DaimlerChrysler AG, Hyundai Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation have formed a joint venture company to design, develop and engineer a new family of in-line four cylinder petrol engines.

Global Engine Alliance LLC will jointly develop these engines through the combined resources of all three companies for use in future Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Hyundai cars.

“For Chrysler Group, this project represents tangible fruits of the alliance with Mitsubishi and Hyundai. Leveraging our company’s global scale is a critical element in [our] growth strategy; a venture like this could well lead to even greater cooperation,” said Chrysler president and CEO Dieter Zetsche.

Hyundai president Kim Dong-Jin said that Hyundai “looks forward to this opportunity to create a strong working relationship with our partners in continuing advances in this engine technology” while Mitsubishi Motors president and CEO Takashi Sonobe added “this joint venture is another proof for the ongoing progress of our successful alliance with DaimlerChrysler.”

The new joint venture company will be owned equally by all three companies and will be located in the United States.

Each company will produce the engine for future vehicles but, under the new joint venture, Hyundai will have the lead responsibility for implementing the decisions of the joint venture company for design development and engineering.

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The engine will be a state-of-the-art aluminium unit with displacements of 1.8, 2.0 and 2.4 litres and power outputs of 125 to 160 horsepower enabling each company to use it in a wide variety of vehicles for various market segments.

Each company will produce the engine for its own vehicles with total production expected to approach 1.5 million units a year, making it one of the most used in the industry.

Following the signing of the joint venture agreement, the new company will begin operations this month.

Initial production of engines by Hyundai is expected by March 2004, with Chrysler and Mitsubishi production planned to start in 2005.

The companies have also agreed to investigate the possibility of joint production of the engine in the NAFTA region in the immediate future.

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