Are you looking for the right Japanese UTV manufacturers with a global presence? If yes, please spend some time going through this article.
We will have a look at a few of the brands that are either fully Japanese or have components made from Japan.
There is no doubt that there is a big and growing demand for UTVs. UTVs actually stand for Utility Terrain Vehicle and there are others who would like to call them as Utility Task Vehicle or Side by Sides.
Table of Contents
UTVs from Japan
These vehicles are designed to perform better when compared to ordinary vehicles and have some interesting and exciting to offer.
In this article we will be looking at a few of the major UTVs that are from the stables of any good manufacturer from Japan.
The brand names that we are sharing here may or may not have everything manufactured in Japan. But certainly there will be significant parts that are made in Japan and therefore it may not be entirely wrong to call them as Japanese brands of UTV Vehicles.
Honda
There is no denying the fact that Honda is one of the most well known and respected brands in Japan. They manufacture thousands of vehicles, bikes and other such items.
They are also reasonably well known when it comes to making some of the best UTVs. Some of the best UTV facilities of Honda are in the USA and a few other countries of the world.
The engines and other important parts are manufactured at Honda’s facilities in Japan. In fact, it may not be out of place to mention here that most of the UTV assembled in the United States facilities of Honda in the USA have a significant number of parts coming from Japan. Hence, it would not be wrong to call these manufacturing facilities in the USA as Japanese.
Because of the increasing demand, Honda has come up with quite a few manufacturing and assembling units in the USA.
Yamaha
Yamaha for all we know is a big name and they are well and truly a transnational company. They manufacture different types of vehicles including UTVs.
The company has its own manufacturing units in Japan and quite a few of them are also in other countries like the USA. A few of the UTV manufacturing units of Yamaha are located in the USA.
The spare parts, the main engines and other important accessories, technology and expertise are from Japan. Hence, for all practical purposes, it would be better to call them as American arm of Japanese UTV manufacturing units.
Kawasaki
Kawasaki continues to be one of the best known names as far as bikes, two-wheeler, SUVs and big sized vehicles are concerned. They are also known for being instrumental in coming out with some of the best designs and makes of UTV.
Though Kawasaki started off the manufacture of UTVs in Japan, over the past few decades they have shifted their manufacturing units in many countries including the USA.
This is because of better technology and better working conditions. They also have been able to develop UTVs that are America-specific taking into account the weather, the topography and special needs and requirements of the local people here.
They also have UTV manufacturing facilities in many other countries of the world including a few in the European Union, Asia, Australia and a few countries of Africa.
However, it would be pertinent to mention here that most of the technology and also important accessories like the engine, gears and other such things are made in Japan only to be assembled in the countries where Kawasaki has manufacturing units or more appropriately assembling units.
Suzuki
Suzuki is another famous, time tested and well known name that makes different types of vehicles including some of the best UTVs.
While Suzuki does have a big manufacturing unit for UTVs in Japan, it has set up manufacturing units across many countries including the USA. Over the years, the USA has turned out to be a major market for manufacture of Suzuki UTVs.
The UTVs are manufactured and many of them are assembled in companies that are mostly owned by entrepreneurs from the USA. In many cases, Suzuki has a minority stake in such companies.
Engines, tires, gears, lamps, braking systems and other such important accessories that are manufactured mostly in Japan and they are assembled in the USA.
Kymco
Though Kymco is basically a Taiwanese company operating in the USA, it would be pertinent to mention here that Kymco was originally a part of the Japanese giant Honda.
Though Kymco has severed its ties with Honda long time back, the technology of Honda that was used in the making of UTVs still continues to be in existence. The manufacturing facilities in the USA of Kymco use mostly indigenous methods of manufacturing, but there are some crucial technologies that are from Honda.
Though the reports are no confirmed reports, the engine is based on the old technology of Honda.
Kubota
Kubota a Japanese company that is popular for manufacturing different types of heavy duty equipment and this includes tractors and UTVs.
The company was founded in 1980 and over the years it has become one of the largest manufacturers of heavy duty machines including UTVs.
The company entered the US market long back and has been supplying engines for heavy duty machines and UTVs that are made in the USA.
The side-by-side products that are manufactured in the USA have many components that are from Kubota Japan.
Other brands with connections to Japan
A lot other of the UTV manufacturers have parts made in Japan, or other connections to the country.
Arctic Cat
There are reasons to believe that Arctic Cat is a big name when it comes to making some of the best known and best selling UTVs in the USA.
They have manufacturing units in many places in the USA and a major portion of the accessories and parts required for making the UTVs are from the USA.
However we need to bear in mind that Suzuki has been supplying engines for the various Arctic Cat UTVs. This has been happening since 1976. It would also be pertinent to mention here that Kawasaki had obtained 33% stake in Arctic in June 1988.
Arctic however, has ended its relationship with Suzuki in 2011 and bought back the shares that it had sold to Suzuki. Arctic is now a 100% American Company but it does procure some accessories and parts from Japan.
Intimidator
Though this is considered to be a complete American company, it may not be wrong to say that it has some Japanese connections.
The design and specifications are totally from the United States, there are a few spare parts and engineering support that may still be coming from Japan. But in terms of indigenous making of UTVs, it is almost 100% except for some spare parts from Japan and a few countries, including China.
Club Car
Club car is an old company that was founded in the year 1958. It is an American Company. It is today the largest maker of gas and electric powered vehicles in the country. The company even manufactures many different models of UTVs and it would be pertinent to mention here that the manufacturer makes use of Kawasaki machines. The motors were large sized with 9HP capacity. However, they have moved over to smaller engines but there still exists a Japanese connection as far as the engines and a few other accessories are concerned.
ODES UTVs
Though the company is a late entrant into the UTV market, they have been able to make an impression. There is no doubt that they are an American company but they do procure quite a few parts and accessories from other countries. Therefore, it is quite obvious that that UTVs originating from the stables of ODES have accessories from Japan.
They believe in integration of the best world technology and this perhaps explains the reason why they have many spares and accessories coming from Japan for manufacture of their UTVs.
Why Japan is important for UTV manufacturing?
While there is no doubt that the USA and a few other countries make some of the best UTVs in the world, they have to depend on some countries like Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea for procuring certain parts and accessories.
You might also like our articles American Made UTVs and Chinese made Side by Sides.
While the endeavor of all US companies is to make the UTVs as indigenous as possible, the role of Japanese engines still continues to be extremely important. This is because of the expertise that Japan has in this field and also because they are able to offer these products at the possible rates.
Conclusion
The above may have helped our readers to have some reasonably good insight into some of the biggest manufacturers of UTVs in the USA who have to depend on Japanese accessories, engines and other spare parts.
There are hardly any UTV manufacturers in the world who make everything from scratch in their own country, however much they would like to be indigenous in their approach.
Some Japanese connection has to be there because of some obvious and unavoidable reasons. Apart from the USA, there are other countries that make different types of UTVs for different conditions. The countries are China, France, the United Kingdom, Korea, Taiwan, India and also some other countries like Australia, South Africa and a few other countries in South East Asia.