19. Cost Engineering as an Essential Part of Systems Engineering

The cost of a product is a crucial success factor in powertrain and vehicle development, alongside attributes such as performance, drivability, pollutant, and CO₂ emissions. In particular, the assessment of emissions and product cost must not be limited to the development, production, or operating phase, but must cover the entire product lifecycle. The assessment of product cost itself is a major component of a business case analysis as well as a total cost of ownership assessment and has an essential role within a systems engineering approach. In this context, the integration of cost engineering models, methods, and tools into future product lifecycle management approaches is seen as crucial to enforce interdisciplinary data management and reuse of results over all lifecycle phases.