The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and General Motors Corporation (GM) announced Wednesday they will jointly develop small engines and dry dual clutch transmission.

Hu Maoyuan, chairman of SAIC, Chen Hong, chief executive officer (CEO) of SAIC, Tom Stephens, vice chairman of GM and Kevin Wale, the CEO of GM attended the signing ceremony.

The two parties will share the intellectual property of the powertrain technology.

SAIC and GM will develop and produce a family of four-cylinder engines ranging from 1.0- to 1.5-liters with direct injection and turbo charging. The engines should cut fuel consumption by around 20 percent compared to similarly-sized engines of equivalent output.

This is the first time for Chinese auto manufactures to joint develop the powertrain technology and share intellectual property on a global scale. The research personnel from GM and SAIC will develop the technology in Detroit and Shanghai.