German engineering company Siemens AG said Friday it will work with Microsoft Corp. to develop communication, information, entertainment and navigation products for vehicles."This new generation of automotive products will be designed to meet the industry's growing demand for innovative, flexible and affordable solutions," the company said in a statement. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Siemens and Microsoft said they will deliver their products to the market faster than the typical automotive industry's product development cycle. The first Siemens VDO product based on Microsoft software technology is expected to go into production as early as 2009.