Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, right, shakes hands with General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra during a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony for their alliance at an undisclosed location in this handout photo released on Thursday. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company

Automobile giants Hyundai Motor Company and General Motors (GM) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly explore future collaboration across key strategic areas, including vehicles, supply chains and clean energy technologies, the two companies said Thursday.

With Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Chung Euisun, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra signing the MOU, the two sides will look for ways to leverage their complementary scale and strengths to reduce costs and accelerate a wider range of vehicles and technologies to customers.

This will include the co-development and production of passenger and commercial vehicles, internal combustion engines and clean energy, electric and hydrogen technologies. The companies will also explore opportunities for joint sourcing of battery raw materials, steel and other areas.

"This partnership will enable Hyundai Motor and GM to explore opportunities to enhance competitiveness in key markets and vehicle segments," Chung said.

"Also, the partnership will drive cost efficiencies and provide stronger customer value through our combined expertise and innovative technologies."

Barra said a partnership between the two companies has the potential to make vehicle development more efficient by driving greater scale and supporting disciplined capital allocation.

"GM and Hyundai have complementary strengths and talented teams," Barra said. "Our goal is to unlock the scale and creativity of both companies to deliver even more competitive vehicles to customers faster and more efficiently."

The MOU is non-binding and the two sides did not reveal further details of their partnerships. However, the companies noted that "opportunity assessments and other works toward binding agreements will begin immediately," meaning a tangible result of their collaboration may come in the near future.

As of the first half of this year, Hyundai Motor Group ranked as the world's third-largest carmaker by the number of vehicles sold, while GM held the sixth position.

Although their partnership is unlikely to involve sharing transactions or evolve into a full-scale alliance like the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, their strategic collaboration is expected to make a significant impact on the automotive industry.

Last year, Hyundai Motor acquired GM India's Talegaon plant, which is capable of manufacturing 130,000 vehicles annually. Hyundai Motor plans to begin mass production from the plant in 2025 to meet its goal of producing 1 million vehicles per year in India.