General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Chung Eui-sung signed a letter of intent between the two companies to explore future collaboration in key strategic areas.
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Detroit — General Motors and Hyundai Motors The two companies announced on Thursday they had signed an agreement to explore “future collaboration across key strategic areas” with the aim of reducing capital expenditures and improving efficiency.
In a joint press release, the two companies said joint development and production of passenger and commercial vehicles, internal combustion engines, clean energy, electric and hydrogen technologies are potential areas of interest for the two companies.
The agreement, a non-binding memorandum of understanding, comes amid a renewed focus on capital efficiency for the auto industry after years of aggressively investing in the development of electric, self-driving and software-defined vehicles that have yet to become profitable businesses.
The automakers also said they would “explore joint sourcing opportunities in areas such as battery raw materials and steel.”
The framework agreement was signed by Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sung and GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra, according to the two companies.
A GM Hydrotech Fuel Cell PowerCube on display at the Honda joint venture facility in Brownstown, Michigan.
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Spokespeople for the companies declined to provide details about the announcement, such as potential capital investments or expected savings and efficiency gains.
The agreement comes months after Barra said now was a “perfect time” for the industry to cooperate to share capital expenditures, a comment he and Chung reiterated in a statement on Thursday.
“GM and Hyundai have complementary strengths and great teams. Our goal is to unleash the scale and creativity of our two companies to deliver more competitive vehicles to customers faster and more efficiently,” Barra said.
“This alliance will enable Hyundai and GM to evaluate opportunities to strengthen their competitiveness in key markets and automotive segments by combining our expertise and innovative technologies to improve cost efficiency and deliver stronger customer value,” Chung said.
A spokesman said this is the first such deal for Hyundai, but GM has had many partnerships and deals in the past, some of which have led to products, but many that didn’t work out or weren’t as successful as initially hoped.
Of particular note is GM and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. It has been involved in several partnerships involving fuel cells, all-electric vehicles and self-driving cars (with Cruise, a GM majority-owned subsidiary), each with varying degrees of success.
A memorandum of understanding announced in 2020 between GM and Nikola failed to produce any meaningful results as a number of issues arose for the once-promising auto startup.
In the early 2010s, before Barra took over as CEO, GM had some notable partnerships with companies such as: Ford Motor Company Former French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen, now Stellantiswhich also did not produce the expected results.
