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Shifts in Auto Industry Lead to Merger of Washington Lobbying Groups

Shifts in Auto Industry Lead to Merger of Washington Lobbying Groups

(Bloomberg) -- The two primary trade associations for automakers in the U.S. have merged in a bid to bolster the industry’s influence in Washington as decisions are being made on trade, environmental and technology policies that could impact carmakers for decades to come.

The new group, called the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, combines the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers into a single entity representing nearly every global auto manufacturer, several large parts suppliers and other newer entrants in the sector, the group announced Wednesday.

“This is an opportunity to be the singular, clear and respected voice for the auto industry, and I mean the auto industry broadly defined,” said John Bozzella, the new group’s chief executive officer, who previously headed the Association of Global Automakers.

The consolidation comes as the auto industry is facing unprecedented challenges in Washington. President Donald Trump’s trade agenda has ballooned industry costs, and threatened to upend industry supply chains with steep levies on imported vehicles and parts. Automakers struggled to influence Trump’s still-pending rollback of fuel economy and emissions standards, while a separate conflict looms as cars driven by artificial intelligence come to market regulated by decades-old safety rules designed with human drivers in mind.

“As the industry is undergoing rapid transformation it is critical that we come together with a stronger voice,” Mary Barra, chief executive officer of General Motors Co., said in a statement.

Shaping U.S. auto safety regulators’ work on autonomous vehicles will be a key priority for the new group, Bozzella said in an interview. Other policy priorities include still-developing areas with potentially longer term effects for the industry, including data privacy, cybersecurity and connectivity, he said.

Yet the Alliance will steer clear of some areas where the priorities of their members diverge. The group won’t lobby on trade issues, for example, which will continue to be done by separate groups such as the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV but not their Asian and German counterparts.

Similarly, the new Alliance won’t intervene in litigation over the Trump administration’s revocation of California’s authority to regulate automobile greenhouse gas emissions, which has split carmakers into opposing camps.

Bozzella said the consolidation also reflects how closer ties new partnerships between the auto and tech sectors have blurred the lines between the two.

“The trade association model ought to change as those business models and those partnerships change as well,” Bozzella said. “There’s an opportunity here to be more effective across a broader platform.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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