The competition between two Wisconsin outboard engine manufacturers got cranked up a notch last week when Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., which makes Evinrude engines in Sturtevant, launched products in a market where Mercury Marine, of Fond du Lac, has much stronger sales. BRP, a Canadian company that has made Sturtevant its world headquarters for the Evinrude brand, introduced a new outboard engine that it says has 15% better fuel efficiency and 20% more torque than its leading competitors and produces up to 75% fewer pollutants.
The E-TEC engine will be available later this year in sizes ranging from 200 horsepower to 300 hp, BRP said during the product launch on Milwaukee’s lakefront.
It’s been more than five years since BRP held a similar Evinrude dealership meeting. More than 1,500 people were invited from as far away as Australia and the Middle East.
It’s been more than a decade since the company, known for snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, has made this big of an upgrade to its E-TEC outboard engine lineup.
The new engine, named G2, is aimed at a marketplace that includes offshore fishing boats costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s a market dominated by Japanese engine-maker Yamaha and its nearest competitor, Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corp.
Specific figures aren’t made public, but industry experts say Yamaha and Mercury combined have about 80% of the U.S. outboard engine market comprised of engines 200 hp and larger.
Evinrude already has engines up to 300 hp, but the new models are supposed to be loaded with changes aimed at competing with Yamaha and Mercury.
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