GM's New Silverado and Sierra Heavy Duty Truck with the Duramax 6600 Diesel Powertrain 2001-01-2705

Vehicle requirements are measurable and define the performance of a system and its design constraints. Requirements are developed and translated from the voice of the buying customer, the voice of the government, and the voice of General Motors. Duramax powertrain subsystem requirements are developed from the vehicle requirements. This “flow down” approach optimizes the vehicle as a system. The packaging envelope, common interfaces, and manufacturing impacts were the outcome of the Vehicle Portfolio Development Process. Project execution was a global development process executed by Isuzu Engineers in Japan, Allison Automatic Transmission Engineers in Indianapolis, ZF Manual Transmission Engineers in Detroit, and General Motors Engineers in Detroit. The vehicle integration required analysis, design, and development to achieve the powertrain specifications as defined within the fundamentals of packaging, cost, dependability, emissions, noise and vibration, acceleration, drive quality, and fuel economy.