June 27, 2000 Winning Trailers

Volume 3 | Issue 4

Exiss is one of the fastest growing producers of aluminum transport products in North America.

For a quarter of a century, Exiss Aluminum Trailers, Inc., has been able to say, “Look no further” to those seeking a high-quality, affordable trailer. Whether you’re looking to carry horses, livestock or cargo, or whether you need a living-quarters or sport-utility trailer, this El Reno, Okla.-based manufacturer has a trailer that’s well built and structurally sound, and that was made with the most pinpoint attention to detail.Exiss boasts one of the highest quality-to-price ratios in the trailer industry. “On some models,” says the company, “there’s a 15 to 20 percent gap between us and the competition.” But Exiss trailers also please the eye as well as the pocketbook. “We have spent many years designing Exiss trailers so that they’re unsurpassed in looks, as well as structural integrity.”
To enhance the trailers’ looks, and their quality, Exiss eliminated many of the exposed welds and replaced them with high-technology fasteners. “This not only makes Exiss trailers stronger, it also eliminates many exposed welds on the trailer for a more attractive finish,” says the company.

Horse of a Different Color

In horse trailers, Exiss offers both bumper-pull and gooseneck straight-load products. On its Web site, www.exiss.com, you can even create your own customized slant-load horse trailer by following a two-step process: First, you choose an exterior style that can be either extruded or smooth-skin; second, you click on the size you want from two-horse to six-horse.

One of the company’s highest-profile product lines in horse trailers is the Event program. Advertised by Exiss as “a technological breakthrough,” Event models offer many standard design features seen on more expensive trailers, but maintain the inexpensive price structure for which Exiss is justly celebrated. Among these features are rear doors made to 2-inch thickness, completely lined and insulated interior side walls, collapsible/removable rear tack wall, corrugated extruded aluminum floor with 4-inch-thick aluminum I-beams, removable saddle rack and standard radial tires.
“The innovative marketing program and inexpensive price structure make the Event trailers the only aluminum trailers in the entire industry that are produced with the utmost attention to detail, quality and structural integrity and sold at prices the aluminum and steel trailer industry has never before imagined,” Exiss states.

Recently, the company extended the Event program to include living-quarters models and gooseneck models. The company is marketing these additional products along the same lines as the horse trailers: structural soundness, affordable price.

Racing Ahead

Also part of the Event family is the Car Transport, whose quality points include manufacturing applications present on over-the-road trailers. The Car Transport, which also comes in bumper-pull and gooseneck models, offers optional ramp extensions, fender lights and additional stoplights. Plus, it comes with a 13/4-inch interior side post and .063-gauge, prepainted aluminum exterior sheet; Exiss says in its product literature that the competition uses smaller side posts and 0.40-gauge or 0.50-gauge exterior sheets.

The Event Car Transport has solid marketing backing, as evidenced again in its product brochure. This features photos of the gooseneck Car Transport used by Tony Labonte, two-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion; and the gooseneck Car Transport that is “the official show trailer” of Joe Gibbs Racing, also a regular performer on the NASCAR circuit. Pictured in the brochure is the Joe Gibbs Racing trailer used by former NASCAR Rookie of the Year Tony Stewart.

Also in the extensive Event line is the Event LQ living quarters/horse trailer, which Exiss says is “one of the most economically priced living quarters in its class.” This line is separated into 6-foot-wide and 8-foot-wide living quarters models; both of these come in three- and four-horse models. The interior living areas have standard features such as dual batteries, propane tanks, entertainment centers with television antenna hookups and AM-FM stereo/CD players, hanging wardrobe closets and additional storage in the bed area. The 8- foot-wide model adds a 6-cubic-foot refrigerator, a two-burner cook top and a range hood.

One other part of the Event line is the Aluminum Open Car Transport, a lightweight, all-aluminum trailer with ramps that slide on polypropylene guides and a removable driver’s-side fender. This product is made with a sectional, interlocking extruded floor with swivel-D tiedowns ensuring that the car being hauled is secure.

The Event line, extensive at it is, is not the only offering from Exiss. The company also manufactures and markets the SX Stock line of trailers for horse and livestock hauling. Included among the features in this line is a full swinging rear-end gate with a slider; an end-gate latching system with a spring-loaded slider latch; a heavy-duty, cam-type latch; one of the heaviest drop partitions in the industry; deep side-wall extrusions; and a center gate with a 2-by-3-inch oval tubular frame, with a heavy-duty, spring-loaded slam latch.

Exiss backs its products with “the longest warranty in the business without exception.” The company has a seven-year warranty on the main frame, which includes the top rail, the bottom rail, the cross member, the I-beam and the main drop gussets. All of the trailer’s other parts come with a one-year warranty.

Quality Points

Commenting on its extensive use of aluminum in all of its products, Exiss says, “Many manufacturers use steel (in the interior walls and sub-cross members), creating a possible rust and deterioration process within the interior of the trailer.

“The people here at Exiss started designing, building and marketing aluminum trailers 25 years ago,” the company adds. Its product literature credits its customers for giving the company “a vast amount of knowledge…in what it takes to build a world-class trailer.”

Exiss’ company motto is, “You will not find another aluminum trailer with more quality and a lower price.” This motto, the company says, continues to be the driving force behind its success. If that’s the case and Exiss keeps its focus on this site, the company can maintain its claim to be one of the fastest growing aluminum trailer manufacturers in the entire continent of North America.

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