DETROIT—General Motors will cut the number of car and truck frames it uses worldwide to help reduce costs.

GM says it will cut the number of frames it uses to 14 from the current 30, saving on engineering, design and manufacturing costs.

The company says it will also increase factory capacity 45 per cent in Brazil, Russia, India and China by 2014 to take advantage of growth.

The Detroit-based automaker says it plans to keep investing in research and development, even when car sales are down. That will save money by ending the practice of stopping and starting projects, the company said.