Brand

XO

XO is a Finnish builder of aluminium powerboats based in Helsinki. The business was registered in September 2006 by boatbuilders Sakari Mattila and Erkki Talvela, who had previously worked together on the Aquador and Paragon brands before those were sold to Nimbus Boats. It traded first under the name Nordic Power Boating Oy and was renamed XO Boats Oy in April 2009, the year the XO brand reached the market, which is why some sources give 2009 rather than 2006 as the founding date. In 2012 the company was bought by the Finnish investment group EM Group; Mattila later left to start Axopar, and subsequently Saxdor; Talvela returned to lead XO's product development from 2019 and was named CEO in 2022. XO's boats are built around welded aluminium hulls rather than fibreglass, a choice Talvela has attributed to wanting a boat that could survive hard, repeated use in exposed Nordic and archipelago conditions. Hull plating is graduated in thickness, heaviest at the keel and tapering toward the topsides, with aluminium honeycomb and foam used inside the hull for stiffening and sound damping; superstructure and deck mouldings on most models are fibreglass. Hull development work has involved the Slovenian naval architecture firm J & J Design, and current-generation hulls are built in Poland. The current range is organised into three series: EXPLR, cruising-oriented boats; DSCVR, day boats; and DFNDR, ruggedised utility and adventure models, spanning roughly 26 to 44 feet. The boats are positioned as all-weather craft for open and coastal water rather than sheltered-water cruising.