Hyundai County Buses Equipped with Allison Fully Automatic Transmissions Increase the Value of School and Commuter Buses

Korean bus owners are increasingly more likely to operate Hyundai County vehicles equipped with Allison fully automatic transmissions due to driving convenience, economic feasibility, durability and reliability

SEOUL, South Korea, April 29, 2022 — Choo Hyun-Kyu, president of Seoul Express Tourism is a long-time fan of Allison Transmission. Choo operates school and commuter buses in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do and has been driving a 7M small bus for over 20 years. He purchased a Hyundai County with Allison’s fully automatic transmission for the first time in 2013 and has only purchased Allison equipped-County vehicles since then.

"County Automatic vehicles are extremely easy to drive and are economical due to their low maintenance cost,” said Choo. “Since my first purchase of the County automatic vehicle with Allison’s fully automatic transmission in 2013, I have bought it four times in total. I always got tired of driving a manual car, but with an automatic car I’m nowhere close to being tired.”

Hyundai County fully automatic buses are equipped with Allison’s T 1000 xFE™ transmission. Allison Automatics do not require a gear shift or clutch operations. Thus, the driver’s fatigue level decreases accordingly. In addition to that, drivers can solely focus on traffic flow ahead of them, which reduces the risks of potential accidents.

Although option costs may incur when purchasing automatic vehicles, automatic vehicles are considered more economic in the long run due to their low maintenance costs in relation to manual vehicles.

Choo is responsible for driving office workers to work from Yatap to Dongtan in the morning. In the afternoon, he is responsible for driving kindergarten to middle school students to school. On weekends, he sometimes turns into a driver for tourists. Busan, Gwangju, Gangneng, everywhere across the country where tourists take a visit is his destination for the weekend.

Choo first purchased a County manual vehicle 20 years ago and drove it for about a decade. At the time, he wanted an automatic vehicle too, but could not purchase it because it was unavailable in the market. Then in 2013, when he heard that County automatic vehicles were available to purchase, he immediately bought a Hyundai County automatic vehicle with Allison’s fully automatic transmission. This was because automatic vehicles retain advantages such as being easier to drive, fuel efficiency, economic feasibility and productivity.

"As is the nature of my job, it is necessary for me to drive long distances in downtowns and urban areas, and I have to repeat ‘driving and stopping’ frequently. If you step on the clutch and operate the gear all day, anyone will be exhausted in the evening. Not only that but it costs a huge amount of money because you also have to replace the disk regularly. However, fully automatic transmission costs less because they are only required to change the oil regularly. In addition, there is a low risk of accidents because you solely need to focus on the front while driving,” said Choo.

“Automatic cars seem to be the trend in the county bus market now. Just as most cars are now becoming automatic, I think sales of automatic vehicles will increase in the commercial vehicle market as well,” said Choo.

29 Apr, 2022

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Allison Transmission (NYSE: ALSN) is a leading designer and manufacturer of vehicle propulsion solutions for commercial and defense vehicles, the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions, and a leader in electrified propulsion systems that Improve the Way the World Works. Allison products are used in a wide variety of applications, including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (school, transit and coach), motorhomes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (energy, mining and construction applications) and defense vehicles (tactical wheeled and tracked). Founded in 1915, the company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. With a presence in more than 150 countries, Allison has regional headquarters in the Netherlands, China and Brazil, manufacturing facilities in the USA, Hungary and India, as well as global engineering resources, including electrification engineering centers in Indianapolis, Indiana, Auburn Hills, Michigan and London in the United Kingdom. Allison also has approximately 1,600 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. For more information, visit allisontransmission.com.

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SOURCE Allison Transmission Holdings Inc.