General Motors Allison Transmission Delivers Five Millionth Automatic Transmission

Allison delivers milestone transmission to leading French chilled distribution operator

INDIANAPOLIS - General Motors Allison Transmission announced today the delivery of its five millionth automatic transmission. The transmission was produced at Allison Transmission’s manufacturing facility in Szengotthard, Hungary. The 3000 series transmission was fitted to a Renault refrigerated truck and delivered to leading French chilled distribution operator TFE (Transports Frigorifiques Europeens).

The delivery of the five millionth transmission coincides with the company confirming that 2006 was a record year for unit sales and revenue. Demand for Allison transmissions has reached record levels in several regions including Europe, Asia and North America. “We are pleased that the five millionth transmission is being delivered to one of our most important global OEM customers and it is a distribution application, a sector in which we are currently experiencing significant European growth,” said Michael Headly, Allison Transmission Director for International Marketing, Sales and Service. “Commercial vehicles across the world are moving toward fully automatic transmissions, and Allison is leading the way with technologically advanced products with high efficiency, quality, reliability, and durability expected by our customers.”

Allison Transmission pioneered the commercial duty automatic transmission concept. The first was built in 1947 for a General Motors bus. Allison launched its first cross-drive product for military applications in 1949, followed in 1953 with the first full powershifting transmission for off-highway applications. In 1956, Allison introduced the first fully automatic, powershifting transmission for commercial truck applications. Today, Allison Transmission delivers over 80 percent of the world’s commercial vehicle fully-automatic transmissions, supplying over 250 OEM’s around the world, in applications ranging from buses to heavy-duty off-highway equipment.