Ferrari joins forces with General Electric

FERRARI has signed a technical agreement with the aircraft engine division of General Electric. GE is one of America's biggest companies and is the nation's biggest electronics company. It produces industrial machinery, lighting, medical equipment and plastics. It also has an active financial services division and owns the NBC Television network.

Founded 104 years ago, one of General Electric's original directors was inventor Thomas Edison, and much of GE's success has been due to investment in research and development of new products. The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company currently earns 80% of its annual $60 billion sales in the United States but is expanding globally and F1 will undoubtedly help to spread the GE name around the world.

The GE Aircraft Engines division - which is currently building GE90 engines for the Boeing 777 - is currently researching into advanced plastics and ceramics and the technical collaboration with Ferrari is believed to center around these technologies.

The General Electric logo will appear on the Ferrari F310s at Monaco this weekend.