The 1980s were watershed years for the division, then known as Detroit Diesel Allison. In 1987, GM renamed the company Allison Transmission Division of General Motors. In the same year, the division sold a record 73,976 automatics.

The first X1100 production unit was delivered in 1980, and by 1987 more than 5,000 were delivered. Designed for the M1 and later used in the M1A1 Abrams tank (Above Right), the four-speed X1100 (Above Left) allows the 1,500-hp turbine engine to accelerate the 65-ton tank from zero to 20 miles per hour in seven seconds. Transmission-integrated braking is equally efficient: from 40 mph in four seconds.

In the mid-1980s, Allison began the development of the World Transmission. Termed Allison's "Third Generation Automatics," the World Transmission and its innovative WT Electronic Control System offered unprecedented shift smoothness and other "bottom-line" customer benefits. The WT would begin production in 1991.