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XY Powersports brings low-cost UTVs to the market

Company serves as U.S. subsidiary of Chinese firm

Steve Claybourn knows there is a negative stigma surrounding imported vehicles from China, but that’s something he hopes to change in his role as president of XY Powersports.

With an extensive background in importing from China, Claybourn has seen what works and what doesn’t for the American market and is determined to provide a quality product at a lower cost.

Cincinnati-based XY Powersports, which distributes UTVs exclusively, started operations on Jan. 1, 2010, after about four years of research and preparation on Claybourn’s part.

“The focus was on reliability, quality and obviously the price advantage was important, but I didn’t want to buy the cheapest thing out there,” Claybourn said. “Reliability and support from the factory was really the most important thing.”

As the business model developed, an opportunity presented itself with a Chinese company looking to open a U.S. subsidiary. Claybourn had found the ideal match.

“We’ve been pursuing to scale the business up to a reasonable level and that’s been harder than we expected, partly due to the stigma with China product and partly due to the economy,” Claybourn said.

“This year we’re on track to surpass $3 million in sales. We went from bare walls to where we are today in two years. I think that that’s a far cry from where we want to go, but it’s a pretty good progress path considering the challenges.”

Claybourn feels that the negative reputation connected to Chinese products has just as much to do with who is importing them to the United States.

“Little by little, we’re overcoming the China stigma,” he said. “The importers in America are the ones that should take as much credit for the bad rap that China gets. They specify what they want, which has been historically focused on price. A lot of those companies have come and gone.”

XY Powersports brings a focus on quality, and its staff has a long history of selling Chinese products, according to Claybourn.

The XY 1100UEL has a 1089cc EFI, liquid-cooled engine and electronic power steering.

“Our reputation and the fact that our team has combined about 60 years of experience in selling Chinese product into the domestic market is substantial,” he said. “We don’t see the need to mislead dealers to do business. We have to sell a serviceable product. We have to stand behind the product.”

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“We have been steadily improving our quality, to the point where the 2012 product, we really don’t get that many warranty claims,” Claybourn said. “We’ve had only about 25 percent of the warranty claims that we had in 2011. That’s a huge improvement. That’s the benefit we have because we’re vertically integrated with the factory. We’re one of only a couple of companies that can say that.”

Claybourn said there is a clear benefit to carrying XY’s UTVs for dealers.

“The major brands will sell to about 20 percent of the people that come into their store shopping for a particular product,” he explained. “That leaves 80 percent of the market out there shopping for a used product or some other product. We see our opportunity in that 80 percent that leaves without paying the price for that major brand of product.”

Claybourn said that XY’s products are about 30 percent less than the price of major brands.

The Big Iron side-by-side from XY Powersports sports a 493cc 4-stroke engine that generates 33hp.

“To put it in numbers, if a major-branded unit is $12,000, we are going to be $3,000 to $4,000 below that for a comparably-equipped product. That’s substantial upside for the dealer. What the dealer can realize in real numbers is a 40-50 percent incremental profit made by carrying a product like ours. That’s annual.”

Claybourn said dealers can expect 20-30 percent profit margins on XY products, and the company works with all types of dealers, from multi-line franchise dealerships to independents.

“Dealers don’t have to resort to discounting because we don’t really have any competition. They can sell it at full margin and make substantial money on our product,” he said.

The other advantage XY’s machines have over the competition is that, even with the lower cost, they have features like windshields, alloy wheels, winches and a powered lift dump bed that come standard with the vehicle, as opposed to being available as upgrades, Claybourn said.

XY ships all of its products, including a full inventory of parts, out of its 250,000 square-foot warehouse in Cincinnati.

 

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14 Comments

  1. I may be interested in a Big Iron side by side. Is there a windshield and canvas cab enclosure, available for this model? Do you sell local direct. I live about 10 to 15 miles from your address. (mason Oh.)
    thank you.

  2. i am interested in the iron side utv. can you give more information about it such as warranty,accessories,shipping to marion il and of course the price

  3. We purchased the Big Iron in February of 2013. The equipment was very hard to get going, you had to push the gas peddle almost to the floor to get it going. Had the equipment for 8 months and the piece of equipment wouldn’t even run. Called the dealer, he said it was because we didn’t have any oil in the motor. We checked the oil there was oil on the dip stick, we checked that a few times before the problem became extreme. The oil was not the problem, but we now have a piece of equipment that we have to pay 4 more years of payments on, and it doesn’t run. The company in Ohio also accepted the dealers excuse as a reason to make our warrenty void.
    I would not recommend this piece of equipment to anyone, because if something does happen to it, you will be paying for it to be fixed out of your pocket. Thank you Power sport for the great experience we have had with you. What you do unto others, others will do unto you.
    Ivan Robinson

  4. I purchased a 2012 XY Poweraport 500 UE brand new in Aug 2013. The dealership where I bought it no longer sells these UTV ‘s.–Bill McCandless Ford in Mercer Pa. 16137
    I need a battery for mine and have looked all over and can’t find one. The dealership ‘s service department simply told me that they haven’t been able to get parts for 2 years.
    My UTV has less than 50 miles on it . I would like to get some use out of it but since the battery needs to be replaced –I can’t even start it.
    Can you please help me.
    Beverly Thompson
    89 Lytle School Road
    Sandy Lake Pa
    16145

    1. You may be able to find an equivalent battery at:
      http://www.batterysharks.com

      Just ordered one for one of my buggies & it fit/functioned perfectly at a fraction of the retail price!

      Just punch in the basic battery code to see if they have anything that crosses over.

    1. Please email me….I had difficulties in obtaining a camshaft and went directly to the factory in China. They require wiring them the money before they will ship. Please email me and I can give you contacts.

  5. I just got the 2015 Vaterra 1100. Great machine however the gas cap is damn near impossible to take off and put in!!! I emailed XY on this and they replied that they do have one that works. They quoted me $120 to shop me one!!! I hope to God this is not a window into the future with this machine and company! If you have an alternative please email me any ideas.

  6. Product and company is horrible. I purchased. Titan EUTV, the guy that imports them went out of business and refuses to be kind enough to reply to emails which I know he’s getting. Company who makes the car is http://www.xyvehicle.com and they too suck, they don’t speak English, you can’t leave a message and they don’t reply to emails. My advice to everyone, you get what you pay for. Stick with Polaris, Honda, John Deere, etc..names and brands you know.

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