General Motors and SAIC will together develop core technology

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp(SAIC) of China and General Motors, the US auto giant have signed a deal on Wednesday to work together on the production of new engines and transmission technology. Chairman of SAIC Motor, Hu Maoyuan commented that this deal is a milestone and would see both the companies sharing intellectual property. The deal will also support SAIC raise the value chain of the industry, added Maoyuan.

At a signing ceremony in Shanghai, Hu stated that this is for the first time that a Chinese automaker has collaborated with a leading international group for developing a core technology while sharing intellectual property on a global scale. He further added that this will even boost SAIC's efforts to master the core technology and marks movement to the higher end of the value chain.

General Motors, Vice Chairman of Global Products Operations, Tom Stephens, commented that Detroit’s engineers and researchers as well as their joint venture's research centre in Shanghai will together develop a new fuel-efficient engine and also the front wheel drive transmission. In comparison of the conventional six-speed automatic transmissions, the new transmission would be 10 percent more fuel-efficient. Also when combined, the engine and transmission would be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth in comparison  to the other cars on sale in China, added Stephens.

Michael Albano, spokesman of General Motors, said that the new technology is likely to reach the market by 2012 at the earliest. Albano added that according to the agreement, SAIC Motor, China's leading automaker by sales, will be able to use the technology in its own car brands like Roewe. General Motors is the market leader in China. This US automaker and its joint venture partners are expecting to sell more than two million cars in the country this year. Earlier in the year 2009, they had sold 1.83 million cars.