General Motors Co. and SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd. reached an agreement to jointly develop new technologies to improve fuel efficiency.

They will design and produce a family of new small-displacement gasoline engines for the global vehicle market. The new engines will be offered in displacements from 1 liter to 1.5 liters.

They will also jointly develop an advanced front-wheel-drive transmission, which will incorporate the latest innovations and improve fuel efficiency by 10 percent.

The engine and the transmission are estimated to slash gasoline consumption by 20 percent and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent, compared with engines and automatic transmissions currently in China.