Allison Transmission Holdings Stock

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Allison) design and manufacture vehicle propulsion solutions, including commercial-duty on-highway, off-highway and defense fully automatic transmissions and electric hybrid and fully electric systems.

The company has a global presence by serving customers in North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and Africa, with approximately 75% of its revenues being generated in North America in 2023. The company serves customers through an independent network of approximately 1,600 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide.

Business

The company is the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles and medium- and heavy-tactical U.S. defense vehicles and a leader in electrified propulsion systems. Allison products are used in a wide variety of applications, including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (primarily school and transit), motorhomes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (primarily energy, mining and construction applications) and defense vehicles (tactical wheeled and tracked).

The company offers the world’s first fully automatic transmission for commercial vehicles. Allison products are optimized for the unique performance requirements of end users, which typically vary by vocation. The company’s products are highly engineered, requiring advanced manufacturing processes, and employ complex software algorithms for its propulsion system controls to maximize end user performance. The company has more than 200 different models that are compatible with more than 500 combinations of engine brands, models and ratings (including diesel, gasoline, natural gas and other alternative fuels). Additionally, the company has created thousands of unique Allison-developed calibrations available to be used with its control modules.

Served Markets

The company sells its propulsion solutions globally for use in medium- and heavy-duty on-highway commercial vehicles, off-highway vehicles and equipment and defense vehicles. In addition to the sale of propulsion solutions, the company sells branded replacement parts, support equipment, aluminum die cast components and other products necessary to service the installed base of vehicles utilizing its solutions.

North America

On-Highway: The company is the largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for the on-highway medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle market in North America.

The company’s core North American on-highway market includes Class 4-5, Class 6-7 and Class 8 straight trucks and regional haul tractors, conventional transit, shuttle and coach buses, school buses and motorhomes. Class 8 trucks are subdivided into two markets: straight and tractor. Class 8 straight trucks are those with a unified body (e.g., refuse, construction, and dump trucks), while tractors have a vehicle chassis that is separable from the trailer they pull. Class 8 tractor is further divided into two subcategories: regional haul and line-haul. Regional haul tractors are typically used for local or regional hauling, whereas line-haul tractors are typically used in extended duration long distance hauling. The company has been supplying transmissions for Class 8 straight trucks for decades, and it is a core end market for it. The company has limited exposure to the Class 8 line-haul tractor market because lower priced manual transmissions and AMTs generally meet the needs of these vehicles which are primarily used in long distance hauling.

The company also provides electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion solutions within the North American on-highway market. The interest in conserving fuel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is driving demand for more fuel-efficient commercial vehicles. The company’s electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion customers include bus and truck applications.

Competition: The company competes primarily with BAE Systems plc and manufacturers of fully electric propulsion solutions such as Dana Incorporated (Dana) and Cummins Inc., as well as certain vertically integrated OEMs.

The company sells substantially all of its propulsion solutions in the North American on-highway market to OEMs. These OEMs, in turn, install the company’s propulsion solutions in vehicles in which its product is either the exclusive propulsion solution available or is specifically requested by end users. In 2023, OEM customers representing over 90% of the company’s North American on-highway unit volume participated in long-term agreements (LTAs) with it. The length of the company’s LTAs is typically between three and five years.

The company often competes in against independent manufacturers of manual transmissions, AMTs, electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion solutions, fully automatic transmissions manufactured by Ford Motor Company (Ford), ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF) and Voith GmbH (Voith) and (iii) vertically integrated OEMs in certain weight classes that use their own internally manufactured transmissions in certain vehicles.

Off-Highway: The company provides products used in vehicles and equipment that primarily serve energy, mining and construction applications in North America. Off-highway energy applications include hydraulic fracturing equipment, well-stimulation equipment, pumping equipment, and well-servicing rigs, which often use a fully automatic transmission in stationary pumping applications. The company supplies its heavy duty off-highway transmissions to producers of well-stimulation and well-servicing equipment.

Competition: The company’s competitors include Caterpillar Inc. (Caterpillar) and Twin Disc, Inc. (Twin Disc).

The company also provides heavy-duty transmissions used in mining trucks, specialty vehicles and construction vehicles. Off-highway mining and construction applications include trucks used to haul various commodities and other products around construction sites and mines, including underground mines. These trucks include rigid dump trucks, wide-body dump trucks and underground trucks with load capacities between 40 to 110 tons.

Competition: The company’s major competitors in include vertically integrated companies that manufacture fully automatic transmissions for their vehicles. These vertically integrated competitors include Caterpillar, Komatsu Ltd. (Komatsu), and Volvo Group (Volvo). The company also competes with independent manufacturers ZF and Dana. Specialty vehicles using the company’s heavy-duty off-highway transmissions include airport rescue and firefighting vehicles. The company’s major competitor in this end market is Twin Disc.

Outside North America

Outside North America the company serves several different markets, including the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa (collectively, EMEA), and South America.

On-Highway: The company is the largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for the commercial vehicle market outside of North America. The company also provides electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion solutions for the outside North America on-highway market. While the use of fully automatic transmissions in the medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle market has been widely accepted in North America, markets outside North America continue to be dominated by manual transmissions. Where adopted, fully automatic transmission-equipped medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles are concentrated in certain vocational end markets.

Competition: The company often competes in against independent manufacturers of manual transmissions, AMTs, electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion solutions, fully automatic transmissions manufactured by ZF, Voith, and Shaanxi Fast Gear Co., Ltd. and vertically integrated OEMs.

Asia-Pacific: The company’s key Asia-Pacific markets include Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea; however, it actively participates in several other important Asia-Pacific countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. In addition, OEMs in the Asia-Pacific market are increasingly exporting their products to other regions. Within Asia-Pacific, the company’s sales efforts are principally focused on the transit bus, vocational truck, severe service and distribution markets. Manual transmissions are the predominant transmissions used in commercial vehicles in the Asia-Pacific region.

Europe, Middle East, Africa: EMEA consist of several different markets, each of which differs from the company’s core North American market by the degree of market maturity, sophistication and acceptance of fully automatic transmission and electric propulsion solution technology. Within Europe, the company serves Western European developed markets, as well as Eastern European emerging markets, principally in the refuse, emergency, transit bus, coach bus, distribution and utility markets.

South America. The South American region is characterized by a high level of OEM vertical integration, with captive manual transmission and AMT manufacturing. Manual transmissions are the predominant transmissions used in commercial vehicles in South America. The company serves the South American region primarily in the bus, refuse, vocational truck and agricultural markets.

Off-Highway

Asia-Pacific: Off-highway markets in Asia are shared by energy, mining and construction applications.

Competition: The company’s primary competitors are Caterpillar, Danyang Winstar Auto Parts Co., Ltd., Twin Disc and manufacturers of electrified solutions in energy applications; Caterpillar, Xi’an FC Intelligence Transmission Co. Ltd. and Komatsu in mining applications; and Caterpillar, Volvo and ZF in construction applications.

Europe, Middle East, Africa: The company’s off-highway markets in EMEA are mining and construction.

Competition: The company’s major off-highway competitors are Caterpillar and Komatsu, both of which are vertically integrated manufacturers of off-highway mining vehicles, including the specific fully automatic transmission used in their mining trucks. A typical construction application is a rigid or articulated dump truck, with competition from Caterpillar, Dana, Volvo and ZF.

Defense

The company has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense (the DOD). The company sells substantially all of the propulsion solutions for medium- and heavy-tactical wheeled vehicles used by the U.S. military, including the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Light Armored Vehicle, Stryker Armored Vehicle, the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, Palletized Loading Systems, Heavy Dump Trucks and Heavy Equipment Transporters. Propulsion solutions for tactical wheeled vehicles are typically sold to OEMs.

The company supplies tracked vehicle propulsion solutions to the U.S. Army, including the Abrams M1A2 Main Battle Tank, Joint Assault Bridge, Assault Breacher Vehicles, M10 Booker and the M113A3 Armored Personnel Carrier family of vehicles. The company also sells parts kits to the U.S. Army for Abrams Tank sustainment.

The company has defense products in approximately 110 countries around the world. Increasingly, the company is supplying vehicle propulsion solutions for international tracked vehicles, such as light tracked personnel carriers, armored fighting vehicles, heavy tracked artillery systems, and Main Battle Tanks. The company’s defense products are manufactured at its headquarters in Indianapolis and by its licensees internationally for export world-wide.

Competition: The company faces competition primarily from Renk AG/Renk America, SAPA S.p.A, ST Kinetics and QinetiQ Group plc for the supply of tracked vehicle propulsion solutions. Additionally, the company faces competition from ZF in certain defense wheeled vehicles using automatic transmissions and from several AMT suppliers.

Service Parts, Support Equipment and Other

The company’s service parts, support equipment and other end market consists of: Allison-branded service parts and transmission fluids, aluminum die cast components, extended transmission coverage, remanufactured transmissions, royalties, saleable engineering and support equipment. The aftermarket provides the company with a relatively stable source of revenues as the installed base of vehicles and equipment utilizing its solutions continues to grow. The need for replacement parts is driven by normal vehicle and equipment maintenance requirements.

The sale of Allison-branded parts and fluids, remanufactured transmissions and support equipment is fundamental to the company’s brand promise. The company has assembled a worldwide network of approximately 1,600 independent distributor and dealer locations to sell, service and support its solutions. As part of its brand strategy, the company’s distributors and dealers are required to sell genuine Allison-branded parts. Within the aftermarket, the company offers remanufactured propulsion solutions as an alternative for repairs and replacements. The company also provides support equipment to its OEMs to assist in installing new Allison solutions into vehicles, and, therefore, sales of support equipment are dependent upon sales of new solutions.

Product Offerings

Allison transmissions and electric propulsion solutions are sold under the Allison Transmission brand name and remanufactured transmissions are sold under the ReTran brand name. The company’s On-Highway Products include 1000 Series, 2000 Series, 3000 Series, 4000 Series, eGen Flex Electric Hybrid Propulsion Solutions, and eGen Power Fully Electric Propulsion Solutions. The company’s Off-Highway Products include 5000 Series, 6000 Series, 8000 Series, 9000 Series, and FracTran. The company’s Defense Products include X200, 3040MX, and X1100.

Engineering — Research and Development

The company’s engineering expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023, were $194 million.

Sales and Marketing Organization

The company’s sales and marketing effort is organized along geographic and customer lines and consists of marketing, sales and service professionals, supported by customer integration engineers worldwide. In North America, selling efforts in the on-highway end market are organized by distributor area responsibility, OEM sales and, for its large end users, national accounts. Outside North America, the company manages its sales, marketing, service and customer integration engineering professionals through regional areas of responsibility. These regional management teams distribute OEM service and customer integration engineering resources globally.

The company has developed a marketing strategy to reach OEM customers as well as end users. The company targets its end users primarily through marketing activities by its sales staff, who directly call on end users and attend local trade shows, targeting specific vocations globally and through its plant tour programs, where end users may test its products on its Indianapolis test track and its enhanced customer experience demonstration track at its Hungary facility.

Seasonality

Overall, the demand for the company’s products is relatively consistent over the year (year ended December 31, 2023).

History

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1915. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 2007.