GM, Ford in Joint Development Effort

AUTOMOBILES

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General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said they would join forces in an unprecedented alliance to develop a new six-speed transmission, saving millions of dollars in costs.

GM already sells some truck transmissions to Ford for use in its medium-duty pickup trucks, and the world’s two largest automakers have cooperated in other areas before. But they never have co-developed key vehicle parts. Such cooperation is more common across borders between the U.S., Asian and European automakers.