how does this work...anyone have any ideas?

Cien features the new Northstar XV12, a 7.5-liter dual-overhead cam (DOHC) engine that generates an amazing 750 horsepower and 450 ft-lbs of torque. Advanced features include GM's Displacement on Demand technology, which allows the engine to run seamlessly on six cylinders at times to maximize fuel savings, plus a direct injection gasoline combustion system for increased engine power, and a combined starter generator.

 

It kills spark and fuel to specific cylinders when not needed (might even have a system to keep the valves open so there is no compression, but I cannot remember). SAE International put an article about it in Automotive Engineering a while back which detailed exactly how it worked. I'll see if I have it laying around but its an older issue so I might have left it at home.

 

Oh man, its 4-6-8 all over again.

For those of you unfamiliar with this some caddies back in the 80s had a system that closed off the valves on certain certain cylinders depending on load which allowed a V8 to operate on either 4, 6 or 8 cylinders.

 

Boy was that a flop back in the day.
one would hope they worked out many of the bugs of the old system before they try to do it again.

 

The 4-6-8 was the worse fuckin Idea GM had in mind,Well compared to the 4.1L engine for the Caddy,Im glad mine is a 5.0 but its a Olds 307