Allison starts up in Hunga
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• by Colin Barnett
For the first time in its long history, Allison Transmissions has begun production outside the Americas. CM attended the dedication ceremony at the plant at Szentgotthard, in the south-west corner of Hungary, close to the Austrian and Slovenian borders.
The site will service the European and Asia-Pacific regions; as well as Increasing production capacity it is designed to enhance the product's appeal to European operators and manufacturers. Hungary is expected to Join the European Community within the next year or so.
The new plant is in the former paint shop at an Opel Hungary site which previously assembled Astras and Vectras, the last batch of which were exported to China. The whole site is now dedicated to the production of driveline components. As well as Allison products, this Includes the Ecotek range of 1.4-1.8-litre petrol engines. They will soon be Joined by a continuously variable transmission, initially going Into GM's US Saturn car brand.
Allison will initially build Its MO Series of medium-duty six-speed transmissions and their bus counterparts at the 5.300m2 plant, which could also handle the
bigger HO Series. Components are sourced from France, Italy and Hungary, as well as Allison's home in Indiana. USA.
The basic gearboxes are shipped to Holland, where user-specific ancillaries and software are installed before final delivery to customers in an area ranging from Iceland to New Zealand.
• The Allison MD Series is now available with a top-mounted power take-off, which means that the PTO can be fitted in any one of three positions to suit customer's requirements.