanced Mechanical Products
Bury David
Ener1
New West Technologies
US Trade Rep
Cozen O'Connor
Kelley Drye Warren
Butzel Long
OMB Professional
Precision Metalforming Association
Capitol City Group
R.W. Beck Federal
New West Technologies
Office of Rep. Paul Ryan
Continental Automotive
Dale Kardos and Associates
General Motors
EMC
MAGNA
Dykema
Nelson Mullins
USDA
Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association
Akin Gump
Bright Automotive
Mazda North America
Arent Fox LLP
Perman Esther
K&L Gates
Alcoa
XP Vehicles
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
Chrysler LLC
Tenneco Inc.
ATS Communication
Patton Boggs
Coherix
New York Times
Hill and Knowlton
Wetzler Nicholas