Leading South African Luxury Armoured Car builder Armormax are now recognised as a Qualified Vehicle Modifier (QVM) by Ford Motor Company South Africa. The QVM program is a global standards recognition structure that intends to gauge the ability of a final stage manufacturer to produce a consistent quality level throughout the product line, through control over the engineering, fabrication and vehicle delivery processes. The process of assessment is similar in some respects to the ISO 9001 Quality Management program that Armormax has also been certified for in the past.
Marketing Manager Michael Broom explains “Ford SA approached us in the beginning of the year to take part in the QVM program, at the request of their Government and Fleet Sales department. It was rather serendipitous in fact as we had already armoured several units of the new Ranger and Everest models for some of our existing clients. We found that since the launch of these two models, many of our existing clients that had owned vehicles from premium manufacturers were now purchasing these vehicles for business and private use. We feel that’s a testament to just how good a vehicle the Ranger and Everest are.”
In March this year, Armormax were awarded the QVM status by Ford SA shortly after delivering their 3rd Everest model armoured to B4 specification. Since the launch of the new Ranger, Armormax had built several examples in both B4 and B6 guise. Their approach to vehicle armouring of using the lightest, highest grade ballistic materials available globally means that even the B6 package on the Ranger is only fractionally heavier than B4 packages offered by the competition. This means that the vehicle owner still has much of the maximum permissible weight at their disposal to carry loads without the need for altered suspensions or braking systems.
The company concludes “We are very pleased to be part of the QVM program and be able to offer customers our solution with the added peace of mind of a warranty and service plan that is unaffected. You can order your Armormax package through any one of the dealers or come to us directly. Together with Ford SA, we have a sound strategy to work together to introduce ourselves to Ford customers and dealers, and provide them with a refreshing level of quality and service from the top drawer.”