Ukrainian off-road vehicle SHERP: how a Kyiv-made machine conquered America, YouTube, and Kanye West's garage.

Monster truck competitions are quite popular in the United States. In one of these events, participants were tasked with crossing a long swamp. The course was particularly challenging, resulting in none of the vehicles completing even half of it.

Then, a person drove onto the track in a peculiar square-shaped all-terrain vehicle with enormous wheels. He easily traversed the entire distance and, on the way back, stopped in the middle of the swamp to give a ride to one of the spectators.

This daring driver was operating the Ukrainian all-terrain vehicle SHERP, and the video from that competition gathered 50 million views on YouTube.

Ukrainian vehicles have become true stars in North America. They have been featured on the automotive show Top Gear, used in videos by the most popular American blogger Mr. Beast, and were even included in the filming of a new movie starring Will Smith. Additionally, rapper Kanye West purchased 17 "Sherps" for his personal collection and for shooting music videos.

SHERPs are designed not just for the entertainment of the wealthy, but also for expeditions, infrastructure repairs in hard-to-reach areas, firefighting, rescue operations, and more. These vehicles are ordered by special services worldwide, including Ukrainian ones. They are purchased for UN humanitarian missions and border patrols.

Today, Ukrainian all-terrain vehicles are exported to 100 countries. The company has assembly plants in Turkey and India, but the main factory, design bureau, and component production remain in Ukraine. The vehicle consists of 81% domestic components, most of which are manufactured by the company itself.

Foreigners on social media initially perceived the Ukrainian "Sherps" as Russian. This is due to the vehicle's deep Russian-Ukrainian roots.

One of the company's owners, Ukrainian businessman Vladimir Shkolnik (ranked among the 100 richest people in Ukraine by Forbes), purchased the all-terrain vehicle's design from a Russian engineer back in 2012 and then significantly modified it at the design bureau in Kyiv.

Shkolnik and his business partner Sergey Samokhvalov simultaneously owned factories in both Ukraine and Russia. The swampy and forested market of the aggressor country was commercially attractive, which is why they did not part ways with their Russian factory until 2021. In a comment to EP, Samokhvalov admits that they should have exited the Russian market much earlier.

Only after the onset of the full-scale war did the Kyiv company finally revoke the production licenses in Russia. From that moment, the SHERP story became distinctly Ukrainian.

Almost Everything Ukrainian

The all-terrain vehicles are produced by the company "Quadro International" at its plant in Kyiv. The only imported components in the "Sherp" are the engine and transmission from Renault and Doosan. The rest of the components are manufactured in-house from almost scratch.

Rusty metal blanks first undergo chemical quality control for compliance with standards. They are then cut, pressed, bent, turned, polished, welded, and transformed into shiny new automotive parts, which are supplied back to the same factory or exported to assembly plants in India and Turkey.

The large wheels are the "trademark" of this vehicle, making it so passable. The rims for them are also produced in one of the workshops, while the special "floating" tires with ribbed tread are made by a contractor from Bila Tserkva.

The all-terrain vehicle is equipped with a tire inflation system that allows for adjusting tire pressure at any moment, increasing the contact area with the surface. Additionally, the vehicle can transfer air under pressure from one tire to another, which helps with cushioning during difficult obstacles and enhances passability.

The vehicle's design is essentially based on a boat, as the "Sherp" must be able to float. When the all-terrain vehicle enters the water, it continues to move at a speed of 6 km/h. The capsule is completely airtight, but in case of emergencies, there is a water drainage system.

Fuel consumption is measured in hours. The vehicle consumes 5-6 liters of diesel per hour, and the total fuel tank capacity is 315 liters. Therefore, the maximum range is over 55 hours of continuous driving.

The Ukrainian factory produces about 20 vehicles per month. Each one undergoes testing in swampy and forested areas near the Dnieper River.

The company is constantly working on automating production to maintain part repeatability and reduce manual labor. Over the last few years, they have managed to modernize up to 40% of the machinery.

The manufacturer has moved beyond selling just one universal product and is now creating various niche modifications of the vehicle to meet customer needs.

For instance, the fire-fighting "Sherp" features water delivery systems, tire cooling, emergency communication, a tool trailer, while the medical version includes additional batteries inside and increased cabin space. The Ark 3400 is a six-wheeled trailer designed for transporting tanks, cargo, passengers, sleeping places, or medical modules.

Currently, the design bureau continues its developments. Among the new models is an all-terrain vehicle with an electric motor, six wheels, steering, increased comfort, and a remote-controlled platform, among others.

Russian Past

The first prototype of the all-terrain vehicle was created by Russian engineer Alexey Garagashyan, who was known to Ukrainian businessmen Vladimir Shkolnik and Sergey Samokhvalov. The vehicle was called "Cheburator".

"It was like a trash can on four wheels. It didn't look very impressive, and we didn't operate it for some time. (...) The all-terrain vehicle kept breaking down, but how it drove changed our perception of passability," - recalled one of the company's owners, Sergey Samokhvalov, in a comment to BBC.

In 2012, Shkolnik, who had a passion for expeditions in all-terrain vehicles, saw commercial potential in this design and purchased the technology from Garagashyan. It was then refined into a ready product at the design bureau in Kyiv. Therefore, it was in Ukraine that the "Cheburator" transformed into the "Sherp." The Russian designer declined to move to Kyiv.

"For a while, we collaborated with Garagashyan, but a few years ago, our paths diverged. We significantly modernized Alexey's ideas, created a vehicle for the market, improved consumer properties, fundamentally changed the technologies, and today's Sherp bears little resemblance to the first prototype. About 80% of what we produce today is our own developments, in which Alexey does not participate," - wrote Shkolnik in a comment to his interview with Big Money in 2020.

At the same time, Shkolnik established a business in Russia since the terrain features opened limitless opportunities for selling these all-terrain vehicles in the local market. Legally, the Russian and Ukrainian firms existed independently; in reality, they had the same owners.