Allison Looks to Heavy-Duty Sectors

Light & Medium Truck, Nov 2007 by Galligan, Jim

INDIANAPOLIS -Allison Transmission, which dominates the light-medium commercial truck classes (4-7) as the transmission of choice, has set its sights on the heavy-duty construction and less-than-truckload transportation sectors as the next growth areas, company officials said during an event here in September.

Manual transmissions are still ordered for most heavy-duty construction trucks, such as dump trucks, said several company officials. But finding drivers who can shift a multi-speed manual transmission is becoming more difficult and that is making automatic transmissions more appealing in those sectors, said Lou Gilbert, manager of North American marketing for Allison.

For that reason, "We see growth in the dump trucks, frontand rear-discharge mixers, LTL fleets and pickup and delivery," Gilbert told Light & Medium Truck. "We've made some gains in these areas."

Gilbert would not provide details of specific plans but said, "Our marketing direction won't change."

Allison makes transmissions for trucks, buses and military equipment. The company has seven plants in Indianapolis and generates more than $2 billion annually in revenue, according to the company.

Allison, which had been part of the General Motors Corp. beginning in 1929, was acquired by buyout firms Carlyle Group and Onex Corp. in August for $5.6 billion.

Competition

Automatic transmissions account for the majority of the transmission choices in the Classes 4-7 commercial truck sector and Allison has the majority of that business. Every light-medium truck maker offers Allison transmissions. The other fully-automatic transmission available in those light-medium truck classes is from Japanese manufacturer, Aisin Co.

Eaton and Mercedes-Benz make automated mechanical transmissions for medium trucks. These are electronically-actuated manual transmissions that perform as an automatic. Sensors monitor performance data such as engine speed, torque and acceleration, among others, and select the appropriate gear. -Jim Galligan