The companies will "jointly design and engineer" future electric vehicles.
General Motors and the Korean LG Group will jointly design and engineer future electric vehicles, the companies announced today. An agreement was signed yesterday that expands LG’s taxpayer subsidized business as the battery cell supplier for the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera hybrid vehicles into more sophisticated work on components and even vehicle design. The agreement does not involve an exchange of equity between the companies.
The high cost of developing new technologies to meet increasingly stringent CO2 and fuel economy regulations prompted the deal. Earlier this week Ford Motor and Toyota announced a collaboration on new hybrid trucks. (See Ford and Toyota to Develop a New Hybrid System for Light Trucks and SUVs as well as Future Telematics Standards)
GM said under the deal it would expand the number and types of electric vehicles it makes and sells. Teams of LG and GM engineers will work on key components, as well as vehicle structures and architectures. Vehicles resulting from the partnership will be sold globally at future unspecified dates.
“This is a strategic development for LG and we fully support GM’s goal to lead the industry in the electrification of the automobile,” said Juno Cho, president and chief operating officer of LG Corp.
In a statement GM said that accelerating the pace of roadworthy technology is more important than ever with the announcement of a number of more stringent emission and fuel consumption regulations around the world, including the recent agreement calling for a U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 54.5 mpg (23.2km/l) by the end of the 2025 model year. Electric vehicles, which have no tailpipe emissions and require no gasoline, are expected to play a major role in reaching the CAFE goal because of the favorable ways governments count the vehicles toward fuel economy averages.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
