The reinforced transmission will be available for order in May in Volvo VHD vocational models, the OEM said March 18, and is designed for on- and off-road work in construction and other applications requiring frequent shifting.

“With this new rugged Volvo I-Shift, we now offer the efficiency and productivity benefits of our automated manual transmission and integrated powertrain to customers operating in tough vocational applications while providing improved uptime and longer component life,” said Goran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks in North America.

Volvo introduced its integrated automated manual transmission to the North American market in 2007, and the company said a record 75% of its trucks sold last year were spec’d with an I-Shift transmission.

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