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WASHINGTON -- President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore today joined with the Big Three American auto makers to announce an historic new partnership aimed at strengthening U.S. competitiveness by developing technologies for a new generation of vehicles up to three times more fuel efficient than today's -- a technological challenge comparable to or greater than that involved in the Apollo project.

The agreement sets groundbreaking research and development goals for industry and government engineering teams. A model for the new partnership between government and industry, this all-out effort will ensure that the U.S. auto industry leads the world in technology, preserving and creating jobs and economic growth. Research projects will be launched in three categories:

0 Advanced manufacturing techniques to make it easier to get new product ideas into the marketplace quickly, for example, rapid, computer-based design and testing systems and new automation and control systems that can lower production costs;

0 Technologies that can lead to near-term improvements in automobile in efficiency, safety, and emissions, for example, lightweight, recyclable materials and catalysts for reducing exhaust pollution; and

0 Research that could lead to production prototypes of vehicles capable of up to three times greater fuel efficiency, for example, radical new concepts such as fuel cells and advanced energy storage systems such as ultracapacitors, to produce more fuel-efficient cars that are affordable, meet or exceed current safety standards and retain the performance and comfort available today.

This new partnership represents a technological venture as ambitious as any America has attempted, coordinating the efforts of America's best scientists and engineers to develop vehicles it would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago. Technologies previously available only in the defense industries will help redefine what's possible. America's national laboratories and other research facilities will be able to apply their expertise. But this is not a government project with government goals. It allows American business to set a path to meet ambitious objectives and define areas where government support can be most helpful.