17-03-2008
The global bus market continues to grow, with unprecedented sales into city buses
INDIANAPOLIS-Allison Transmission, the world leading supplier of commercial duty fully automatic transmissons for buses and trucks has once again announce record trasmission sales into the global city bus market. With more than 14,000 units sold into this fast-growing sector worldwide, Allison is poised to further strengthen its position as a global provider of standard and hybrid transmissions with the bus sector. The number one provider of automatic transmission in China, Allison is now the transmission of choice for Japan’s Isuzu and Hino large city transit buses and is fast-becoming a dominant force in the hybrid market in Europe. Other makets are following too with significant orders in markets tranditionally dominated by manual transmissions such as Eastern Europe and Asia.
With over 10,000 Allison-equipped buses now operating in Beijing alone- ordered to deliver a reliable, efficient and comfortable buse service for Olympic visitors- Allison has maintained its grip on the Chinese maeket, making the most of the country’s burgeoning economy and need for better public transport links. “China is a busy marketplace for Allison. Still number one in the commercial duty automatic transmission industry, our success reflects China’s overall speed of growth as well as our continued efforts building good relationships with end users and OEMs. We remain the primary automatic brand in China, renowed for outstanding quality, reliability and durability,”says Paula Chen, Sales manager at Allison in China.
In the wider Asia region, Allison is bringing the benefits of automatic transmission to a largely untouched market, still almost entirely populated by manual transmission equipped buses. “We view the Asia market as a great opportunity for Allison,” explains Ashwin Gopalaswamy, Allison Marketing Manager for Asia. “With manual transmission still very much the norm, we are in an ideal position to showcase and demonstrate the benefits of our automatic solutions to a very receptive audience. Governments in this region are investing heavily on more efficient and modern transport infrastructures, Allison is well-paced to make the most of this opportunity for market growth. Already, we are the de facto choice of transmission in Japan’s Isuzu and Hino large city transit buses. Additionally, Allision is able to reach into territories such as Southeast Asia and Austrailia due to our relationships with OEMs in China, Japan and Korea who export to these countries.” Allison is also experiencing particular success in India, recently acquiring an order for 500 state-of-the-art, low-floor, CNG propelled buses supplied to the Delhi Transport Corporation marketing Allison’s largest bus order in India to date.
Responding to environmental concerns and government legislation across the region, Europe is embracing the need for hybrid transmissions to create a cleaner, more efficient public transport system.. Launched in October 2006, Allison’s hybrids are already gaining popularity following the success in several cities in Germany and Switherland as city as city after city introduces the technology to its public transport infrastructure. In addition, Allison is maintaining an active presence across Europe with its successful range of Torqmatic bus transmission products, including important sales in Bratislava, Slovakia and Warsaw, Poland. “The hybrid market continues to grow as the demand for more environmentally friendly public transport spreads throughout Europe,” says Manlio Alvaro – Allison Marketing Manager for Europe. “Our latest success brings Hybrid technology to Bochum, the third city in Germany to opt for hybrid buses, and to Istanbul-an important region that opens up the gateway to North Africa and the Middle East markets. With our continued growth in Russia, this promises to be another good year for Allison Transmission in Europe.”
In North American, Allison’s hybrid technology has enjoyed a record-setting year. Allison announced that the 1000th city transit bus equipped with the two-mode GM-Allison hybrid hybrid Ep-system will be delivered this moth to Las Vegas. So far, the Seattle King Country Metro Transit Authority has made the biggest commitment to the system, ordering 500 of the hybrid buses. In 2007, more than 400 GM-Allison hybrid-powered buses were produced, with 360 units delivered to 36 cities – the highest annual totals since deliveries began in 2003.
South American has already embraced the benefits of fully automatic transmissions and 2007 continued upward growth in the bus sector. “Buenos Aires has 100% fitment of automatic transmissions in their city bus fleet,” says Allison’s South American Marketing Manager, Cesar Farinelli. “Productivity is key for the fleets, together with low cost of maintenance, passenger safety and availability of the buses.” Allison enjoys strong relationships with local OEMs such as Encava, Daimler Argentina, Agrale, Tatsa and Materfer. The relationship is equally strong with the operators. DOTA one of Argentina largest fleet has over 2000 buses using Allison transmissions, which proves that Allision benefits are equally applicable to OEM and operator alike.
The two-mode hybrid technology in the GM-Allison Hybrid Ep-System has served as the staring point for General-Motors’ co-development with DaimlerChtysler and BMW Group of the two-mode hybrid system for passenger vehicles.
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