New Chinese powerhouse plans global domination covering all market segments, with new motocrosser announced
A year ago, few people had even heard of ZXMOTO, the latest venture of Zhang Xue, founder and former CEO of Chinese motorcycle brand Kove. Like Kove, which garnered international attention after its successful debut at the Dakar Rally, ZXMoto is proving itself the old-fashioned way, by going racing. And on the world stage, no less. Earlier this year, ZXMoto became the first Chinese company to take wins in the FIM WorldSSP Championship. Now, it is branching into the off-road world, after launching several road models, with a new 250cc motocrosser.
In case you missed it, when ZXMOTO entered its 820RR-R three-cylinder sportsbike in the WorldSSP championship this year –making it the first Chinese brand to be represented in the series – expectations were muted. So when French rider Valentin Debise took victory in Race 1 of the Portuguese round at the end of March, it raised eyebrows. They rose even higher when he won Race 2 at the same event. Following his double victory, Debise took a third win in Race 1 of the Hungarian round at the start of May. At that point in the series, Debise had more wins than any other rider, earning him third in the overall standings. For an unproven motorcycle from a brand-new manufacturer, it was a significant achievement.
Now ZXMoto is launching its first motocross bike, the MX250. Although the MX250 was shown at last year’s EICMA event, along with a bigger MX450 model, few details were released at the time. Now, the company has announced its full specifications and revealed its price in its home market of China, where it’s around half as expensive as a four-stroke 250 motocrosser from established brands.
Motorcycling history is filled with stories of upstarts and underdogs. In those stories, often there’s a single visionary at the helm who found the field of competition the best place to develop his products and prove them to a world waiting for them to fail. While the Chinese motorcycle industry has advanced at an impressive rate, it wasn’t really until Zhang Xue entered Kove into the Dakar Rally and pitted his ZXMOTO racer against the best supersports in the world, that it gave us such a story. With a ZXMoto off-roader, how will the next chapter unfold?
