Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
6 min of reading 
9 comments 
The Growing Adoption Of Electric Vehicles Is Directly Impacting The Automotive Labor Market. Combustion Engineers, Once Key Pieces In The Industry, Now Face Uncertainties Amid The Decline In Demand For Their Traditional Skills.
What was once synonymous with prestige and innovation has become synonymous with obsolescence. The combustion engine has lost ground to electric vehicles in recent years. And because of this, a generation of traditional engineers has lost relevance in this valuable market.
The Beginning Of A Passionate Career Of The Engineer
For decades, engineer Lem Yeung experienced the pinnacle of automotive engineering. But, in just a few years, everything changed.
In 1991, Lem Yeung graduated from Purdue University amid an economic recession. With few options, he landed an internship at Ford.
-
End of the Toyota era: with a hybrid engine of up to 235 hp, BYD King surpasses Corolla for the first time in Brazilian retail and accelerates Chinese advancement in the mid-size sedan segment.
-
300 units take the Mitsubishi Triton Terra to the heart of agribusiness, putting a 205 hp pickup with a more rugged look and twin-turbo on the roads, and transforming the limited edition into a new showcase for the competition for strength, presence, and productivity in the field.
-
Brazil records incredible growth in electric cars with a historic 17.7% share in April, and Chinese brands accelerate their dominance over the Brazilian automotive sector in 2026.
-
Kia reveals an electric vehicle with a roof-mounted drone, 360° cameras, and artificial intelligence to detect crimes and crowds in real time.
It was just the beginning. As children of Chinese immigrants, his parents had also worked at the company. Engineering ran in the family’s blood.
Yeung quickly stood out. He worked with internal combustion engines. A complex universe, full of details, adjustments, noises, and sensations.
For him, it was more than a job. It was a technical playground. He would spend hours calibrating engines, tinkering with pressure, sparks, and torque curves.
It wasn’t simple. It involved trial and error. Fear of failure. A lot of instinct. “I always thought I was going to blow up the engine“, he said.
But that was what excited him. He learned that engineering, in practice, was improvisation and intuition, not just formulas. The reward came when everything worked.
The Peak Of Prestige And The Projects That Marked The Era
Over the years, Yeung participated in significant projects. One of the most memorable was the Power Stroke “Scorpion” engine, a 6.7-liter V-8 diesel made for Ford’s Super Duty line. He also worked on smaller engines, like a 3.0-liter V-6 in ’90s pickups.
Behind the scenes, there was a technical camaraderie that drove engineers. They exchanged ideas, tested hypotheses, built prototypes. The combustion engine had hundreds of moving parts. It required precision and creativity. Yeung loved it.
The Arrival Of Electrics And The Beginning Of The End
But the landscape began to change. Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, appointed in 2020, initiated an aggressive move to reposition the company in the race for electric vehicles. Ford was lagging behind GM in profits and needed to cut costs.
Farley made it clear: traditional engine engineers were being replaced by specialists in software and batteries. The message was direct.
In 2021, Yeung received an email from HR. It was an offer for early retirement. The company was offering extra salary for those who agreed to leave.
At 52, Yeung faced a tough choice. He still had the energy for another decade of work. But the space for him was shrinking.
A Technical Universe In Extinction
Electric motors are different. Much simpler. While a combustion engine has hundreds of parts, an electric powertrain can have fewer than 25. That changes everything.
In an electric car, maximum torque is available all the time. This eliminates the need for transmissions with multiple gears.
The driving experience is smooth and quiet. But for engineers like Yeung, this is boring. “It’s no longer a form of art,” he said.
Yeung wasn’t against electrics. He understood their efficiency. But he lamented the loss of complexity and technical challenge. For him, it was like watching his profession being dismantled piece by piece.
The Secret Attempt To Save An Engine
Despite the end-of-cycle atmosphere, Yeung still had a moment of brilliance. In the mid-2000s, realizing that Ford had no plans to update the Escape and Fusion engines — two of the company’s best-selling cars — he took bold action.
On his own, he began developing an improvement for the 3.0-liter engine. He adjusted valves, increased airflow, redesigned the intake system. He knew he needed help. He sought out Steve Penkevich, a combustion expert, who agreed to participate in the project.
Together, they assembled a small team of engineers. They worked in secret. Discussing technical strategies, exchanging ideas, and conducting tests. The result was an update that increased the engine’s power by 40 horsepower. A modest but significant gain. Enough to keep the car competitive.
The project never made headlines. But for Yeung, it was a rescue of his passion. “Cool, I wasn’t fired,” he thought. Years later, Penkevich’s wife was still driving a car with that engine.
The Growing Pressure Of The New Order
Meanwhile, electrics were still a minority in sales. But automakers were investing billions.
GM promised $20 billion in 2020. Ford raised that to $30 billion in 2021 and then $50 billion in 2022. The numbers kept growing.
Developing new combustion engines was expensive. It could cost over $1 billion. And the return was getting smaller. In 2011, 70 new families of engines were launched globally. In 2021, only five. The forecast was that the number would reach zero within this decade.
Engines were being left behind. And with them, engineers like Yeung.
The Loss Of The “Secret Sauce”
For Yeung, powertrains were the “secret sauce” of the industry for a hundred years. A unique combination of scale, capital, and technical knowledge. This prevented newcomers from entering. Until Tesla appeared.
Now, the game has changed. Traditional automakers are competing with tech companies. Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Nidec, and dozens of Chinese startups are in the game. And with an advantage.
“It’s just putting parts together like they’re Legos,” Yeung said. He doesn’t believe the old giants will be able to innovate in EVs as they did with engines. “All the barriers to entry have disappeared.”
The Past That Will Never Return
Yeung was not alone. Penkevich also retired eight months before him. Both witnessed the end of an era up close.
They belonged to a group that made engines more efficient, cleaner, and more powerful. They helped meet environmental regulations, save fuel, and reduce emissions. They created solutions that defined generations.
In the 2000s, engine debates dominated the enthusiasts. Names like Chevrolet’s small-block V-8 or Jaguar’s six-cylinder became almost mythical. Brands had exclusive engines. Even GM, in the 60s, offered more than 25 different options. Today, there are fewer than a dozen.
Change Is Inevitable
The electric revolution is not new. In 1900, electric cars were more common than gasoline-powered ones. But they lost ground due to limited range, high cost, and lack of infrastructure.
The landscape shifted with the arrival of gas stations and improvements in the combustion engine. Henry Ford’s assembly lines made gasoline cars cheaper. Electrics disappeared.
Today, history is repeating itself — in reverse. Emission regulations tightened. Global warming accelerated. The pressure for clean cars increased. The industry understood it could no longer squeeze much from combustion engines.
Investments shifted. Knowledge changed. Codes replaced pistons.
An Industry Without Soul?
Yeung, with his frustration, raises a difficult question: Are cars losing their soul?
For him, yes. The combustion engine was not just technical. It was emotion. Sound, vibration, response. It was an art. An imperfect science. The EVs, for him, are efficient, but cold. Fast, yet lacking personality.
It’s not just nostalgia. It’s the loss of a specific type of creativity. Of visceral engineering. And, in the process, the loss of thousands of professionals who shaped modern mobility.
Yeung still respects the new generation. But he knows: his era is over.
The Close Of A Cycle
The email from HR marked more than just an early retirement offer. It was the end of a cycle. For Yeung, for Penkevich, and for many others.
They left a mark. They created engines that moved the world. Solved impossible problems. And faced, with courage, an inevitable transition.
The world now turns with less noise, less smoke, fewer gears. But also with less grease, less improvisation, and perhaps, less magic.
With information from spectrum.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. É muito engraçado ver a galera defendendo elétrico. Não irá pegar. Não tem como e nunca terá como gerar esse energia toda.
Carros elétricos na época, no início do século, não tinha tecnologia e por esse motivo não andou. Hoje temos um novo incio que ainda vai evoluir muito, e acredito, que não terá volta.
O bom é que vai acabar com a desvantagem do ddesconhecimento do usuário, quanto a desonestidade de muitos mecânicos.