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What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

TORSUS builds heavy-duty off-road 4×4 buses

Please introduce yourself and the Startup TORSUS to our readers! 

I’m Vakhtang Dzhukashvili, CEO of PULSAR EXPO s.r.o. that owns the TORSUS brand. TORSUS was created to make vehicles that can cope with the world’s toughest jobs and are designed to be unstoppable. TORSUS gives people and industries a bit more freedom in actions that could never be done otherwise. 

Why did you decide to start a business? 

My partner, Yulia Khomych, and I felt that we were limited in our positions at our previous workplaces. And, to run your own business, the only limit is yourself. You can get as much out of it as you wish, and 

you can take out as much as you put in, but when you’re at the top, the highs can be extreme as the lows. So, you can be the owner of your life and everything depends on your own decisions. We love such control and extremes. As well as personal freedom extremely important for us. We can say that freedom – is our religion. 

What is the vision behind TORSUS? 

We want to be remembered as trailblazers and leave our legacy in the automotive world. And for sure, it is not a charity, so we want earn money from what we do.

From the idea to the start what have been the biggest challenges so far and how did you finance yourself? 

Building a prototype was easy because the idea was flying around my head very clearly. However, the real challenge was to shift from prototype to mass production. It changes everything. The product, company, team, partners and literary changes and improves, and it is – I can say – extremely challenging. We don’t speak about finances, as it is confidential information, but what I would say that our company has been operating for many years in the automotive business and we have other successful business activities that have helped to finance the TORSUS project in general. And our core consists of extremely productive people, and they’re all fanatics of TORSUS, which helps us to have lean cost of development.

Who is the target group of TORSUS? 

TORSUS has a variety of target groups, as we are able to build vehicles to suit different industries. These include:

  • Heavy Industries – Oil and Gas, Mining, Maintenance of Infrastructure;
  • Law Enforcement and Military Engineering – Police, SWAT, National Guards, Boarder Guards, Land Forces;
  • Healthcare and Emergency Relief – Rescue, Evacuations, MEDIVAC, remote arias medical support; 
  • Tourism – Outdoor tourism, Rafting, Mountain Sports, Safaris, National Park excursions, etc.;  
  • Personal Tourism – Campers, Recreational Vehicles; 
  • Agriculture – Field laboratories, Mobile repair units, etc.;
  • And many others. 

How do TORSUS work? 

TORSUS builds heavy-duty off-road 4×4 buses, meaning all components (suspension, interior, exterior, electronics, protection) works as one organism, in harmony. 

What are the advantages? 

The main advantage, and by far the most important advantage in this vehicle, is that it all works around the people inside. The suspension is soft and super capable, but it is supported with a comfortable interior and high comfort seats, alongside five-point seatbelts, individual air conditioning and roll-over protection. For sure, these vehicles have been designed with the users in mind and has been so outstandingly designed that we have won both the Red Dot Design Award and German Design Awards this year. 

What makes you different from other providers? 

When we started TORSUS, we wanted to fill a gap in the market by producing the greatest heavy-duty 4×4 buses. Up until now, we struggled to find an off-roader that was capable of doing anything we required it to but was also versatile and durable. By creating our own, we were able to use the best tools, equipment, suppliers and people to create the ultimate 4×4 off-roader, which could conquer anything in its path.  

TORSUS builds heavy-duty off-road 4x4 buses

How has your company changed with Corona? How did you adjust to it and what changes have you made?

It didn’t change. We are proud that we didn’t release any single member of the team due to Corona. At first, when lockdown happened for us, we used this to change the focus to some engineering and internal company improvement tasks. We are now implementing what we have updated and it’s going very well so far. I would be liar if I said that we don’t expect there to be an impact on sales or any problems in the supply chain, but we try to diversify risks with increasing the number of industries we work with and entering our vehicles into new countries.

Our adopted slogan is that less sales in units in one industry or marker, but more industries and more markets gained globally. In any case, we hope that there won’t be a lockdown for much longer, as a broken supply chain was the main challenge for us, but of course we want people to be safe and healthy. And we hope that each individual realises the problem we are all facing and will do everything they can to prevent the spread of COVID-19, or any other disease. Not everything, but a lot is in our hands and we all need to take responsibility. 

Where do you see the opportunity in the crisis?

That you need to hustle harder to find new sales, new ideas, new contacts and deliver even better than before in order to retain old clients, so they see your reliability and load you with more business. It helps you to survive and after the crisis you will run faster while others will need to start from a much lower speed. Fingers crossed for the release of vaccine soon!  

TORSUS, where does the road go?

To global presence in all industries that require a 4×4 off-road heavy-duty vehicle, and even in industries that don’t need a 4×4, but want one to be on the safe side. 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

We hope to be a mass production automotive company that builds well balanced vehicles from a practical and emotional side. We also want to still be free to continue creating history and building an automotive legacy for TORSUS. 

At the end: Which 3 tips would you give to future founders? 

  • What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger 
  • Just brains and skills are not enough – you need to hustle hard 
  • Collaborate with other people, but always rely on your own, or at least have a plan B, C, D at the very start.

More information you will find here

Thank you for Vakhtang Dzhukashvili the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

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