The capital city of Goiania, State of Goiás, just purchased 49 Mercedes-Benz Atego 1729 trucks equipped with Allison 3000 Series™ transmissions. The new vehicles will be operated by the Companhia de Urbanização de Goiânia
– Comurg, the Urbanization Company of Goiania.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil, July 2020 - For the first time, Comurg has begun using the Mercedes-Benz Atego 1729 trucks with fully automatic Allison transmissions for refuse collection in the city capital of the state. Comurg is a mixed-capital company having the City Administration of Goiânia as the holder of its majority capital.
“For two years, I've searched among other refuse collection companies that operate automatic trucks in Brazil,” explained Luiz Carlos Cascão, of the Comurg Transportation Department. "As a result, we ended up choosing automatic
trucks for this type of application, which are already a trend among refuse collection companies across the country. This will be the first time we have this type of transmission in our trucks."
The purchase of automated trucks was just one of Cascão's options, but, as its maintenance cost base pointed out, the clutch system replacement is expensive. He then realized he had no choice. “In our current fleet, the clutch system represents our biggest expense,” said Cascão. “Trucks with a manual transmission need to change the clutch in a 5,000/ 8,000 kilometers interval since the refuse collection service is extremely exhausting for vehicles.”
The new trucks, sold by the regional Mercedes-Benz dealership, Tecar Diesel, are still undergoing the bodybuilding and customization process. They are expected to begin operation during July.
“Although we still don't have the trucks in operation, after our first experience with the Atego 1729, we were quite happy. Besides, the people from DCCO – Allison representative in Goiânia – were here giving us technical support and answering our questions. I think we will have a good experience with automatic transmissions,” said Cascão.
The Allison Transmission 3000 Series is designed to equip medium-sized commercial vehicles. Intended to operate with maximum efficiency in a wide variety of applications - concrete mixers, firefighters, distribution, construction, security vehicle, among
others – this series is available with short or long gear ratios and can have up to seven speeds. The PTO (power take off), which is driven by the engine, as well as the integral output retarder are available as options. The retarder provides
better braking to the vehicle, reducing brake wear. Its operation is managed by Allison's 5th generation electronic controls, which also have prognostics capabilities.
“The choice of an Allison automatic transmission for certain types of heavy-duty jobs, such as
the refuse collection, is increasingly consolidated in Brazil. The preference showed by private
fleet owners and public companies, such as Comurg, only reinforces the quality of our product.
The analysis of fleet managers is based mainly on the efficiency of maintenance costs and the
productivity of their vehicles and, in this regard, our transmissions are unbeatable,” said Evaldo
Oliveira, Director of Operations for Allison Transmission for South America.