Interview with the General Director of «Armor Group» Gusarovsky O.N.
Interview with the General Director of «Armor Group» Gusarovsky O.N.
— Oleg Nikolaevich, you head one of the largest armored vehicle manufacturing companies in Russia – Armor Group. Please tell us about the specifics of armored vehicle manufacturing and how the company managed to achieve such high performance?
— I will answer as follows: firstly, when the question of creating an enterprise for the production of armored vehicles arose, we initially decided what our status should be, what we would do and what our priorities were. I can say that from the very beginning the emphasis was placed on creating armored vehicles of a truly, dare I say it, world-class level. Armored vehicles with the most reliable protection.
Since we initially decided to produce VIP-class vehicles for persons of various levels of importance, the quality, accordingly, should be of the highest class. We decided to enter the segment of personal vehicles, not cash-in-transit vehicles.
When recruiting a team, we focused on people's hard work, their accuracy, and the recommendations they had. We have known many of our employees for a long time from working in other companies.
I can say that we managed to create an enterprise of such a level, most likely because we clearly went towards our goal. As we planned, so we did. Quality, accuracy in creating an armored car, reliability of protection, constant research in the field of armoring cars, the use of the most modern technologies — all this allowed us to reach the level at which we are now.
The Internet, the media, and various television programs that exist today give a superficial understanding of who does what, and how they do it. Plus, the Internet, television, and printed media are mostly full of loud headlines and include minor competitive wars. They are not always correct, and do not always correspond to reality. All the same, when choosing an armored car, a person still relies on the so-called «word of mouth.» He calls his friends, asks where they do it best, which company is best to contact.
«Word of mouth» works for us. People like our cars, many of those clients who believed in us at the beginning of our journey, come back to us again and again, recommending us to their friends. Their friends recommend us to their friends. This is how we grow and develop.
— Please tell us about the prospects for expansion?
— Firstly, several trade, non-production representative offices have already opened and will be opened in Russia. The plans include Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Yekaterinburg. Today, we plan to work in Ukraine and Moscow. We have our own offices in Moscow and Nalchik, and we have a partner in Dagestan.
The geography of orders is expanding accordingly, the production areas are already a little small for us, so the plans include a small increase in production areas in Nizhny Novgorod.
— The Armor Group company positions itself as a factory. Can you tell us about the advantages of factory armoring?
— We are really a factory, we cannot be called a car service, because we have an international code of the manufacturer WMI (World Manufacturer Identifier – International Identification Code of the vehicle manufacturer – editor’s note), which makes it possible to call the company a factory, to put our own VIN-code on the car. We are included in the international register of car manufacturers, therefore “Armor Group” is a factory.
We specialize, today, in the creation of armored VIP-class cars based on Toyota, Lexus, we are developing certification based on Mercedes, and we are planning to do the same for BMW, Nissan and others. But we are a completely separate enterprise that deals with post-factory armoring. What does this mean: we produce an “armored capsule”, “armored cocoon”, “armored structure” — call it whatever you like, and “implant” it into the car. In fact, no manufacturer in the world differs in the principle of armoring, everyone creates an additional armored structure, an additional body made of armor inside the standard car body. Factory armoring is the creation of this structure at the time of creating the base car, which is what Mercedes and BMW in Germany do, for example. They have their own production of armored cars, which is subordinate to the plant that produces the base chassis. When an armored Mercedes or BMW is created, the capsule is “implanted” at the assembly stage. This is factory armoring. And post-factory armoring is a process when we, the manufacturers, receive a basic vehicle, disassemble it completely and “implant” a capsule into the finished car body. All manufacturers in Russia do this. Unfortunately, we do not have a single factory armoring, not on a single chassis, not on a single car, neither Russian nor imported. All manufacturers in Russia are post-factory armoring, no matter what is written on the Internet! No matter what our clients and our partners read in the media, or watch on TV: all manufacturers of armored cars in Russia are post-factory armoring.
— You have already mentioned the quality of your products. Is this exactly how your company differs from other armorers?
— We try to patent our developments. But, it should be said that this system is not yet perfect in Russia. It should be clearly understood that a patent is a purely individual thing. For example, «Armor Group» has its own patented system of a window lift with an electric drive. But if some manufacturer looks at our design and does exactly the same, but changes the thickness of the frame, for example, or the width of the metal that we use, or something else, then it will be a different window lift. So, having patented the window lift, we will not be able to make any claims, because it differs from ours in size. Nevertheless, this is an indicator of prestige, we have our own invention, we patented it.
Probably, every manufacturer praises itself and says that its quality is the best. In my opinion, it would not be entirely correct for me to praise my own quality. But from the distinctive features of our production, I would highlight our attitude to customers. We try to treat customers not as just buyers of some product, but as real professional partners. Because people, in addition to using our product, our cars, also understand all the features. We draw many innovations, namely interesting things in the creation of armored vehicles, from communication with our customers. That is why we call them partners of «Armor Group» and treat them as partners. This is our distinctive feature.
In addition, I believe that we differ from many manufacturers in that we are very zealous about the after-sales service of our cars. This is both a warranty, which is one year with no mileage restrictions, and post-warranty service. A person buys expensive equipment, so the cars need to be serviced further. I believe that our «strong point» is precisely in supporting our client-partners during the entire period of operation of the car.
We try to make cars of the highest level, we look at manufacturers not only in Russia, but also around the world. We have partnerships, friendly relations with manufacturers from Germany, the Middle East, and America. We study their experience, communicate, discuss, give each other the opportunity to apply some of our developments. They like something from what we do, we like something from what they do. We always «keep our finger on the pulse» in what concerns the field of armored cars. The quality of our cars, the number of customers and the expansion of the company speak for themselves.