Allison Transmission - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Q3 2025 net sales fell 16% year over year to $693M, with North America On‑Highway down 28% offset by Defense up 47%; adjusted EBITDA margin held at 36.9% and net income was $137M.
• Allison missed Wall Street consensus: revenue $693M vs $754.7M estimate and Primary EPS $1.75 vs $1.80; reported diluted EPS was $1.63 (non-comparable to SPGI Primary EPS); estimates from S&P Global*.
• FY25 guidance was lowered across net sales, net income, adjusted EBITDA, operating cash flow and adjusted free cash flow, while capex was maintained; management kept the midpoint of implied EBITDA margin.
• Defense wins and product technology adoption were notable positives (e.g., $97M Abrams contract, expansion of Poland service network, PACCAR Neutral at Stop standardization, Cummins X15N pairing), while medium‑duty softness, tariffs/macro uncertainty, and OEM down days pressured on‑highway demand.
• Potential stock catalysts: final regulatory approvals for the Dana Off‑Highway acquisition and financing milestones announced in November (notes and term loan), plus the Q4 dividend declaration.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Defense end market strength: Q3 Defense net sales rose 47% YoY to $78M, supported by tracked vehicle demand and pricing; management expects momentum to continue into Q4.
• Cash generation and margin resilience: Adjusted EBITDA margin held at 36.9% and adjusted free cash flow was $184M despite demand weakness; operating cash flow reached $228M.
• Strategic and product wins: $97M Abrams transmission contract, Poland WZM service partner expansion, PACCAR standardizing Neutral at Stop, and Cummins X15N with Allison 4500 RDS integration, validating fuel‑agnostic strategy and driving adoption.

What Went Wrong

• On‑highway demand decline: North America On‑Highway net sales fell $130M YoY; outside North America On‑Highway, Global Off‑Highway, and Service Parts were also down YoY, reflecting broad demand softness.
• Earnings and guidance pressure: Net income fell to $137M (down $63M YoY) with ~$14M acquisition‑related SG&A; FY25 guidance was reduced across key metrics, signaling a tougher near‑term backdrop.
• Tariffs/macro uncertainty: Management flagged Section 232/tariff impacts primarily via vehicle pricing and demand behavior; while direct cost exposure is limited, end‑market uncertainty weighed on visibility and modeled demand.

Transcript

Speaker 4

Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Allison Transmission Holdings Inc.'s third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Shamali, and I will be your conference call operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After prepared remarks, Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. executives will conduct a question and answer session, and conference call participants will be given instructions at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, you may press star zero on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Jackie Bolles, Executive Director of Treasury and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Jackie.

Speaker 0

Thank you, Shamali. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. With me this afternoon are Dave Graziosi, our Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Fred Bohley, our Chief Operating Officer, and Scott Mell, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. As a reminder, this conference call, webcast, and this afternoon's presentation are available on the investor relations section of allisontransmission.com. A replay of this call will be available through November 12. As noted on slide two of the presentation, many of our remarks today contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, including those set forth in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those we expressed today. In addition, as noted on slide three of the presentation, some of our remarks today contain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by the SEC. You can find reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures attached in an appendix to the presentation and to our third quarter 2025 earnings press release. Today's call is set to end at 5:45 P.M. Eastern Time. In order to maximize participation opportunities on the call, we'll take just one question from each analyst. Please turn to slide four of the presentation for the call agenda. During today's call, Dave Graziosi will provide a business update, and Fred Bohley will review recent announcements across our business.

Scott Mell will then review our third quarter 2025 financial performance and full-year 2025 guidance update prior to commencing the Q&A. Now, I'll turn the call over to Dave.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Jackie. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. Throughout 2025, our largest end market, North America on highway, has been negatively affected by extraordinary and volatile global macroeconomic factors, leading to substantial reductions in demand for commercial vehicles. External pressures related to tariffs, evolving trade policies, and upcoming emissions regulations, in addition to broader economic uncertainties, have led to more cautious purchasing decisions from end users, which has impacted visibility and predictability in terms of demand. We expect this operating environment to persist in the near term, with market activity likely to remain subdued until there is greater clarity around these regulatory and economic factors. A meaningful shift will depend on a clear catalyst or resolution to the aforementioned issues impacting demand.

Despite these challenges, we remain focused on what we can control, including meeting our commitments to operational excellence, quality, customer service, and maintaining strong execution across all aspects of our business. Our performance during the third quarter reflects Allison's resilience, with the ability to flex our operating cost structure and generate meaningful cash flow during low-demand environments. For the quarter, although revenue decreased 16% year over year, we achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 37% and generated adjusted free cash flow of $184 million. Importantly, we remain agile and responsive to evolving market dynamics, ensuring we can quickly adapt as conditions change. As mentioned on our last earnings conference call, we see the reductions in demand in North America on highway as a deferral of purchases by end users as opposed to a permanent change in market size.

In summary, while the operating environment remains challenging, we are managing through the uncertainty with discipline, maintaining a solid balance sheet with over $900 million of cash on hand, a sequential quarterly increase of $124 million, and making prudent decisions to preserve financial strength with a commitment to delivering long-term value to our stakeholders. At the same time, we are working diligently to successfully close our acquisition of Dana's off-highway business. I would like to thank the Allison team for their hard work and dedication during this period. Now, I'll pass the call over to Fred to review recent announcements across our business. Fred?

Speaker 6

Thank you, Dave, and good afternoon, everyone. Starting with our outside North America on-highway end market, in early August, we were excited to announce that Velaria microbuses equipped with Allison T2100 fully automatic transmissions were delivered in Brazil in support of the country's student transportation modernization initiatives. In collaboration with the National Fund for Educational Development, these vehicles represent the first school buses utilizing fully automatic transmissions in South America. Allison's fully automatic transmissions eliminate the need for manual gear shifts, simplifying operations on roads with mud, gravel, and steep inclines. Drivers report less physical strain and greater control, particularly in challenging driving conditions and rough terrain. We're pleased to support better access to education while demonstrating the performance, reliability, and efficiency of Allison's fully automatic transmissions. In addition to the social impact, this milestone reflects our strategic priorities for growth in markets outside of North America.

In our North America on-highway end market during the quarter, we announced that Allison's neutral stop technology has been standardized by PACCAR on their Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks equipped with Allison's 4700 Rugged Duty Series transmission. Allison's neutral stop technology is designed to improve fuel efficiency and lower operating costs by reducing engine load at stops and reducing unnecessary fuel consumption when vehicles are at idle. Our technology ensures that fuel is used for movement, not for idling, enhancing overall fuel efficiency. We are proud to partner with PACCAR to make this innovative solution a standard offering for customers supporting fleets in their goals to reduce fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.

Also, in our North America on-highway end market, earlier this month, we announced that Ozinga Renewable Energy Logistics has successfully deployed Kenworth T88 tractors utilizing the Cummins X15N natural gas engine integrated with our Allison 4500 Rugged Duty Series transmission. The pairing sets a new standard for sustainable heavy-duty transportation, delivering exceptional power and innovative technology. The integration also demonstrates how sustainability and operational excellence can go hand in hand, allowing industries to adopt cleaner fuel solutions like natural gas without compromising on performance. With these announcements, we reiterate the fuel-agnostic nature of Allison's fully automatic transmissions. Our products pair well with all propulsion solutions, providing customers with power of choice in selecting the energy source that best suits their needs.

Moving on to our defense end market, this morning we announced that WZM, a state-owned defense vehicle service provider in Poland, is now an official channel partner for track vehicles. Allison's propulsion solutions power a wide range of wheeled and tracked defense vehicles that are actively deployed in more than 80 U.S., allied, and partner nations worldwide. As a result of our growing international defense presence, Allison now enables local commercial or government service providers to become Allison authorized channel partners. We're excited to add WZM to our global network of authorized service providers to support Allison's cross-drive transmissions for defense applications. Allison continues to enhance our global support capabilities through strategic partnerships with local service providers, further solidifying our commitment to improving the operational readiness of defense vehicles worldwide.

Also, in our defense end market, we're pleased to announce that Allison was selected by FNSS Defense Systems, a subsidiary of Nurol Holdings, to supply our 3040MX medium-weight cross-drive transmissions for the Turkish Land Forces Kırkut program. The Kırkut system is a mobile air defense solution developed in Turkey to protect ground forces from drones, helicopters, and low-flying aircraft. The system consists of two track vehicles, is designed to move with armored units and operate across difficult terrain, adding fast and flexible protection for defense forces. This partnership with FNSS and our participation in the Kırkut program is a testament to the trust and confidence in Allison's capabilities to deliver high-quality, reliable transmissions that meet the demanding requirements of modern defense vehicles.

In addition, this partnership further solidifies Allison's presence in the Turkish defense sector, where we are supporting numerous wheeled platforms and actively engage in supplying our X1100 transmission for the Turkish Fırtına self-propelled howitzer program. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call over to Scott.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Fred. I will now review our third quarter financial performance and provide an update to our full-year 2025 guidance. Please turn to slide five of the presentation, the Q3 2025 performance summary. Year-over-year net sales of $693 million were down 16% from the same period in 2024, primarily due to lower demand for Class 8 vocational and medium-duty trucks in the North American on-highway end market. In the defense end market, we continue to execute on our growth initiatives, with third-quarter net sales increasing 47% year over year. Net income for the quarter was $137 million, a decrease of $63 million from $200 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by a lower gross profit and $14 million of expenses related to the acquisition of Dana's off-highway segment.

Despite a challenging operating environment, adjusted EBITDA margin was essentially flat year over year at 37%. Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter was $228 million, a decrease of $18 million from the same period in 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by lower gross profit and $13 million of payments for acquisition-related expenses, partially offset by lower cash income taxes and lower operating working capital funding requirements. Our strong cash generation remains a key strength of our business, with adjusted free cash flow of $184 million in the third quarter. We continue to maintain solid operating cash flow, reflecting the resilience of our operations and disciplined cost management. We ended the third quarter with a net leverage ratio of 1.33 times and $1.65 billion of liquidity, comprised of $902 million of cash and $745 million of available revolving credit facility commitments.

We continue to maintain a flexible, long-dated, and covenant-like debt structure, with our earliest maturity due in October 2027. A detailed overview of our net sales by end market and Q3 2025 financial performance can be found on slides six, seven, and eight of the presentation. Please turn to slide nine of the presentation for our 2025 guidance update. Given third-quarter results and current end market conditions, we are revising our full-year 2025 guidance provided to the market on August 4th. Allison now expects net sales to be in the range of $2,975 million to $3,025 million. In addition to Allison's 2025 net sales guidance, we anticipate net income in the range of $620 million to $650 million, including over $60 million of expenses related to our acquisition of Dana's off-highway business. Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $1,090 million to $1,125 million.

Net cash provided by operating activities in the range of $765 million to $795 million, which includes approximately $70 million of cash outlays related to our acquisition of Dana's off-highway business. Capital expenditures in the range of $165 million to $175 million and adjusted free cash flow in the range of $600 million to $620 million. We are maintaining the midpoint of the implied full-year adjusted EBITDA margin guidance. This concludes our prepared remarks. Shamali, please open the call for questions.

Speaker 4

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. We also ask everyone in the queue to allow time for everyone to ask a question. Please limit yourself to just one question. Our first question comes from the line of Robert Cameron Wertheimer with Melius Research LLC. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Hi, good evening, and thank you. It's really no surprise, I guess, given truck orders that, you know, on-highway sales are down. This is a little bit of a steeper decline than we modeled, and maybe we should apologize for that. Even so, it felt a little steeper than I would have thought. I wonder if you could give, maybe this is a little bit of a soft question, but your opinion, because there's some different factors this cycle with bodybuilders having been a bit backed up. Maybe there's more channel inventory. The cycle was a little bit higher than it was in recent downturns, at least. I wonder if you could help us disaggregate the suddenness of this fall versus channel inventory and end market, you know, demand, which may or may not be as dramatic as this. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Rob, thank you for the question. Just a quick reference back to our August call when we talked about, I mentioned what we were starting to see in terms of revisions to build rates. Getting to your question with the OEM announcements that we referenced at the time, layoffs, et cetera, that was early Q3. There was certainly an expectation that those build rates would, at some level, start to normalize. To your point about steeper than we thought, so to speak, all of us, those reductions continued, frankly. As we looked at getting by the end of third quarter, or certainly earlier this quarter, you've started to see some level of normalization at those lower levels. To your question, in terms of how everybody is reading the market right now, no question that bodybuilders continued to, in many cases, sit with quite a few chassis.

It really does depend on the end use, as you know, in terms of overall inventory levels that are out there. I think that's starting to improve in most cases, but the reality is that inventory is needed to be further rationalized. The OEM comments about even third-quarter results that are pretty fresh here all support that point. As we talked about in August, medium duty being a very tough year, vocational is certainly starting to soften, and the comments that we referenced in our prepared script, certainly, there is no doubt that the level of uncertainty is extremely high. It makes anybody's job at this point relatively difficult to forecast. Even the ranges that the OEMs have provided for the balance of this year, and even thinking about 2026, are pretty wide, as you know. We've had a very strong cycle coming out of COVID, as you mentioned.

That certainly filled some of the gap that was there. Having said all that, equipment is being utilized. To our prepared comments, we don't really view this as a change in market size. It's more a deferral, and you can't blame, frankly, the end users with the amount of uncertainty that they're all facing. Capital costs more. There's a higher risk premium. From our perspective, anybody that's making investment decisions right now is likely looking for a more attractive risk-reward balance, and that's very difficult to come by until we all have more certainty around whether it be emissions, interest rates, trade, et cetera. There is a lot out there at this point for all of us to digest.

We feel very good about our market position as we continue to have very strong share, a strong pull in terms of end users, and our positioning to respond to whatever demand the market presents to us. With our structures, we talked about whether that be cost, labor, et cetera, the investments that we've made in capacity, we feel very well placed to respond to whatever the market conditions are. We are going to, as I said, focus on the things we can control at this point. The revenue, when you look at the revenue reduction on a year-over-year basis, I think, again, supports the idea that we are a flexible organization. We respond accordingly, and the margin performance really speaks to that.

Speaker 7

You are seeing some mixed trends in construction equipment, which maybe overlaps a little bit on the heavy side on vocational. Was vocational as bad as medium duty? If you have any way to quantify how much inventory was in the channel versus prior cycles, that would help a little bit to understand where we are. The answer was comprehensive, and I appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 2

I would just offer on the, you know, medium duty by far much tougher sledding right now in terms of overall market. We don't necessarily view vocational as nearly as that has been challenged. I would just point you to, I think, the OEM comments that do have meaningful share in the vocational space. They continue to support that very overtly. We believe, given all the infrastructure investment that's underway with AI data centers, et cetera, that certainly bodes well for the utilization of those relevant fleets. As I said, that equipment is certainly being used right now.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tim Dine with Raymond James & Associates Inc. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Good evening. Just a quick one, and it's just on the implied revenues for the fourth quarter. The full-year guide implies something like a 5% sequential improvement. We just spent plenty of time talking about the challenges in North America on highway and fewer build days, and OEM build plans certainly not being revised higher. What's the offset there? Again, just what, I don't know if defense or other segments that you'd point to in terms of why we see an improvement sequentially on the top line. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Tim. This is Fred. As Dave mentioned, a tremendous amount of downtime by the OEMs in Q3, aggressively adjusting inventory levels. Rolling into Q4, clearly we're going to have fewer work days, which would generally drive that down versus Q3. You need to take into consideration the significant amount of down days. You also saw defense ramp pretty aggressively off of Q2 into Q3. We expect that to continue into Q4.

Speaker 1

Very good. Thank you, Fred.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Just a reminder to please limit yourself to only one question per analyst. Our next question comes from the line of Ian Alton Zaffino with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 5

Hey, great. Thank you very much. Just trying to understand maybe when you guys started to notice the weakness and how did it look, maybe by month throughout the quarter. I guess what I'm trying to get at here is you guys did a great job of kind of curtailing SG&A, some of the R&D. Was that kind of a reaction to what you had seen, or was this kind of pre-planned? How do we think about it going forward in this environment? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's Dave. Appreciate the questions there. As we mentioned on the Q4 or the August 4th call, we really started to, this weakness in build and reductions in build rates really started to manifest itself early Q3. To Fred's comments, there was certainly an expectation, at least what we were being provided with from a build rate or forecast perspective at that stage was really focused on Q3 at that point in terms of adjustments. What has since transpired is some level of adjustment. We would certainly look at it from a bit of a normalization from Q3 into Q4. I think it appears to be starting to settle out simply because adjustments have been made, to Fred's comments around inventory. Also, importantly, just build rate capabilities. Once you start taking out your headcount, it very much does restrict output, obviously.

We see that some level of balance from Q3 into Q4. Our cost approach is, as you know, you've covered us for a number of years, is pretty consistent. As we entered the year and certainly focused on the macro environment and frankly the volatility, the uncertainty, we would view as almost unprecedented other than COVID to a level because you had so many things coming into the market. It became clear to us that was going to have the impact, we believed at the time, of really inserting a tremendous amount of uncertainty into the end market for end users. That implies that if they have the ability to defer, which they in fact have done, then we needed to better align ourselves accordingly. What we've done has really been throughout the year. It wasn't we arrived in Q3 and decided to do certain things.

It's been more of a full-year approach. I again thank the Allison team for their managing that situation in a way that is certainly consistent with our view, which is what we can control, and really looking at the broader markets in terms of feedback to take whatever advantage we can. I think understanding the voice of the market in terms of what's needed, absolutely needed at this stage. That's what's been reflected in our activity level.

Speaker 1

All right, thank you very much.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tami Zakaria with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 3

Hi, good afternoon. Thank you so much. I wanted to ask about tariffs. Given the latest Section 232 announcement, how should we think about your tariff impacts, if there was any at all before this, and also the ability to offset some of these past tariffs given your U.S.-based manufacturing? Any color on the latest about tariffs would be helpful.

Speaker 6

Sure, Tami. This is Fred. I think first maybe, just stepping back, big picture, our guide is $3 billion in revenue. That's down $250 million year over year, so down 7%. Dave talked through, certainly the driver is our largest end market, North America on highway, primarily Class 6, 7, Class 8 straight, which are 80% of that total end market, and the builds just being down. Operationally, we're performing at a very high level. 7% revenue down and EBITDA margin, we're guiding to it being 80 basis points up. Certainly, we're able to perform well in this challenging environment. Specific to tariffs, it's really important to continue to highlight that 85% of our components are purchased in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, with the majority of those being in the U.S.

The bigger impact on tariffs and then Section 232 tariffs becomes, I think, vehicle pricing, total uncertainty, and how that impacts demand. When you think about Section 232, our OEMs are certainly going to increase their prioritization on U.S.-made content and components. That really well positions us as everything that we're providing to the OEMs in the U.S. is manufactured here in Indianapolis. I think we're well positioned there. As far as additional costs to us, I think you can see in our disclosures, our material cost has been up very minimal because of just the footprint we have from a supply chain standpoint. As we talked about, we've always intended to offset that. Even in a challenging top-line revenue, you see that we are doing that.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Angel Castillo with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 5

Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. Dave, Fred, as you roll everything up that we kind of have in place, all the puts and takes exiting 2025, I know it's still early, but if we do assume everything stays as is today, Dana acquisition aside, and assuming you continue to focus on what costs or what you can control on your end, as you noted, do you believe that ultimately you can grow earnings next year, or do we need to see volume recovery in order for earnings to grow next year? How should we kind of think about that?

Speaker 6

That's a tough one. We'll provide, you know, our guide in February. You know, what we have talked about publicly is, you know, we've gotten meaningful price this year. You know, we'll end up for the year with over $130 million in price, north of 450 basis points of price. You know, we also talked about the long-term agreements that we've signed. We didn't take all that price in year one, so we have some visibility on, you know, pricing going into 2026. Clearly, good visibility on, you know, cost structure. I think what everybody's still really trying to get their arms around is going to be end user demand. Dave talked to it. The uncertainty with tariffs, do people feel a little bit better with 232? With some, I guess, some level of more clarity now? The emissions change.

Is there going to be any sort of meaningful pre-buy in 2026? Fortunately, we have a couple months to continue to gather data points and really try to model the top line. We'll provide our viewpoint in February of 2026.

Speaker 5

Understood. Maybe just, I guess, given the part that you have visibility into is that price, with the $450 that you did this year, the long-term agreements you have in place, and the pass-through of kind of the tariffs that have already kind of rolled through, what's kind of the price increase we should expect next year?

Speaker 6

If you go back to, you know, pre-pandemic, we would pick up 50 to 100 basis points of price. As we've got things modeled out, it's going to certainly be quite a bit higher than that.

Speaker 5

Got it. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Luke Young with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe a tricky question to answer, but I'm just wondering what your gut says in terms of how much more leeway there is in the model to maintain similar margins or at least to prevent decremental margins from getting closer. I think 60% maybe is the historical threshold. I know there are inefficiencies that were in the P&L last year because of the huge surge in production. You clearly are on the front foot in terms of taking tactical actions, plus that incremental price into next year. Just how do you think through those permutations and the level of buffer that's left in the business right now? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Luke, it's Dave. Appreciate the question there. Certainly, our approach, our history is that we focus a fair bit, as we should, on margins. I think to your question on incrementals and thinking about that, the biggest unknown for us right now as we think about the future is just what this overall demand picture is going to look like. We've made, I think, good progress on our growth initiatives. The investments have been made in terms of capacity. We'll be winding up the balance of those by the end of next year, certainly early 2027. The efforts that we've also put into resourcing as well and optimizing our footprint, again, pre the Dana acquisition. We feel very good about our ability to certainly come in within a reasonable range of maintaining margins. We will continue to size our investments and initiatives with market opportunities.

As to Fred's point, we certainly have some initiatives around price and cost line going into 2026. We'll take whatever appropriate actions there are consistent with end market conditions, which you would certainly view today in terms of North America on highway being a bit of a question mark. When you look at our business in terms of whether it's parts support equipment, et cetera, defense, off-highway relatively, I think, stabilized at a lower level right now. We feel very good about positioning overall in terms of approaching market needs. Margins are right at the top of our list in terms of focus. We continue to work through our plans and feel relatively good about what we're seeing, at least from an initial pass. We'll provide our guidance come February.

Speaker 5

Got it. Thank you very much.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Kyle David Menges with Citigroup Inc. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Good evening, guys. I understand you're not wanting to give too much guidance on 2026 yet, but I would love to hear your thoughts on what you need to see for international on-highway to hit your double-digit growth target next year. Perhaps it would be good to hear an update on how you think the Dana acquisition positions you to win in international markets. Thank you. Yep. It's Dave, Kyle. On the overall, I would say international on-highway continues to be a very significant opportunity for our team. We're actually in this time of year involved in a number of regional meetings to look at the status of our growth initiatives. I believe the team there is doing a great job identifying a number of different opportunities for us. I think our relationships are where they need to be from an OEM and release plan perspective.

There's always been a tremendous amount of opportunity out there. I think the team has become very focused on that, adjusting for some regional differences. The Japanese market last year moved around a fair bit because of emissions and safety regs and a number of things coming into the market. That's a softer market this year. We expect that certainly to improve next year. Their ability to sell into the balance of Asia and relevant markets, we're excited about. The team has done a very good job looking at applications for our product that certainly make the most sense. We sell based on value, as you know, versus cost. I think on-highway outside North America continues to be a relatively large opportunity for us with very low penetration.

As you think about what that means over the longer term, all the investments that we've made in regional production, et cetera, and the investments specifically in China now to really be able to support Asia from the Asian region is important to us. It also reduces cost in a number of other areas. I think all of that fits together. In terms of the Dana acquisition, we continue to work diligently towards closing that. We're pleased with the progress to date. As we mentioned on the calls around the announcement, as well as the August earnings call, the attributes are very attractive to us. It's an accomplished team. It's a high-quality business. It really does allow us, as a legacy Allison business, to have a global footprint that starts to address some of the macro issues that I mentioned earlier.

It's clear with tariffs and trade developments that there is much more of a focus in a number of different regions for local content. The Dana footprint certainly fits well with that overall outcome, and you could look at that across all of our end markets. For us, it's very attractive to have access to that type of footprint. It also allows us to further analyze make versus buy in a number of areas for our products as well. Ultimately, really start to leverage, although we've not quantified revenue synergies, we do have common customers in a number of different end markets, but also allowing our respective teams access to new customers, new markets. Overall, I think it's an exciting time for both respective teams, and we look forward to getting the acquisition closed and getting on with the business.

Speaker 4

Thank you. We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back to CEO Dave Graziosi for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Shamali. Thank you for your continued interest in Allison and for participating on today's call. Enjoy your evening.

Speaker 4

Thank you. This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.