Allison Transmission Achieves Strong City Bus and Hybrid Bus Sales in 2009
2010-04-02 Source：www.chinabuses.org
www.chinabuses.org: Allison Transmission, the premier global supplier of commercial duty fully automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems, continues to expand its established position as a leading supplier to the global city bus market. Despite an estimated 17% decline in global bus production, Allison experienced sales of nearly 14,000 automatics and hybrids into global city buses in 2009. This came as a result of several new releases, sales successes in a number of key growth markets and increasing interest in the GM-Allison Two Mode Parallel Hybrid System, of which over 1,300 units were sold in 2009.
“The challenging sales environment in 2009 meant that more than ever OEMs and end customers needed to carefully consider all aspects of their transmission selection,” says Lawrence Love, Executive Director of International Marketing. “In 2009, Allison again demonstrated that our brand promise of unrivalled quality, reliability, durability, vocational value and customer service is vital for OEMs and end users to operate efficiently. Allison’s commitment to deliver these values locally ensures the highest levels of service wherever buses operate in the world.”
In China, local bus manufacturers are increasingly elevating Allison as the automatic choice for their buses as they pursue not only expansion into Chinese cities beyond Beijing and Shanghai, but lucrative export markets across the globe. Key Chinese bus OEMs such as Bonluck-BCI, Dandong, Kinglong, Higer, Yutong, Ankai and Shenlong have won overseas tenders utilizing buses equipped with an Allison automatic. Many of these Chinese buses have been exported to customers across Asia, Central Europe, The Middle East, South America, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Within China, Allison has been building on the success of its involvement in the 2008 Beijing Olympics – where it supported nearly 12,000 Allison automatic-equipped buses to help ensure the public transport system operated smoothly – and has expanded its customer base to include cities such as Wuhan, Shijiazhuang, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Changzhou, Shenzhen and Guilin. As environmental considerations influence bus powertrain specifications, customers appreciate Allison Transmission’s wide applications that are not limited to conventional diesel engines, but also mate with CNG and LPG fuelled engines. There are now buses equipped with an Allison automatic on the streets of Shanghai, where they will provide reliable, efficient and comfortable bus service for the city’s Expo 2010 visitors.
“Allison is benefitting from OEMs pursuing export markets where either the OEM or the end customer is demanding Allison,’ says Stephen Lowe, Managing Director of Allison China, Japan and Korea. “Allison is well accepted by customers due to our outstanding quality, reliability and durability." Last year in Korea, the leading local OEMs, Daewoo and Hyundai, increased their combined orders for Allison products by over 100 percent. "Seoul City has now mandated the use of automatic transmissions in low floor buses," adds Ashwin Gopalaswamy, Allison's Commercial Director for Japan and Korea. "Understanding local requirements, Allison has ensured timely customer support and product availability to satisfy increased customer demand for our technology.”
“The dramatic advances in transport infrastructure witnessed in India over the past 3 years are being followed by similar developments in vehicle technology. This expansion has resulted in an immediate and increasing demand for new modern city buses,” says Ram Amarnath, Managing Director of Allison Transmission India Pvt. Ltd. Allison automatic transmissions have been fitted in the new state-of-the-art low-floor CNG-propelled buses, which both TATA Motors and Ashok Leyland are now supplying to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and 15 other cities throughout India.
Allison has now delivered several thousand transmissions to Indian OEMs for use in city buses operating across India in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mysore, Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Bangalore and others.
In Europe Allison experienced strong growth in city buses produced in Central Europe and Turkey, many of which are being exported back into Western Europe. Turkish OEM Temsa Global has released Allison transmissions into the Opalin 9 midi coach and the Tourmalin model for intercity and school bus applications. The Temsa Avenue LE CNG features the newest transmission from Allison’s Torqmatic® Series, the T375. Within Western Europe, Temsa Global has enjoyed particular success in France, where Allison has partnered with the local importer, Dietrich Carebus Group to provide operational and technical support.
“For many years we have been looking to differentiate our products with an automatic transmission,” says Pierre Reinhart, President of Dietrich Carebus Group. “As the world’s biggest producer of commercial duty automatic transmissions, we simply couldn’t ignore Allison. The first thing we had to do was to convince our sales team to sell the automatic transmission from Allison. They were so convinced after some tests, where the automatic transmission showed extreme advantages with regard to driving comfort and in fuel consumption. Our results show that Allison transmissions come very close to the fuel consumption of manual transmissions, due to the way in which the electronic system works so precisely with the engine. For us, Allison has been an excellent partner in terms of providing quick help when required – they are as committed as us to having all our customers’ vehicles on the road as much as possible.”
Also in France, Heuliez Bus, Part of Irisbus Iveco Group, continued its choice of the Allison Torqmatic® Series for the GX127 bus. Its smooth shifting brings comfort to passengers in many cities including Paris, Marseille, Nice, Ajaccio, Avignon and Bordeaux.” said Eric Castellani, Export Manager. Ongoing sales of the T280R-equipped Heuliez bus topped the 1,300 units mark in France during 2009.
Turkish bus manufacturer, Otokar launched its Euro4 generation Doruk 215LE model into the local market last year, continuing to rely upon the trusted Allison T280R from the outgoing Doruk 190LE. Over 100 Doruk 190 LE busses were sold in Turkey where they are operating in cities such as Tekirda?, Çanakkale, ?zmir, Bursa and others. Another Turkish bus OEM, Güleryüz, is actively promoting the new 9m GD160 city-bus released with the Allison T280R model in the local market. The new GD160 city-bus will be presented at Busworld 2010 in Istanbul.
Demonstrating the upside of Allison’s close collaboration with end-users is the example of the Public Transport Company Bratislava (DPB a.s.), who have been consistently willing to trial and adopt Allison’s suggested technologies and optimization techniques to reduce running costs. “Our lifecycle costs have reduced tremendously,” says Mr. Jozef Majak - Head of the Service Department in Dopravný podnik Bratislava.
Sales of the GM-Allison Two-Mode Parallel Hybrid System continue to climb particularly in Germany where six cities including Hannover, Dresden, Munich, Bochum, Leipzig and Bremen have been running trials. In both Germany and the Netherlands, trials of hybrid city buses are progressing into a common-sense purchase decision. Crucially, the system has been proven to deliver significant fuel savings in 18 meter city buses.
After running its first GM-Allison Two Mode Parallel Hybrid System equipped bus for over two years, the city of Bochum, Germany is preparing to take delivery of another three Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid city buses fitted with the GM-Allison EP50 Hybrid. Neuss, Germany joins Bochum as a user of the system, ordering its first bus in 2009. In Eindhoven, Netherlands 10 APTS 18-meter articulated Phileas buses delivered in 2009 operate in urban duty-cycles and a shuttle cycle between the city centre and nearby Eindhoven Airport delivering a fuel consumption level equivalent to a 12-meter bus with a standard automatic transmission, while also providing very favorable emission levels.
In Latin America, over 400 Allison-equipped, Chinese-manufactured Huanghai buses have been delivered to the bus transit system in Lima, Peru. Of these, approximately half are articulated buses fitted with the Allison T375R, and the remainder is 4x2 17-tonne buses with the T280R.
In 2009, the Allison T270 Torqmatic® transmission was released into the Mercedes OH1518LE where the combination of rear engine, air suspension, low entry and automatic transmission forms an excellent proposition to South America’s main cities. This continues the strong partnership which powers the larger Mercedes OH1618 LE where the most popular Mercedes-Benz engine – the OM904LE – and the best-selling bus transmission – the Allison T270 – have attracted more than 1,000 sales in Buenos Aires, Argentina, alone.
“Latin America is a growing market where automatic transmissions are gradually replacing manuals,” says Allison’s Latin American Regional Director, Evaldo Oliveira. “Many cities are developing their transportation infrastructures – for example, Brazil is preparing for big global events such as the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 – and Allison is perfectly positioned to help provide world-class transit systems.”
Reliability and low maintenance are important to bus operators regardless of location, and the Transantiago bus fleet in Chile reports particularly strong performance. It operates more than 1,000 Micro-bus Lo915s equipped with the Allison 2100 transmission in the Chilean capital, Santiago.
In North America, Allison is the leading supplier of automatic transmissions and hybrid systems in the transit bus and coach market. “Emphasis in the transit bus and coach markets are leaning toward fuel economy considerations as well as reliability,” says Lou Gilbert, Director of North American Marketing. “In 2009, Allison released Vehicle Acceleration Control (VAC), reducing aggressive driver inputs by controlling the amount of engine torque based on vehicle load thus improving overall fuel economy.”
“Proof of Allison’s famed reliability and the reason why it continues to be the leading automatic transmission for intercity buses was demonstrated after a B500 transmission covered 1,159,540 miles (1,875,220 km) in a Greyhound coach with no transmission-related problems.
“Furthermore, after a thorough examination, the Allison automatic was proclaimed to still be in good condition,” states Gilbert.
North America also continues to lead demand for the increasingly popular hybrid technology. Thirty-six of the 52 states now have GM-Allison Two Mode Parallel Hybrid System equipped buses operating. Leading cities include Seattle, Philadelphia and Washington each with well over 200 hybrids. In June 2009, a record 206 hybrid systems were manufactured by Allison, confirming the system as a truly viable volume solution. During 2009, the first Alexander Dennis Enviro 500h hybrid double deck bus, produced in Europe with the GM-Allison model Ep50 hybrid, was delivered to British Columbia for evaluation.
Elsewhere in the world, benefits of an advanced Allison automatic transmission and the associated improvements such as better reliability and increased efficiency are transforming bus fleets. In Australia, customer demand for Allison doubled for city buses, shuttles, coaches and school bus applications. “This growth can largely be attributed to increased OEM availability coupled with market recognition of Allison's superior customer support in the region," says Robert Cavagnino, Allison Sales Manager for Australia and New Zealand. "We've been supplying automatics to the local Australian OEMs such as Iveco and Denning, and this is now complimented by increasing market demand for Allison automatics in imported buses from Korea and China." Moreover, Allison launched its hybrid technology to the Australian market – fitted to the Volgren-Iveco bus operating in the Melbourne suburbs.
“Allison continues to expand its position in the global bus market and is pleased to see the confidence both OEMs and end customers placed in us during 2009. In addition, there are now more than 3,000 buses with the GM-Allison Two Mode Parallel Hybrid System in operation globally, demonstrating that Allison is the leading supplier of this growing technology in the sector,” says Love. “We estimate that our hybrid system has contributed to an overall fuel saving of over 38,726,000 liters of fuel to date and a corresponding reduction of over 100,000 metric tons of C02. The benefits of operating an Allison automatic transmission or hybrid system extend way beyond the initial purchase.”
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