Allison Transmission has long held dominance in two niche markets in the UK: refuse collection and firefighting. But it says that dominance has led to a certain amount of stereotyping among fleet engineers who see it as offering products suitable only for those two applications. However, each of those duty cycles places very different demands on a transmission: refuse collection demands excellent low-speed control, while firefighting (see also pp31-32) is all about smooth and rapid acceleration and braking. Both require a good PTO. The supplier argues that its ability to successfully cater for both demands with the same set of hardware indicates the product's versatility. Speaking at the company's European production and demonstration facility in Hungary, Sergio Camolese, Allison Transmission's director of market development in Europe, was cautiously optimistic about expanding outside of these core applications.
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