A system model is the artifact of applying the Systems Engineering process. The model can be integrated with analysis and simulation so that the performance of the described system can be predicted. This presentation illustrates how this capability changes the product development process by applying it to the design of an electric powertrain. It is often said that bringing simulation earlier into the development cycle is beneficial. Simulation cannot enter earlier than systems engineering, because that is the very beginning, but what is the impact on product development? The integration with simulation enables the systems engineer to take a candidate architecture and optimize it, so that the engineer knows the best-case performance he can expect from a particular architecture. This in turn enables the comparison of one architecture candidate against others and the ability to identify the best architecture configuration. In the worked-out example the engineering challenge is to design an electric powertrain to the lowest cost while meeting a set of performance criteria. Several driveline architecture options are possible, and each one will change the torque ratio between the wheel and the motor. It follows that each driveline option will influence the optimal powertrain design and the overall configuration. The integrated MBSE and simulation workflow can capture these architecture perturbations and makes it easy to evaluate their impact. Another important aspect of this approach is the ability to study the effect of changing the requirements themselves. It may be that relaxing a particular requirement can mean a much cheaper product, or that a lot more performance can be gained for a little extra cost. This kind of insight is simply not possible without being able to perform multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization during the systems engineering phase of product development. By adjusting the requirements to what is possible to achieve allows a manufacturer to place their products on the market with additional certainty their products will be desirable. The design aspects being considered for the powertrain include the sizing of gearbox, electric machine, battery, motor control, and shafts between the motor and the wheels. The design requirements focus on the acceleration that the vehicle can produce from standstill. The cost function estimates the total cost of all the components considered in the study.