With the crunch at the pumps and the environment on today's consumer's mind, vehicle powertrain developers have their work cut out for them more than ever.
GM's Director of Engine Development and Validation, Dave Muscaro, describes a challenging yet rewarding effort to improve powertrains, and sheds some light on the future in a recent interview.
JP - What sort of things have changed in the past few years that make your job more challenging?
DM - The intense pressure to improve fuel economy makes our jobs challenging but rewarding at the same time. We have been making steady progress with incremental increases with new features in many of our engines like variable valve timing, active fuel management, and direct injection. Integrating these features into our vehicles not only helps our customers but also helps lessen our energy needs.
JP - When designing a new engine, is there one demand which is more challenging to meet than others?
DM - We have to balance all of the needs of our customers including fuel economy, performance, noise levels, and durability. Quality must be a given for the customer today. With our 100,000-mile powertrain warranty, quality is designed and built into every engine we make.
JP - I recently drove a GMC Acadia with the new 3.6L VVT engine and was impressed with its fuel mileage. In the big picture, is mileage a big concern for consumers?
DM - Absolutely. Fuel economy is extremely important for our customers, whether they are buying a small car or a full-size pickup truck. It isn't by chance that GM offers more models over 30 mpg than any other manufacturer.
JP - Are today's engines as fuel efficient as they'll ever be, or is there something which hasn't been discovered yet that could make them even better?
DM - There are always ways to improve the internal combustion engine however the gains tend to be small. We are rolling out fuel-saving features right now like direct injection, variable valve timing, active fuel management, and boosting on our engines as well as six-speed transmissions for the vehicles. All of these features increase the fuel efficiency of the vehicle and are available in numerous models.
JP - Will we ever see, for instance, 400-horsepower cars that get 50 mpg?
DM - Great fuel economy is the result of many factors including aerodynamics, rolling resistance, speed, and weight. Many of these factors are influenced by safety. So, the specific example of a 400-hp vehicle getting 50 mpg would be extremely difficult to create given today's safety requirements.
JP - Are the new six-speed automatic transmissions you use the "way of the future" or more of a latest fad?
DM - Our six-speed transmissions are one of the best values for our customers. They return around a four-percent fuel economy improvement while at the same time helping performance by about seven percent.
JP - What sort of forward thinking is built into an engine? For instance, at which point do you decide to create an all-new powerplant rather than to re-work or upgrade an existing one?
DM - Some of the decisions to design and build an all-new engine include emissions regulations, power output, vehicle design, and advances in technology. We are continually optimizing our designs to give our customers the best-performing engines and transmissions in the industry -- in whatever GM vehicle they choose.
photo:General Motors
GM's Director of Engine Development and Validation, Dave Muscaro, describes a challenging yet rewarding effort to improve powertrains, and sheds some light on the future in a recent interview.
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JP - What sort of things have changed in the past few years that make your job more challenging?
DM - The intense pressure to improve fuel economy makes our jobs challenging but rewarding at the same time. We have been making steady progress with incremental increases with new features in many of our engines like variable valve timing, active fuel management, and direct injection. Integrating these features into our vehicles not only helps our customers but also helps lessen our energy needs.
JP - When designing a new engine, is there one demand which is more challenging to meet than others?
DM - We have to balance all of the needs of our customers including fuel economy, performance, noise levels, and durability. Quality must be a given for the customer today. With our 100,000-mile powertrain warranty, quality is designed and built into every engine we make.
JP - I recently drove a GMC Acadia with the new 3.6L VVT engine and was impressed with its fuel mileage. In the big picture, is mileage a big concern for consumers?
DM - Absolutely. Fuel economy is extremely important for our customers, whether they are buying a small car or a full-size pickup truck. It isn't by chance that GM offers more models over 30 mpg than any other manufacturer.
JP - Are today's engines as fuel efficient as they'll ever be, or is there something which hasn't been discovered yet that could make them even better?
DM - There are always ways to improve the internal combustion engine however the gains tend to be small. We are rolling out fuel-saving features right now like direct injection, variable valve timing, active fuel management, and boosting on our engines as well as six-speed transmissions for the vehicles. All of these features increase the fuel efficiency of the vehicle and are available in numerous models.
JP - Will we ever see, for instance, 400-horsepower cars that get 50 mpg?
DM - Great fuel economy is the result of many factors including aerodynamics, rolling resistance, speed, and weight. Many of these factors are influenced by safety. So, the specific example of a 400-hp vehicle getting 50 mpg would be extremely difficult to create given today's safety requirements.
JP - Are the new six-speed automatic transmissions you use the "way of the future" or more of a latest fad?
DM - Our six-speed transmissions are one of the best values for our customers. They return around a four-percent fuel economy improvement while at the same time helping performance by about seven percent.
JP - What sort of forward thinking is built into an engine? For instance, at which point do you decide to create an all-new powerplant rather than to re-work or upgrade an existing one?
DM - Some of the decisions to design and build an all-new engine include emissions regulations, power output, vehicle design, and advances in technology. We are continually optimizing our designs to give our customers the best-performing engines and transmissions in the industry -- in whatever GM vehicle they choose.
photo:General Motors