The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Honda and General Motors, which are jointly developing fuel cell vehicles, aim to expand their cooperation to include plug-in hybrids.

The two automakers may consider jointly manufacturing PHEVs and FCVs, and also plan to work together to develop autonomous driving technology.

According to the YS, Honda aims to benefit from GM’s superior PHEV know-how, and GM hopes to gain a competitive advantage over Toyota. The two companies also believe their collaboration can shorten development periods and cut costs by boosting the volume of their procurement of batteries and other auto parts.

The International Energy Agency has estimated that PHEVs’ percentage of new car sales worldwide will grow to 5 percent in 2020 and 35 percent by 2050.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Green Car Congress