GM, SAIC join forces on technology

North America’s General Motors Co. and its long-time Chinese partner, SAIC Motor Corp., signed an agreement to deepen their technical cooperation and further integrate SAIC into GM’s global product-development system. This agreement was meant to allow both companies to share technologies and support the development of electric cars and components. A source says that GM and SAIC signed the memorandum of understanding in order to seal their already-close relationship. The companies have run manufacturing and sales joint ventures in China since the late 1990s and have recently been working on jointly developing cars. (November 3, 2010)