Who Owns Allison Transmission And Which Pickup Trucks Use Them?

Found in work trucks, pickups, and defense vehicles, Allison Transmission manufactures medium to heavy-duty automatic transmissions. What started as a small company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1915 has continued to expand to more vehicles over the years and even started looking into electric technology — but through the years, the ownership has changed as well. 

James A. Allison was the founder of Allison Transmission, formerly known as the Speedway Team Company. Initially focused on racing, the company canceled its Indianapolis 500 plans and pivoted to developing military vehicles in 1917 to support the US in World War I. By 1920, Allison Transmission was working on products like precision reduction-gear assemblies for aircraft and 12-cylinder marine engines. 

Allison passed away in 1928, and General Motors took over. After World War II, the company decided to turn to commercial transmissions, and the first was shipped to General Motors Trucks and Coach Division in 1947. In the '50s and '60s, Allison continued to come up with transmissions for trucks that broke boundaries. GM merged Allison with the Detroit Diesel Division in 1973, becoming the first fully automatic transmission in the US for large trucks, heavy-duty vehicles, and US Army trucks. A transmission for buses and motor homes was added in the '80s. Innovation continued into the '90s, including the launch of an electric hybrid bus program in New York City. 

In 2007, the Carlyle Group and Onex Corporation acquired Allison Transmission for $5.6 billion, and Lawrence E. Dewey became the chair and CEO. GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009, leading to the discontinuation of many popular car brands.

Allison Transmission is probably best known for its 1000 transmissions, which are used in plenty of work trucks, pickups, and SUVs. The Allison 1000 was created in the 90s to keep up with diesel engines' torque growth, predicting it would reach 470 to 510 lb-ft of torque by the year 2000. Currently, 1000 transmissions and 2000s handle up to 700 lb-ft of torque, which makes them versatile enough to support the work of vehicles used for construction, delivery, agriculture, defense, and more. Allison also has even more heavy-duty transmissions that have ratings up to 1,600 lb-ft of torque — and an electric version for up to an astonishing 34,661 lb-ft. 

There are plenty of pickups, semis, and other commercial vehicles that use Allison transmissions. You'll find Allison transmissions in the Chevy Silverado, Chevy Colorado, GMC Sierra, Chevy Kodiak, GMC Hummer, and the Chevy B-series when it comes to pickups. For semis, Western Star, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner, and International all implement them. Other heavy-duty vehicles with Allison transmissions include one of Ford's biggest trucks, the Ford F-650, as well as the Cheetah MMPV, B-7 bus, C-Series truck, Isuzu F-series, and International XT series.