And here you are looking at all these rows of Mitsubishi L200s and... purring with pleasure. Why? That's right - because these are OUR Mitsubishi L200s!
And now let's get serious.
Machines are needed in the army, in industrial hell.
If you need to transport a small load, you don't need to drive a truck.
You need to jump into position - you don't need to drive the truck.
We need to work quickly with the ATGM - no need to drive the truck.
We need to quickly work out the fuel dispenser - no need to drive a truck.
The choice was simple...
You can look for used pickup trucks, which are becoming scarcer in Europe, bring them in, then look for spare parts and resources to buy them - this is more massive, we don't argue, but it is very problematic.
Or you can look for new cars in distributors' warehouses, gobble up discounts, bring them in, put them on the road (which is significantly different from a simple transfer), and then receive budget money for maintenance.
And we believe that the new machines are more efficient.
There is another... moral nuance. We don't want to save money on the army, but somehow, intuitively and subconsciously, we want to pamper them!
Today we have signed up for 24 new cars, and payments are already being made. Diesel, four-wheel drive, mechanics - in total, it comes to about 21,000 euros per car, we will have to logistics by car carriers, then paint and strengthen the chassis.
Price. Multiply it... yeah, we're scared. Then we divide it by two, because Petro Poroshenko pays half of it. He has already paid for it. That is, for us, the volunteer foundation, the cost of the vehicles is slightly less than 11,000 euros per unit. These are new vehicles. For 11,000 euros. Diesel engines. All-wheel drive. Brand new. Does everything look different now? The Poroshenko Foundation has paid half of it. The rest was supposed to be paid by us, but we don't have such resources yet, so we agreed on another loan.
Someday, with your help, we will collect and give it back, because we already have the experience. Someday, perhaps, the army will not need such assistance at all, and all its needs will be covered from the budget. Someday everything will be fine.
But for now... For now, we need help. No, not us. The army. They really need help.