GM has long history of partnering with rivals including Hyundai

Hyundai is the latest automaker to partner with General Motors, which has turned to its rivals a number of times over the years to share expertise, achieve greater efficiency and increase scale.

GM's alliance with Honda has lasted for more than two decades and resulted in production of hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles. Other tie-ups quickly fizzled.

Here's a look at some of GM's current and past partnerships as the automaker explores a collaboration with Hyundai.

GM and Toyota teamed up in 1984 on a 50-50 joint venture called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI. Use of a former GM plant in Fremont, Calif., offered Toyota a location to manufacture vehicles in the U.S. and allowed GM to learn from the Japanese automaker's lean production system as it built compact cars.

The NUMMI plant was home over the years to Toyota's Corolla sedan and Tacoma pickup, as well as GM's Pontiac Vibe, a small crossover based on the Corolla platform.

GM left the partnership during its 2009 bankruptcy. Toyota closed the plant a year later. Now, it is an EV assembly plant for Tesla.

GM's partnership with Honda dates to 1999, when the companies said they would supply engines to each other. In 2013, the automakers began to explore hydrogen power, which led to production of fuel cells starting this past January at a 70,000-square-foot plant south of Detroit.

The companies are collaborating on EVs as well. GM is supplying Honda with its Ultium battery architecture, which underpins the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX midsize electric crossovers, as Honda works on its own in-house battery platform in Ohio. Last fall, however, the companies called off plans to co-develop a line of affordable EVs that had been timed for 2027.

Honda and GM also have collaborated on self-driving technology through Cruise, the autonomous driving technology startup majority-owned by GM in which Honda also has invested.

In late 1999, GM formed an alliance with Fuji Heavy Industries, now called Subaru Corp. GM bought a 20 percent stake in Fuji for $1.4 billion as the automakers sought to collaborate on small and midsize utility vehicles, all-wheel-drive systems and continuously variable transmissions, among other technologies.

Before long, questions arose about how the two automakers could jointly develop vehicles so that each could benefit. By 2002, GM leaders said the partnership would not include any co-developed vehicles. Bob Lutz, then GM's vice chairman of product development, said it would be hard to sell a Fuji vehicle "without everybody immediately saying, 'That's nothing but a rebodied Subaru.' "

GM sold its Fuji stake in 2005.

GM acquired a 20 percent stake in Fiat Auto for about $2.4 billion in 2000 to collaborate on powertrain development and purchasing. But the alliance soon became an albatross for GM, which in 2005 paid Fiat $2 billion to unwind the deal. The payment helped Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne turn around the automaker so it could buy Chrysler Group out of bankruptcy in 2009.

GM retained co-ownership of diesel engine operations in Europe, and both automakers were able to use two vehicle platforms they had developed together.

In 2006, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian pressured financially troubled GM into talks with Nissan-Renault about a three-way alliance. The plan was for Nissan and Renault, which were led at the time by turnaround guru Carlos Ghosn, to each own 10 percent of GM. But the negotiations fell apart after GM — whose CEO, Rick Wagoner, was later ousted by the Obama administration in advance of the automaker's bankruptcy filing — demanded that the overseas automakers make a multibillion-dollar payment upfront.

GM bought a 7 percent stake in PSA Peugeot Citroën in 2012, citing plans to find efficiencies in purchasing and co-develop subcompact and midsize vehicles for Europe and Latin America. But a year later, GM sold its stake, and joint vehicle development plans were scaled back.

"Our equity stake was planned to support PSA in their efforts to raise capital at the time of the creation of the GM and PSA alliance, and that support is no longer needed," Steve Girsky, who was GM's vice chairman, said at the time.

In 2017, GM effectively paid PSA Group to take ownership of the Opel and Vauxhall brands in Europe.

GM and six other automakers — BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis — teamed up in 2023 to found Ionna, which Toyota later joined. Ionna aims to have a network of at least 30,000 electric vehicle fast chargers across North America by the end of the decade. The chargers will be able to support vehicles from all brands, using either the North American Charging Standard plugs — Tesla's proprietary charging connector — or the Combined Charging System ports available on other brands' EVs. The charging stations will have access to restrooms, dining and other amenities.