The Canadian manufacturer said that it would focus on other marine products and honour existing warranties after drawing a line under Evinrude's 111-year history
One of the world’s biggest marine parts manufacturers has announced that it will no longer be building outboard engines due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business.
Evinrude is the oldest name in the outboard business, dating back to 1909, but its history looks set to end here with the entire range of E-TEC and E-TEC G2 models discontinued immediately, BRP announced today (March 28).
In a statement, president and CEO José Boisjoli said: “Our outboard engines business has been greatly impacted by COVID-19, obliging us to discontinue production of our outboard motors immediately. This business segment had already been facing some challenges and the impact from the current context has forced our hand.
“We have signed an agreement with market leader Mercury Marine to support boat packages and continue to supply outboard engines to our boat brands,” he added. “We will continue to supply customers and our dealer network service parts and will honour our manufacturer limited warranties, plus offer select programs to manage inventory.”
Other marine products in the BRP stable include Sea-Doo PWCs, Alumacraft, Manitou, Quintrex, Stacer and Savage boats, and Rotax marine propulsion systems.
“As the last big manufacturer of two-stroke outboard engines, Evinrude is a big loss to the boating world,” commented MBY editor Hugo Andreae.
