I would of thought with Evinrude going out that Suzuki would really push on these dealerships to pick them up to handle there motors. I see it as a great opportunity for them to get more dealers and market share.
Changing motor brands at a dealership takes time. Not only with contracts but also certification and training of mechanics and salespeople. Also inventory needs to be brought in, and that requires a fairly significant investment by the dealerships. Can’t just go from A to B just by changing a sign.
With that said I’d be willing to bet Mercury will take a fairly large chunk of the Evinrude pie.
There just isn’t room in today’s marketplace for 3 big players. Merc and Yamaha have such commanding positions, it’s like coming up with a new cola to take on Coke and Pepsi.
Also, I would like to know, do dealer contracts with Merc and Yamaha even allow existing dealers to take on more brands?
I can tell you as a business, brands are constantly trying to restrict what competitive brands I can carry. They also try to do this through volume requirements to try to force the retailer to limit choices to keep volume up on the more limited selection, so I’d be interested in knowing if outboard brands are the same.
Grouse
I will say that I heard from a dealer that last year or maybe the year before Evinrude made a power play with dealers saying they had to pre-order a predetermined amount of outboards. When the dealer refused to buy a set amount rather than order them as they were sold Evinrude pulled their line. I said a year ago I thought that was a bad idea. I doubt it was the reason they stopped making them, but I can’t imagine many other dealers caved in to this tactic.
I will say that I heard from a dealer that last year or maybe the year before Evinrude made a power play with dealers saying they had to pre-order a predetermined amount of outboards. When the dealer refused to buy a set amount rather than order them as they were sold Evinrude pulled their line. I said a year ago I thought that was a bad idea. I doubt it was the reason they stopped making them, but I can’t imagine many other dealers caved in to this tactic.
Maybe that was BRP’s plan, they knew what they had to sell to be profitable, pushed the dealers, and when they didn’t meet it they pulled the plug. Makes sense, probably about time for gen3 and retooling and they decided to force the issue to see if it was worth the investment.
You know, the irony in all this is that BRP couldn’t get the HPDI 2-stroke to catch on with outboards and there were quality issues.
But aren’t the Skidoo ETEC engines well regarded in the snow machine world?
Grouse
Grouse – I have wondered the same. The etec in the ski-doo has a solid reputation and generally sells for a premium. I almost bought one but was beat to the punch, whereas there’s no way I would hang a ‘rude off my boat after hearing so many horror stories. Not sure what the difference is, but I think snowmobile guys do have a higher tolerance for unreliability due to that seeming like the norm in the sport. Also, speed/performance are king in snowmobiling (based on my experience and conversations).
Looking around at the classifieds i’ll venture a guess. Evinrude got in bed with Ranger and sold them motors at a deep discount. This was done to try and get a bigger foothold. I base this on the amount of Rangers with E-Tecs I see for sale.
No matter the reason it failed as did their motors.
Looking around at the classifieds i’ll venture a guess. Evinrude got in bed with Ranger and sold them motors at a deep discount. This was done to try and get a bigger foothold. I base this on the amount of Rangers with E-Tecs I see for sale.
No matter the reason it failed as did their motors.
Dutch when Ranger and Etec hooked up there was a ton of guys that jumped on them. I don’t know what the $$$ savings were but I’m guessing substantial. The guys that traded every year or 2 years found out you had to lower your asking price a bunch to move them. Apple to Apple boats with the Etec vs a Merc or Yammie were usually on the market much longer and for a boatload less $$$. Now whether the new boat savings translates on the back end loss I don’t know.
At any rate, Ranger couldn’t save Evinrude.
I know for me if I ever bought a new rig and Suzuki had a better dealer network it would be one of my top choices. I would think with the millions of boats and boaters there is room for a third player. Has been for the last umpteen years, BRP just killed themselves with the FICHT and just could not recover and not going 4 stroke.
The talk is that BRP was in negotiations with Honda for some for some form 4 stroke tech, for quite a while, and when those talks broke down, they pulled the plug on Etec. Not positive on this, but it’s out there and pretty reliable. Suzuki is becomming a major player in the salt water market, and while you do not see them much around here, when I had my place in Texas, on the gulf, from 2010-2016, they were highly regarded for their reliability, and were getting installed on boats more and more all the time. Yamaha was still king though, Mercury was used to about the same extent as Suzuki, possibly a little more, but that may have changed now with the new Mercury 4 strokes in the last few years.
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