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GM engine chief has little idle time DETROIT THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION Sunday, January 16, 2005 By Todd Seibt tseibt@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6315 QUICK TAKE Keep their motors running # GM is active on many engine fronts:Conventional gas and diesel engines. # Hybrids (gasoline and electric, or diesel and electric). # Research and production collaborations with other automakers. # Hydrogen fuel cell R&D. *** DETROIT - At General Motors, it's a great time to be the motor man. Make that "motors" man. "It's just awesome," said Thomas G. Stephens, group vice president responsible for GM Powertrain. "We've never had a better time (engine-wise) in the business." Stephens would be the first to say he's got a good team, but he does seem to have his fingers in a whole lot of parts bins: # At media days in advance of the Detroit auto show - which opened to the public Saturday - Stephens was a lead presenter on the new LS7, the hand-built 500-horsepower V-8 monster that lurks under the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06. # Ditto the hand-built 440-horse supercharged Northstar that powers Cadillac's new, silky, cat-with-claws STS-V. # Ditto the powertrain issues behind the environmentally friendly, hydrogen-powered, fuel-celled Sequel concept and hybrid-powered Graphyte concept. # Or the Opel Astra diesel hybrid concept. # Or displacement on demand, which seamlessly shuts down some of an engine's cylinders to save gas. # Or hybrid power plants in three configurations - any one of which might take the lead in high-volume GM vehicles. # Or the 50th anniversary of the small-block V-8 engines this year. (GM has built an estimated 90 million small blocks, valued at some 27 billion horsepower.) All of that doesn't leave Stephens with a lot of idle time. "We have to work on all of these fronts at the same time," he said during a break at the North American International Auto Show. "It's really a new business model." That model includes some once-unthinkable relationships - a transmission deal with Ford and a two-mode hybrid plan with DaimlerChrysler, he said. Flint figures in all of this, and not because of its past duties building V-8 engines for GM. The city currently has two engine plants and soon will add a third. Together, they do or will employ hundreds of well-paid UAW members. Current plants include Flint Engine South, GM's sole source for Vortec 4.2-liter inline six-cylinder engines, and Flint Powertrain North, GM's sole source for versions of the 3.8-liter, or 3800, V-6. The Vortec goes into midsize sport-utilities. The 3.8-liter, in regularly aspirated and supercharged versions, goes into midsize GM cars. Flint South soon will add another module, or addition, to build a 3.6-liter V-6, becoming GM's fourth global 3.6 factory. (Others are in Australia, Japan and Canada.) That engine will go into the latest models of GM vehicles. "For the most part, the volumes (at those 3.6-liter plants) were put in place for that locale," Stephens said, meaning Flint will largely supply North America. But the 3.6 is important for Flint for another reason - its adaptability. The 3.6-liter engine was designed for front-wheel, all-wheel and rear-wheel drive applications, Stephens said. It also can be built in 2.8-liter and 3.9-liter versions. And yes, it could be lashed up to a hybrid system, if GM decided to do so, Stephens said. "It doesn't get any more flexible than that," he said. That means Flint's new engine plant should be around for a long time. Add in the fact that Flint South can be retrofitted to build five- and four-cylinder inlines, and the future looks bright there, too. Which is important because the future is not so clear at Flint North engine plant. That 3.8-liter engine has been a mainstay motor for GM for decades, but currently it's only in production plans until 2009. And production jobs have been cut there as older vehicle designs using the engine have faded away. Even so, the 3800 engine remains an effective, efficient and cost-effective motor, Stephens said. For example, it goes into many current GM sedans and will land in some new Buick LaCrosse sedans. "I've been in too many of these discussions (about when the 3800 might fade)," Stephens said, smiling. "I've learned to keep my mouth shut. "It's still a great engine," he said, elaborating. He said many pundits have repeatedly predicted its demise - for, oh, say the past 20 years or so. "Just this morning, I was taken to task about it," he said. A journalist buttonholed Stephens about why GM wasn't making a big deal about the 3800 in the Buick Park Avenue, where it gets nearly 30 mph on the highway. Stephens said the 3800 just keeps getting tweaked and rolling on, even as newer designs, hybrids and fuel cells crowd the GM Powertrain stage.