Hertz embraces Allison as the automatic choice for its truck rental fleet
One of Australia's largest truck rental companies has committed to changing its light and medium duty truck fleet from manual to automatic transmissions following a successful trial of a number of Allison equipped UD Trucks.
Adelaide, Australia – Australian Trucks and 4WD Rentals, the Hertz Truck Rentals franchisee for South Australia, NSW and Victoria, has decided to gradually replace all of the manual trucks in its fleet with fully automatic equipped trucks.
The company has more than 1200 commercial vehicles in its rental fleet including eight current UD MK6 Automatics.
According to Peter Gould, CEO of Australian Truck and 4WD Rentals, successful trials of a number of UD Automatics over the past seven years have shown that fully automatic trucks are the preferred option for the company's future truck purchases.
"We purchased our first UD PK Automatic in 2004, and it performed well in our fleet for almost seven years with lower maintenance and repair costs. When we sold it in March, its resale value was brilliant," said Peter Gould.
"That truck covered almost a quarter of a million kilometres and provided us with a strong income stream including four years on permanent lease with Freight Victoria. Its retained value when sold was 38 percent of the original purchase price, such is the demand for automatic medium duty trucks," he said.
Since buying the original UD automatic, the Hertz franchise has added a further eight MK6 Auto models which have proven to be more cost effective to maintain as well as having strong appeal with rental customers.
"The automatic UDs have saved us money when it comes to operating costs, particularly related to brakes and clutches," Gould added. "On average we keep our medium duty trucks on fleet for approximately five years. In a manual truck, we would budget on changing at least two clutches in that time at an average of $2000 each in replacement costs.”
"The automatic trucks are also easier on their brakes. This means we save money on the number of brake re-lines we have to do across the life of the vehicle, not to mention the reduced down time," he added.
"The fact that the Allison transmission is available with a full five years of extended coverage in the UDs is another factor that added to the automatic's appeal, because we know that for all or most of the time the truck is on our rental fleet, we are covered against any failure.”
Gould says that while they cannot charge more for the automatic trucks, this offering helps maintain Hertz' market leadership, and positions the company as the first place to call when hiring a truck.
"When renters try the Allison automatics and realise how easy they are to drive and operate, they often keep the rental truck longer because they can be more productive," Gould added. “The performance of the Allison equipped UDs has meant that we are now looking to eventually make our entire truck fleet automatic, replacing the manuals as they come up for replacement," he said.
About Hertz Trucks
Hertz Trucks is a franchisee of the Hertz Corporation. The Hertz network has approximately 6,500 locations in more than 140 countries with a fleet of 525,000 vehicles.
In Australia it leases trucks, buses and utilities in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Northern Territory and offer rentals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Australian Trucks and 4WD Rentals operates its Hertz Truck Rentals franchise through a total of six branch offices in Sydney, five in Melbourne and three in Adelaide
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.
Enquiries
Miranda Jansen, Allison Transmission Europe B.V. Marketing Communications, Baanhoek 188, 3361GN Sliedrecht - The Netherlands , Tel: +31 78-6422 174. miranda.jansen@allisontransmission.com
Press Enquiries
Claire Dumbreck, Propel Technology, Bloxham Mill, Barford Road, Bloxham, Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK, OX15 4FF. 44 (0)1295 724130 / 44 (0) 7768 773857. claire@propel-technology.com
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