Engine strategies and engineering

Top powertrain executives from DaimlerChrysler and General Motors talk about their companies' views and plans for the future. Greater performance, better efficiency, and reduced emissions are the highlights of the latest crop of internal combustion engines from their companies and others.

Vehicle and engine developers face the significant challenge of engineering products for a range of regional requirements and customers preferences from around the world, made even tougher by new legislation regarding even more stringent parameters for development of new vehicles. International competition means that automotive manufacturers have to develop their vehicles in the most flexible manner to enable them to achieve success in all their international markets.

Three key regional markets-Europe, North America, and Asia/Pacific-account for more than half the new 50-55 million global car registrations each year. Speaking at recent technology symposium put on by his company, Leopold Mikulic, Vice President, Power Train Development, Passenger Cars, DaimlerChrysler AG, said these three key markets have specific requirements that affect engine development: from ride comfort, performance, flexibility, and very low exhaust emissions in North America, to dynamic driving properties, fuel efficiency, and technological innovation in Europe, to pollutant emissions and compact dimensions in Asia.