"It's good to have the 8, 6 and 4 because it keeps us vigilant and makes us pay close attention to the checks and balances required to execute this flawlessly. The scrutiny is intense," Rosario admits.
This pushed the company "to engineer this to better than world class in drive quality and durability" and not affect emission levels in any negative way when the technology shows up in the next year or two.
Rosario explains that the problems with the 8, 6 and 4 engines during its single year on the retail market were not really related to the electro-mechanical device on the rocker arm that shut off the cylinders two at a time, but to other parts of the mechanical system, and that even those problems were overcome during the four years that the engine continued to be used for limousines.
Since then, he says, several technologies have come along to make the concept of cutting off cylinders more workable, including electronic control of the throttle and transmission, transient engine and transmission controls, engine emissions controls, and fast micro-processors.
For all that, the technology Rosario and his team came up with involves something more traditional -- oil pressure.