IRWINDALE, CA: Under the old rules, an automotive media program to talk about plans to bring more powerful engines to market in the middle of a general media frenzy about increasing gas prices would seem like bad timing.
Under the old rules, more power meant less fuel economy as certainly as one end of a teeter-totter has to go down if the other goes up.
But those are the old rules, as the folks running the GM powertrain division's program at a small racetrack here northeast of downtown LA were quick to point out.
 Arvin F. Mueller, GM Powertrain VP |
Arv Mueller, GM's group vice-president of GM Powertrain, talked about the use of "responsible power" and how it was no longer necessary to give up fuel economy when you add power.
The most recent specific example of this new reality was at hand — and at foot — on the track here, but I am not able to tell you about it or how it performed for a few weeks. So stay tuned.
Mueller stuck pretty much to overview generalities when describing GM's tactic to deliver responsible power. But some of his people let it be known that GM Powertrain would be delivering information about the production plans for one of the firm's most promising fuel-saving technologies in about a week.
That would be GM's Displacement on Demand system, the generic name for which is cylinder-deactivation. This system turns off half of the cylinders in a V8 when they're not needed and brings them instantly back on line when they are. In early test vehicles I drove about a year ago, GM's system worked seamlessly and delivered fuel economy gains in urban traffic in the 10 percent range. But stay tuned for more on that as well.