Well, first it was Johnson, then Evinrude. Pretty sad really. No more OMC outboards. 387 jobs lost at BRP’s Sturtevant facility; Evinrude production ends
Shame. I seriously just told a buddy 2 days ago I was going to look at a new Etec to hang on a flats boat I am looking at. The 4 strokes are so damm big/heavy. Grrrrr. Wonder how many other long standing brand names/businesses are likely to disappear in the near future. Spooky.
Just a little inside knowledge on this situation. BRP announced yesterday the closing, blaming China virus. What is not said is dealers got an email yesterday saying Evinrude is done. There is a new stealth pontoon boat with new propulsion technology mounted inside the pontoons (all hush hush) And still propeller driven that is going to be the new marketable thing. This has been in the plans for a while, as well as closing the factory, just a convenient way to blame something else. EPA has been putting a hurt on the 2 strokes for some time. Given the news headlines and the real story as to what is happening, they closed and discontinued the brand but focusing on a new venture. BRP isn’t stupid and follows the money.
My first boat motor was a 67 18 horse evinrude. I didn't know they were BRP, and foreign made now, so I'm not bummed out. still on made in America kick myself. I do still like 2 stroke boat motors for the weight. Hard packing four strokes around.
BRP bought OMC out of bankruptcy, discontinued Johnson. To my knowledge all motors are made in Wisconsin except up to 8 horsepower which are Tohatsu. The feelings are he newest model they came out with late last fall competes toe to toe with the 4 strokes in all categories now. Before they couldn’t compete with the noise and vibration levels but power and weight had it hands down.
The propulsion in the 'toons sounds totally doable. It won't be cheap though, and won't take over anything but probably the high end pontoons, such as Manitou. 2 strokes like etec and other DFI and efficient 2 strokes probably won't be going anywhere. That's why they teamed up with Mercury for outboards on their boats.
Yes, all the fairly small to the huge outoards were made in sturtevant Wisconsin. FWIW, the efficient 2 strokes are actually more efficient and pollute less than most 4 strokes.
The one you had was made in either Wisconsin or Illinois. I think Illinois, despite omc being started in Wisconsin. BRP bought omc out of bankruptcy in the 2000's, and then they pared omc down to just Evinrude.
