SAIC and GM team up for the first time against the public

On August 18, Shanghai Automotive and GM announced that they will jointly develop a new generation of environmentally friendly and energy-saving powertrain technology. In contrast to the Sino-foreign cooperation model in which the Chinese side copied foreign products and technologies in the past, this cooperation between SAIC and GM has risen to the level of joint development and sharing of relevant intellectual property rights globally, and the scope of cooperation is the engine, transmission, etc. that have touched the core technologies of automobiles. Powertrain. In China, this kind of cooperation is the first time.

The real "market for technology"

The products jointly developed by SAIC and GM include a compact, light-weight, direct-injection, turbocharged series engine ranging from 1L to 1.5L, as well as a matching dry, low-torque, dual-clutch automatic transmission. Compared with the traditional powertrain, the new generation powertrain provides sufficient power and is expected to reduce fuel consumption by more than 20% and carbon emissions by more than 20%. It is reported that this is the first time that Chinese auto companies have jointly developed with the international large-scale automobile group on the core technology of the powertrain and have shared intellectual property rights on a global scale. General Motors and Shanghai Automotive R&D personnel will jointly conduct research and development in Detroit and Shanghai. Joint development will fully integrate the development resources of both parties, increase development speed and reduce development costs, and will help Pan-Asia Technology Center and Shanghai Automotive's own brand technical personnel to enhance the localization R&D capabilities of the powertrain technology.

Tom Stephens, vice chairman of General Motors, said that the research results can be applied to SAIC and GM's global products. This cooperation means that SAIC and GM have further deepened their technological research and development after cooperating with production and sales in China and jointly developing new markets.

Hu Maoyuan, chairman of SAIC, believes that joint-venture vehicle companies can not only cooperate in equipment and market, but also technically. “This time we have proved this with practical actions and provided another new area of ​​cooperation for the joint venture. This is the real 'market for technology'.”

Join forces to "fight" the public

Hu Maoyuan disclosed that the models carrying the new R&D powertrains of both parties will take about 3 years to officially launch the market. The GM's competitive TSI small-displacement engine and DSG dual-clutch transmission combination has now been fully introduced to the market, and is used in its Golf 6, Sagitar, Magotan, Long Yat, and Octavia models. Looking at it like this, GM is "slowly beaten" by the masses in terms of small-displacement power technology.

Regarding the question of whether joint operations can catch up with the public, Hu Maoyuan said: “There is an old Chinese saying that it is an afterthought. It is not that there is no advantage in starting late. I am confident that SAIC and GM will cooperate in research and development of new technologies.”

At present, SAIC and GM have reached 9 joint ventures. In the past two years, the strategic relationship between the two sides has become more and more close. It should be said that SAIC has become an indispensable strategic partner for GM based globally.