Hawke’s Bay is the home of SUSD, a company making a big name for itself in dedicated protection equipment for 4WDs. Story by Mark Baker Photo courtesy SUSD

Owners of premium VW four-wheel-drives are heading for the sunny Hawke’s Bay in numbers, and it’s not for the sun or the music. Well, not exclusively anyway.

Established in 2013, Brent Currie’s SUSD companies began as a manufacturer and supplier of suspension gear for the Amarok and other VW four-wheel-drives. Their flagship was the development of a proprietary Suspension Levelling Kit.

It’s all very international - Australia is currently the company’s biggest market, with Europe following close behind and growing fast.

Three parts

Today the business has three divisions:

-           the suspension manufacturing and exports division known as SUSD Suspension

-           the import and distribution branch which distributes AFN, Bilstein, and other reputable brands nationwide and is known as AFN 4x4 NZ

-           and lastly the engine performance division that carries out ECU remapping and installation of intercoolers and exhausts, CRD Tech NZ.

The company also kits-out utes in their workshop, mostly for forestry and recreational purposes.

The business is the result of Brent’s ‘nose for a niche’ after finding there was little available to toughen up VW’s award winning double-cab ute, improving looks and off-road performance. This is coupled with strong demand from the forestry sector particularly in the Hawke’s Bay and East Cape who're choosing the Amarok V6 TDi for its powerful engine and full-time 4WD. The company produces both lifting and lowering packages for the VW Amarok along with a wide range of other suspension components including brands like Bilstein.

More please!

“Now, local demand is also building. People love the Amarok for its sheer grunt but eventually you end up wanting more and looking to tailor your vehicle to your lifestyle.”

The company supplies more than just suspension to local VW enthusiasts. Exhausts, stainless steel snorkels, intercoolers, EGR & DPF delete solutions, and custom engine ECU re-maps are on offer.

“Being specialists in the VW gear we've developed our own maps for both power and torque while keeping heat in check for towing and other heavy use,” said Brent.

The typical upgrade results in a pretty quick truck with 0-100 km/h in under six seconds.

”One customer told me his V6 is as quick now towing his loaded tandem trailer as it was without a trailer before"  A true 'diesel head', Brent says "there's nothing quite like the bark of the V6 diesel at full throttle with a 3" turbo back no-muffler system."

Enter AFN

A search for good looking protection gear yielded the name of a Portuguese company, AFN, which has an extensive client list in the military. The ‘civvy’ products have been available in Australia now for around five years through a company SUSD works closely with.

“These guys are at the premium end so they aren’t the cheapest on the market. That means we don't do many ‘mall crawlers’, but their designs are tough, functional and the quality and standard of workmanship is superb.”

The company wanted a front bar that would provide protection and practicality and also complement the front end styling of the Amarok.

“We also wanted to preserve the approach angle to maintain the standard vehicle’s excellent off-road driving performance. AFN’s version is tucked nicely into the front of the truck – out of the way but there when you need it,” he said.

SUSD tried out the key major-brand bars before finding and working with AFN.

"We found AFN's design offered a number of superior features as standard. For example pull-rated recovery points which are a basic necessity that even the most expensive rival brands lacked. We also found the chassis attachment design to be superior."

No cutting required

Handiest of all, the AFN front bar replaces the whole front bumper meaning there is no cutting required and the front end can be returned to stock when it is time to on-sell the truck. AFN also makes underbody protection, side rails/steps and rear bumper units.

“We can still of course find the other bars for customers if they really want them.”

SUSD stocks and distributes the AFN 4X4 products nationwide for Toyota’s Hilux, the Nissan Navara, Isuzu’s D-Max and the Ford Ranger along with side and rear protection for these hard-working utes.

All bar products have been tested by the ADR and are certified compliant for use with airbags. They're available in both loop and loopless version, “and we believe they're the best looking looped bars available on the market.”

Full build service

“And of course we can also do whole vehicle builds that result in some very distinctive trucks.”

A suspension upgrade is generally turned around in a day, though the more ambitious builds can take a week or more.”

The team at SUSD are always on the hunt for new dealers for the AFN product range and have mostly worked with the car dealerships around the country but welcome enquiry from 4WD centres looking for a better looking, more functional range of bullbars.

For more information visit their Facebook pages or websites www.susd.co.nz, www.afnbars.co.nz, www.crdtech.co.nz for more info or subscribe for their latest releases

To read the full story in the March 2019 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (February 18) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.