vehicle engineering ‹F›: AVL’s core area of expertise is powertrain development. With regard to CO2 optimization, however, AVL is expanding its range of activities to include attributes of the entire vehicle. What’s the reason for this move? ‹Uwe Dieter Grebe›: The main reason is that a substantial number of CO2 reduction measures have cross-effects on other vehicle attributes – from performance to comfort aspects and even noise and sound. But these are the very features that greatly influence purchase decisions. So AVL’s optimization task is to lower CO2 while at the same time making sure to meet, if not exceed, the end-customer’s requirements. This goal can only be achieved by taking an integrated approach to the vehicle. 1 4 F O C U S ‹F›: What are the areas of expertise that make AVL the perfect engineering partner of an OEM when it comes to this comprehensive optimization task? ‹Uwe Dieter Grebe›: Based on AVL’s core capabilities in the field of powertrain engineering, we benefit from our extensive understanding of the system and state-of-theart tool chain that covers everything from simulation to objective assessment and the optimization of driving attributes. We are already capable of optimally representing the effects of individual components on the complete vehicle in the early design stage, which allows us to define the vehicle’s operating strategy very effectively. In the subsequent development process, i.e. the calibration, we then fine-tune the components and the way they are controlled. One thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the work we do for our customers contributes directly toward the series product’s development and design. ‹F›: The goal is what you refer to as ‘balanced CO2 optimization.’ What does that mean exactly? ‹Uwe Dieter Grebe›: The balance must be achieved between CO2 reduction, the positive perception of the driving characteristics and the costs. In other words, the goal of our optimization efforts is an affordable vehicle with low CO2 emissions that is still attractive to customers on account of its driving features – and it’s exactly this balance between efficiency and driving enjoyment that we want to achieve. ‹F›: In what way does this procedure help to refine an automotive manufacturer’s branding? ‹Uwe Dieter Grebe›: A brand profile is, of course, something manufacturers define for themselves. But AVL can provide support. Together with the OEM we can design a vehicle’s attributes by making sure that they perfectly match the brand character. An important contribution in this respect is our Vehicle Benchmarking Program, which we use to assess these features and compare them with the competition. This knowledge helps us to calibrate the vehicle attributes so that they perfectly reflect the brand’s DNA and the OEM’s specifications. < BALANCED VEHICLE ATTRIBUTES Interview with Uwe Dieter Grebe, Executive Vice President for Global Business Development, Sales & International Operations, Powertrain Systems
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