City calmly wooed car maker to site HQ in Seattle
City calmly wooed car maker to site HQ in Seattle
Brian Surratt, director of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, traveled to Paris in March, where he and other officials pitched Seattle as the fresh North American headquarters for French auto company PSA Group, which includes Peugot and several other brands. The journey wasn’t made public at the time, but emails obtained through a public records request exposed the tour.
Pictured: The administrative building of the French auto maker PSA Peugeot Citroen factory in Mulhouse is pictured, on April 29, two thousand fifteen at the plant in Mulhouse. AFP PHOTO / SEBASTIEN BOZON (Photo credit should read SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Pics)
Brian Surratt, director of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, traveled to Paris in March, where he and other officials pitched Seattle as the fresh North American headquarters for French auto company PSA
Seattle is a “premier Creative Class city,” ideal for the fresh North American headquarters of French car maker Peugeot.
That’s the message in a script that was set to be read by Mayor Ed Murray in a movie pitching Seattle as the future U.S. home for Peugeot, according to emails obtained by SeattlePI.
“With our network of transportation hubs, our world class universities, and our blossoming South Lake Union Innovation District built around Amazon’s world headquarters — Seattle is a premier Creative Class city — home to the brightest minds and titillating industries that are shaping
the 21st century economy,” the script read.
City Hall didn’t disclose that Seattle officials were courting Peugeot, nor did they make public a March tour to France at public expense. The efforts haven’t yet proved effective — emails indicate Seattle was among three cities in the running for the yet-to-be-announced Peugeot North America HQ.
At least two city officials — Brian Surratt, executive director of the Office of Economic Development (OED), and Scott Kubly, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation — joined a state Department of Commerce official in Paris in early March to pitch Peugeot on Seattle, according to emails obtained by through a public records request.
The Department of Commerce’s Allison Clark, managing director for business development, went along with Seattle officials to recruit investment into Washington state, Commerce spokesperson Penny Thomas confirmed Tuesday by email.
OED spokesperson Joe Mirabella declined to comment, other than to say by email that he had no updates.
The excursion was about a month before PSA Group (which includes Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall) announced that it would launch its car-sharing service, Free2Move, in Los Angeles as part of a plan to come back to the North American market.
For Surratt, who was set to be in Paris from March two to March 11, the journey was both business and pleasure, one email showcased.
“I will be out of the country March 2-11. I will be traveling to Paris; it will be partly individual with my wifey and daughter and then I will be joining Scott Kubly and leadership from the Washington Dept. of Commerce to present to . Peugeot and pitch Seattle as their future North American headquarters,” Surratt wrote in the March one email to leadership and other staff with OED.
PSA Group hasn’t made any public announcements about a headquarters site, but Surratt said in one of the emails that Seattle, Atlanta and Raleigh, North Carolina were finalists for the site.
The company didn’t instantly react to a request for comment, however it was late in the evening at the Paris-based office when SeattlePI sent an email.
The car-sharing entry marked the very first time Peugeot had done business in the U.S. since 1991, when it pulled out of the market entirely. Citroen left the U.S. in 1974.
In Murray’s script for the movie, he touted Seattle’s growth and the city and state’s records on electrical vehicle ownership. He also noted BMW’s ReachNow service, which only operates in two other American cities.
“PSA will benefit from the mobility cluster that has taken root here,” the script read.
It also appeared from one email that Murray might have needed help telling “Peugeot” correctly.
“If we need to switch ‘PSA’ back to ‘Peugeot’ can someone clever/more cultured than myself train the Mayor how to decently pronounce Peugeot?” wrote Will Lemke, press secretary for Murray’s office.
In a response by email late Tuesday night, Lemke explained to SeattlePI that he was just doing his due diligence, not suggesting that Murray couldn’t pronounce “Peugeot.”
“I asked for the decent pronunciation so that I could brief Mayor Murray on how to say it decently in the event he asked,” Lemke wrote in the email. “It is something you do as a professional staffer.”