How Magna's Diba Ilunga Perfects New Powertrain Technology Before it's Built

Magna is one of the most important automotive companies most drivers have never heard of. Supplying transfer cases, transmissions, e-drives, and hybrid systems to nearly every major automaker on the road, Diba Ilunga is the President of Magna Powertrain. He discusses the surprising shift toward software inside a division that started by building gears. That includes how digital twins let Magna perfect a part's design before it's ever physically built, and a clever software breakthrough that eliminates unwanted EV motor noise without changing the hardware. Diba also gets candid about how Western automakers are finally starting to adopt the off-the-shelf sourcing habits that have long given Chinese OEMs a cost advantage, and answers the question everyone wants to ask: with all the parts to build a complete vehicle, will Magna ever put its own badge on one? Join Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid as they dive deep with Diba to find out what's changed at the company over his 21 years there, and where it's headed next in this episode of GreenCars, The Podcast.

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction

4:02 - Magna's Powertrain Empire & the Software Shift

11:22 - Digital Twins & Solving EV Noise with Software

15:39 - Off-the-Shelf Parts: Learning from China

19:46 - The Future of ICE, Hybrids & EV Batteries

26:34 - Could Magna Build Its Own Car?

34:15 - Three for the Road

36:56 - Conclusions

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