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During the Detroit auto show last month, I spoke with Dave Filipe, Ford Motor Co.'s vice president of powertrain engineering. Filipe, 50, a 26-year Ford veteran, took over for Bob Fascetti, who retired last fall.

During Fascetti's reign, Ford changed the industry with its line of high-volume EcoBoost engines, which combined direct fuel injection, variable valve timing and turbocharging.

Ford wasn't first to unite the three technologies -- General Motors, for example, beat Ford to market with it -- but Ford was the first company to go all in with it. The result: a powertrain renaissance starting in 2009 that brought a slew of awards, chart-topping fuel economy ratings and blistering performance on some models, such as the F-150 Raptor pickup and Focus RS hot hatch.

Fascetti will be tough to follow.

Filipe, in fact, may have a bigger challenge as the EcoBoost era winds down and the electrification era begins. Ford has committed $11 billion to bringing to market 40 electrified vehicles by 2022, including 16 that are battery powered. Filipe, 50, will be in charge of how a huge chunk of that $11 billion is spent.

We talked about electrification, fuel economy standards -- which remain unchanged -- and other topics.

Not many years ago, a 30 mpg EPA highway rating for a full-size pickup would have been incredible. But Ford says the new diesel-powered F-150 will get at least that.

It’s a team effort. We have the building blocks to deliver that target now. We’re bringing it to market now because now is the right time. The enablers are the diesel engine, which delivers great C02 and fuel economy, coupled with the 10-speed automatic transmission and the F-150’s aluminum body. That bundle of the three technologies was really the magic recipe to get to 30 mpg.

Administrations in Washington come and go and fuel economy legislation changes. But does having a truck that easily crushes fuel economy standards future-proof the truck and put in it pretty good shape regardless of politics?

What you consistently hear from Ford senior leadership is that we are committed to C02 improvements. Regardless of regulations, we are still on a glide path we set internally. We just announced $11 billion will be spent in the next cycle plan to deliver lower C02. And that’s great for us in powertrain as we bring more and more new technologies [to market].

How close is the F-150’s 3.0-liter Lion V-6 diesel engine to the version Ford sells to Land Rover?

The 3.0-liter Lion is a very nice engine. But because of the expectations of Ford truck customers when you put it in an F-150, we took it to another level. We made sure it was durable with a number of upgrades to the subsystems. The development was led by the team that delivered the 6.7-liter Power Stroke. That team knows tough truck engine requirements and they applied that to the 3.0-liter Lion. So, it’s a different engine from Land Rover’s version.

With so many electrified vehicles on the way, it’s easy to envision a number of hybrid powertrain architectures, such as an electric rear axle, a mild belt-alternator system and a motor between the engine and transmission on rear-wheel-drive vehicles such as Mustang and F series. Can you give a few clues to what is coming?

We can’t get into too many details. I think what is great there is that we have incredible supplier partners and we are bringing technology [to market] and we have another technology that we are working on. Knowing how to get scale, and how leverage that has been our recipe all along at Ford. Also, over the last 10 years, we’ve invested in flexible manufacturing, so we can adapt our plants to bring all this new technology. We are really set up for the future because of the investments we’ve made.

As the volume of electrified vehicles increases, when does Ford think about becoming a manufacturer of electric motors?

We’re always going to take a look at what makes the most sense for us and what makes the most sense for the customer. That depends on a lot of circumstances.

Would Ford consider a partner for electric motor production?

We’ve had great partnerships over the years in powertrain, with GM for transmissions and with PSA (Peugeot) in Europe on diesel engines, where we continue to do that. We’re always open-minded for a win-win solution in discussions with other OEMs. That’s ongoing.

What's your vision for powertrain? You're running a part of the company that deals with a world that is changing quickly.

I think it is great. First, we've got the best engineers in the industry. They work so hard and are so passionate. We have a company that continues to look to innovation, with its move into mobility. And electrification is another addition to our powertrain portfolio. We are going to continue to work on new technologies for internal combustion engines, we are delivering a new eight-speed transmission this year. We have delivered full hybrid electric and partial hybrid electric vehicles and now we are going to accelerate that area and introduce battery electric vehicles.

Do investments in traditional internal combustion engines and transmissions tail off as electrified powertrain development accelerates, or do you invest in both?

We'll have to keep doing both. The internal combustion engine is not going to fade away overnight. There are some really great new technologies that continue to advance and we can help deliver lower C02 and enhanced performance and driveability. We will continue to mature that as we simplify our architectures going forward.

"Meet Dave Filipe, Ford's new powertrain boss, and he's not the same as the old powertrain boss" originally appeared in Automotive News on 2/20/2018