GM And Honda Sign Strategic Partnership

By Noah Long • Sep 4, 2020
  • General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) and Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) recently signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for establishing a North American automotive alliance

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) and Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) recently signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for establishing a North American automotive alliance, which includes collaboration on future vehicles and the sharing of purchasing costs. And the companies will start on new vehicles and engineering work in early 2021.

This collaboration builds on a previous agreement between the companies that started in April for jointly developing two new electric vehicles for Honda based on GM’s global EV platform and Ultium battery technology. And GM and Honda also have partnerships on fuel technologies, batteries, and GM’s Cruise subsidiary. Honda is a minority owner of Cruise. GM and Honda have a history of collaborating with each other for over 20 years.

This partnership is similar to a deal between Ford and Volkswagen. Ford is building an all-electric vehicle based on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Toolkit EV platform, starting in 2023.

KEY QUOTES:

“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.”

— Mark Reuss, president of General Motors.

“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. 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. In this way, Honda will continue making steady progress in solidifying our existing business by realizing strong products, strong manufacturing capability and a strong business structure.”

— Seiji Kuraishi, executive vice president of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.