MotoSport Alloys, EFX Tires benefitting from brand recognition

MotoSport Alloys planning to increase lineup in 2013

In the eight years since its founding, MotoSport Alloys has grown from a small wheel company known primarily for its styling to a niche tire and wheel company now recognized for its quality.

MotoSport Alloys, along with its EFX Tires and Fairway Alloys brands, has hit its stride and shows no signs of turning back.

Since its 2005 founding by Ben Johnson, the company has focused on improving and releasing a few new patterns and styles each year. But as demand for MotoSport Alloys and EFX Tires’ products increases, so have the number of new items coming out. The company plans to launch six to eight new designs over the next six months, a testament to its commitment to the industry.

MotoSport Alloys and EFX Tires’ greatest success stories have come from niche markets. To reach those customers, EFX has recently introduced a mud tire and its first radial DOT tire.

“We’ve grown into different segments, smaller segments that are more niche,” marketing director Brandon Brouillette said. “As the industry continues to grow, it’s important for companies like us to find those niches.”

But MotoSport Alloys also knows where the bread and butter of the industry lies — in side-by-sides. Fortunately for the company, it broke into that segment quickly.

“The whole ATV industry — when we started back in 2005, it was all ATVs, and all that was out there [for UTVs] was Rhinos. We saw that really take off, so we jumped on that early,” Brouillette said. “Since then, it’s occupied way over half of what we do. Polaris, in general, has been a really big success story, and we carry tons of stuff that fits their products.”

He credits the side-by-side OEMs for the side-by-side portion of the company’s success, as the manufacturers are coming out with fresh product that brings enough excitement to create buzz. The trend the industry has seen with customers accessorizing their UTVs with everything from light bars to sound systems to, of course, quality tires and stylish wheels, has been a huge benefit to MotoSport Alloys.

While producing products for side-by-sides, the company also makes sure to remember its roots, which lie in ATV. MotoSport Alloys has to strike a balance between providing new product for the ATV customer, while not overstocking those items as new unit sales dwindle.

“We can’t be everything to everyone but we still make sure we offer products to our loyal ATV customers,” Brouillette said.

MotoSport Alloys makes wheels that fit a majority of ATVs and side-by-sides dating from 1995 to present. The fitments are focused on the primary manufacturers, but spacers and adaptors are available to offer solutions for nearly any recent model.

Reaching those previous-year ATVs and side-by-sides has proven fruitful for MotoSport Alloys, as it has seen a growing number of
customers wanting to refresh their current units, rather than forking up the cash for a new one.

“I think what people are realizing is that although they can’t go out and buy the new machine … they are able to take a machine that might be 1-10 years old and spend just a little bit of money and feel good about it,” Brouillette said.

To demonstrate that effect, MotoSport Alloys recently teamed with other industry companies to create a completely accessorized RZR that started as a stock machine and grew into something special using only bolt-on accessories.

“You can take a vehicle and with just a couple thousand dollars, you can trick it out and make it look unbelievable,” Brouillette said.
What MotoSport Alloys does to be successful is it goes beyond the standard 14-inch wheel with the standard back spacer offset to bring something more to the table. The company uses automotive-grade finishes and paints in its wheels. Those finishes are one of the top draws for the company, and it’s experimenting with more. A bronze offering is growing popular, and a dark tint is currently in the works. In addition, the caps on the wheels and the stars on some of them can be hand-picked.

“You can literally match your wheel without having to paint it yourself and have it match perfect,” Brouillette said.

Each product is designed at MotoSport Alloys’ Colorado headquarters. It’s then engineered and impact- and quality-tested by the manufacturer before the crew at MotoSport Alloys takes it for a spin. Being based about an hour away from Moab, Utah, offers employees ample space and terrain to test product.

“We can take off and just put these things through unbelievable stress to make sure they’re perfect,” Brouillette explained.

MotoSport Alloys is so confident in its wheels that it offers a lifetime structural warranty and a one-year finish warranty on each. The warranty just made sense, Brouillette said, as the company wanted to hold its quality to high standards, so its customers didn’t get stuck on the trail with in operable machines.

“These are products that are meant to be used, and we wanted people to feel like they could push their machine to do what the machine is meant to do, and if they swapped out their factory product for our product, we wanted them to be able to trust that,” he explained. “If you bend break or crack a wheel at any given time, it doesn’t matter how old that is, we will replace it, no questions asked.”

What keeps the company innovating it is youthful culture. Johnson is only 35 years old, and many of his employees are in the same age bracket.

“The whole company core is really, really young and fun, and we have lots of energy,” Brouillette said, adding that the employees’ excitement helps the company run with a youthful mentality.

But that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have its serious side as well. The EFX brand is evidence of that. MotoSport Alloys added the tire brand because it made sense that if its customers were going to buy wheels, they’d need tires to put on those wheels. The brand has now grown to have equal footing as MotoSport Alloys’ wheels.

“They’ve both grown,” Brouillette reported. “Now we’re selling tires to go on our competitors’ product. We don’t have to rely on one product line to be successful. …  MotoSport Alloys is still our most recognized company, but EFX Tires has come a long way.”

Both lines are delivered dealer-direct as MotoSport Alloys believes the best way to buy its products is in person.

“A lot of products, especially in this industry, it’s nice to be able to touch and feel them, and the best way to do that is to go down and talk to your local dealer,” Brouillette said.

The company relies heavily on its dealers, not only for selling product, but for contributing to the lines.

“We still believe in that one-on-one conversation with our dealers. We like to have feedback from our dealers. In fact, some of the products we offer today come directly from feedback from our dealers,” Brouillette said.

As the company grows, it also continues to innovate. In addition to the products expected to be released later this year, MotoSport Alloys and EFX Tires are already working on models for 2014.

“Our company is just continuously changing and trying to come up with the next big thing, and I think that’s going to allow us to have a lot of success in 2013 and going into 2014,” Brouillette said.