Business & Economy

General Motors, Honda agree on North America strategic alliance

Washington, Sep 3 (efe-epa).- General Motors (GM) and Honda on Thursday announced their intention to establish a “strategic alliance” in North America whereby they would share certain vehicle parts and propulsion systems, both for internal combustion and electric engines.

GM and Honda said in a statement that the non-binding memorandum of understanding signed by the two firms on Thursday is one more step on the journey the companies began by agreeing last April to jointly develop two electric automobiles based on GM’s electric vehicle platform, vehicles that will be marketed by the Japanese brand.

GM president Mark Reuss said that “This alliance will help both companies accelerate investment in future mobility innovation by freeing up additional resources.”

“Given our strong track record of collaboration, the companies would realize significant synergies in the development of today’s vehicle portfolio,” he added.

Meanwhile, Honda executive vice president Seiji Kuraishi said that the alliance between the two firms will allow them to lower their development costs for new vehicles.

“Through this new alliance with GM, we can achieve substantial cost efficiencies in North America that will enable us to invest in future mobility technology, while maintaining our own distinct and competitive product offerings,” Kuraishi said.

“Combining the strengths of each company, and by carefully determining what we will do on our own and what we will do in collaboration, we will strive to build a win-win relationship to create new value for our customers,” he added.

The two companies said that the talks on planning their joint development of new vehicles will begin “immediately,” and the engineering design process will be launched at the beginning of next year.

The operations of the alliance will be directed by a joint committee in which the “top executive” of both firms will participate.

The agreement will allow the two companies not only to share technologies, vehicle platforms and propulsion systems but also to make joint purchases and develop efficient manufacturing methods.

In addition, GM and Honda have plans to share research and development and the costs of engineering on specific vehicles and propulsion systems that will be created jointly.

Last April, GM and Honda said that they would be cooperating to develop two all-new electric vehicles that will carry the Japanese company’s logo and will hit the market in 2023.

The two models will be produced with the electric vehicle platform developed by GM as well as with the proprietary Ultium battery technology developed by the US firm. But the design of the vehicles and their specific characteristics will be carried out by Honda.

As part of the April agreement, GM will also integrate into the vehicles its driving assistance technology, Super Cruise, which is the forerunner for completely driverless vehicles, as well as its OnStar security and communications service.

EFE

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