Thread: Evinrude production stopped

I read some forums that said new Evinrude motors ran as clean as a four stroke. Idk if that is true but when you price your product higher than your biggest competitor (Mercury) then you are destined to fail. Mercury has so much advertising and sponsorships it's hard to compete if you are not price competitive plus they make an awesome product and every marine mechanic works on them.

Much higher price is right. 3 years ago we got a new 40 hip jet motor. I priced Evinrude, Mercury and Yamaha. The Evinrude was $2000 higher than the Mercury. Went with the Mercury and love the 4 stroke. Also big difference in dealers too. Emailed several about prices. Some responded and some didn’t. Scratched those off the list immediately. Boat already had steering so didn’t need that part. Dealer down towards St. Louis wanted $700 for the install. The dealer on Highway 50 by the Osage River gave us a price for the motor but couldn’t tell us how much the install was. Also couldn’t tell us how much shipping would be on a new boat if we ordered a specific one. Eberlins sent me a complete price workup for everything. Motor and install with or without needing steering. Went with them. Everything was up front for pricing.

Had a fairly close view with the Evinrude brand for the last 20 years. Would have never believed that two strokes could be as smooth and efficient as the later generation e tech and G2’s. But in the end the customer preferred 4 strokes, especially in the high volume segments like pontoons and aluminum fishing boats. Plus Mercury made huge efforts at affiliations with boat builders, including owning some outright such as Lowe, Lund, and Crestliner. And they have a lock currently on the largest independent boat builder, White River Marine, which builds Tracker, Nitro, Ranger and others. Evinrude had been painted into a corner the last few years, their purchase of a couple of boat companies was too little too late and it wasn’t hard for them to see the handwriting on the wall. And personally I don’t see the virus situation as what sunk them, boat sales the past few months are through the roof. Not sure how long it lasts but the virus and lockdown have provided an unexpected spike for the marine industry. My opinion, don’t celebrate the death of a brand too much. Mercury is more of a juggernaut than ever and lack of competition isn’t a good thing in a free market. Yamaha maintains a smaller role in freshwater, they’re the big dog in saltwater. Suzuki and Honda are still there and have good product but fight the lack of boat companies that will use their product, just like Evinrude did. Control of major portions of the freshwater marine industry lie in a very few hands at this point, kinda bothersome to some.

Originally Posted by LadyBear

You must keep up with outboard news as bad as me. "...

Bombardier stopped selling outboards under the Johnson brand after 2007..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Outboards

no telling what else I have missed or forgotten....
g

Hah, looks like it. I always thought of Johnson as having more brand recognition. I just assumed if they were making Evinrude, then they must still be making Johnson. Not making either sure changes the impact of this news!