On the heels of successful collaboration regarding the implementation of electric vehicle technologies, General Motors and Honda have announced the signing of a non-binding memorandum of understanding that will increase the level of partnership between the two companies.

This isn't the first time that Honda and GM are collaborating. They have been working together on a variety of projects for over 20 years, including the Cruise Origin.

"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," said Mark Reuss, president of General Motors.

The agreement is seen as a step toward creating a North American automotive alliance in a vein similar vein to the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. In that alliance, the three companies share a portion of the development, engineering, and production costs of vehicles and future technology. The scope of the proposed alliance includes vehicles that will be sold under each company's distinct brands as well as cooperation in purchasing, research and development, and connected services.

This proposed alliance would allow Honda and GM to collaborate on a variety of segments in North America that would share vehicle platforms and electrified and internal combustion propulsion systems. This could mean that we see a full-size Honda truck or a Chevrolet car with a Civic engine in the future.

Additionally, the alliance would allow for better market positioning for materials purchasing negotiations, logistics, and localization strategies.

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

Co-development planning discussions will begin immediately, with engineering work beginning in early 2021.

The agreement builds on the electric vehicle platform sharing agreement the two automakers signed in April. In that agreement, Honda will work with GM to develop two new electric vehicles based on GM's global EV platform powered by Ultium batteries.

GM is already part of the Materials Marketplace, an initiative of the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development that works to identify ways to reuse or exchange undervalued materials through an online database and establish circular supply chains. This is designed to lengthen product life cycles and lower the environmental impact of many stages of the manufacturing and design process.