First Irisbus Iveco GX127 in Italy equipped with an Allison fully-automatic transmission
Li-nea, the public transportation operator in Florence, is already transporting passengers with Italy’s first Irisbus Iveco GX127 bus. Completely satisfied with the Allison-equipped version, two more have just been delivered.
Torino, Italy – The Irisbus Iveco GX127 city bus was launched in the Italian market in March 2011. The 9.45 m bus is available with an Allison T280R fully-automatic transmission and a 264 hp TECTOR diesel engine. The GX127’s first customer in Italy was Li-nea, which, in association with Ataf, is responsible for Florence’s public transportation. Not only did the company provide a market test bed for the GX127, it specified an Allison transmission for the first time in the fleet's history. By the end of October, the first bus had run 67,000km under a very intensive duty cycle. Pleased with outstanding performance, two new Allison-equipped GX127s were ordered and recently arrived.
The first GX127 was assigned to Route 27, which enters the town of Scandicci, on the outskirts of Florence. This route connects the Torregalli Hospital to Route 1 – the new Florence Tramway line. This is a city route with stops every 300 to 400 meters, along narrow car-lined streets, as is typical in Europe. For conditions where size and maneuverability are paramount, the Allison transmission and the GX127 are a perfect match. Thanks to the transmission’s adaptive controls, shifts are smooth and almost imperceptible to passengers. Furthermore, the output retarder in the transmission allows smooth progressive stopping. The seamless transition between the retarder and service brakes ensures greater control, easier maintenance and longer intervals between oil and filter changes.
“Allison fully-automatic transmissions have been a very nice discovery,” says Cappellini, one of Li-nea’s 208 bus drivers. “The vehicle is very easy to drive and has a seamless, fluid acceleration. Traveling is more comfortable for passengers as gear changes are very smooth. Moreover, these automatic transmissions are very quiet, and at the end of the day, we are much less fatigued.”
The Irisbus Iveco GX127 has two double doors and at 9.45m long and 2.33m wide, allows stunning maneuverability perfectly suited for hilly roads and the narrow streets of city centres. The engine is a 264 hp, 6-cylinder Tector F4A diesel EEV, boasting emission levels better than the current legislative requirements and featuring an anti-particulate filter.
The automatic transmission is a 6-speed T280R with integral retarder from Allison's Torqmatic® Series.
Roberto Saccardi, Head of Technical Resources at Li-nea, said, “We chose this bus with great care. The size looked ideal for use on both urban streets and in the city’s outskirts, where you need good transport capacity matched with compact vehicle size. Our fleet has an average life-cycle of about 10 years, so when a new bus arrives we really take advantage of it! That’s what happened to the new GX127. Also, with regard to fuel consumption, our impression of the EEV midi bus with an anti-particulate filter is absolutely positive.” As Saccardi underlines, the engine “breathes” better and fuel consumption is more efficient thanks to the optimized set-up of the Allison transmission.
Li-Nea operates 125 buses in total – including several Iveco Cityclass buses with natural gas and CNG – which are dedicated to both public urban transport and rental services.
About Allison Transmission
Allison Transmission is the world’s largest manufacturer of fully-automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, medium- and heavy-tactical U.S. military vehicles and hybrid-propulsion systems for transit buses. Allison transmissions are used in a variety of applications including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (primarily school and transit), motor homes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (primarily energy and mining) and military vehicles (wheeled and tracked). Founded in 1915, the Allison business is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and employs approximately 2,800 people. Allison has manufacturing facilities and customization centers located in China, The Netherlands, Brazil, India and Hungary, with a global presence, serving customers in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and Africa. Allison also has more than 1,500 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. More information about Allison is available at www.allisontransmission.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plans," "project," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," “intend,” “forecast,” “could,” "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar terms or phrases. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks. Factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made include, but are not limited to: risks related to our substantial indebtedness; our participation in markets that are competitive; general economic and industry conditions; our ability to prepare for, respond to and successfully achieve our objectives relating to technological and market developments and changing customer needs; the failure of markets outside North America to increase adoption of fully-automatic transmissions; the discovery of defects in our products, resulting in delays in new model launches, recall campaigns and/or increased warranty costs and reduction in future sales or damage to our brand and reputation; the concentration of our net sales in our top five customers and the loss of any one of these; and labor strikes, work stoppages or similar labor disputes, which could significantly disrupt our operations or those of our principal customers. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information is as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in expectations.
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Contact Details
Miranda Jansen, Allison Transmission Europe B.V. Marketing Communications, Baanhoek 188, 3361GN Sliedrecht - The Netherlands , Tel: +31 78-6422 174. miranda.jansen@allisontransmission.com
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