It might seem strange but somehow a German automotive company has sold 250 city buses built in Brazil and fitted with the latest US made Allison automatic transmissions in of all places Indonesia.
It sounds like an automotive United Nations project spanning the globe and to some extent it is.
The 250 city buses were ordered in the second half of 2019 as Mercedes-Benz/Brazil and Allison Transmission significantly increased their presence in Indonesia, which of course is one of the main countries in Southeast Asia, and with more than 180million people is one of the highest population nations in the world.
The buses have recently begun to be delivered in Indonesia and are Mercedes-Benz OH 1626 models equipped with Allison T280 R automatic transmission for use on the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system and feeder lines in the bustling capital Jakarta.
“The partnership between Mercedes-Benz and Allison was fundamental for us to be able to meet our customers’ demand in Indonesia. We have some projects together where the result has been very positive for us,” said Alexandre Lasmar, Mercedes-Benz Sales and Exports Manager for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The buses that we are selling with Allison transmissions bring excellent results such as comfort and safety for drivers and passengers, and low maintenance for vehicles.”
The OH 1626 buses are equipped with Allison’s fully automatic six-speed transmissions with retarder that features FuelSense 2.0 technology, to further reduce the vehicle’s fuel consumption. FuelSense 2.0 is ideal for urban applications with a lot of stop-and-go, such as city buses, residue collection, construction and distribution.
Through a series of optimizations introduced in Allison’s software, the new FuelSense 2.0 technology uses the DynActive Shifting system for an infinite number of shift point combinations. FuelSense 2.0 uses a real-time learning algorithm that determines the optimal balance between fuel economy and performance.
“This is a very significant sale for Allison,” said Evaldo Oliveira, Director of Allison Transmission, South America. “As an extremely populated country, Indonesia has a broad and very efficient public transport service. The total bus market in the Asian country approaches 2,500 units a year, which shows us that we still have great possibilities to expand our business with Jakarta, mainly in partnership with Mercedes-Benz/Brazil, which is the sales leader in this market.”
