Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

A conversation among Whalers
Whalerdog
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Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

Postby Whalerdog » Tue Jul 10, 2018 6:49 pm

Can [Evinrude] make [make an outboard engine with more than 300-HP]?

[Evinrude] are getting left behind in big-power market, which seems to be growing.

dtmackey
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Re: Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

Postby dtmackey » Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:37 pm

Market has shifted to 4 strokes and Evinrude seems to have fallen out of favor for most, except those who still like 2 strokes. I'd image the market shift probably has something to do with the 10 year warranty Evinrude is offering to pull people away from a 4 stroke purchase. Yamaha is running a backlog on larger motors and I hear Merc is also struggling to meet demand. Evinrude is now a small player in the outboard market and I think they'd be hard pressed to launch a bigger motor and cover all the R&D it would take to design it. I am aware that they restructured their salesforce last year as Evinrude is the smallest and slowest growing in the Bombardier company.

I own two E-TEC outboard engines and two E-TEC snowmobiles and think they are great engines, but four-stroke engines are quieter, smoother, and have better resale in my area. Most Evinrude dealers have taken on Yamaha or Suzuki in the area. Had Yamaha kept the HPDI on the market and Mercury now making the Optimax obsolete, it may have made a stronger argument for an E-TEC, but when companies abandon a technology, the market shifts.

D-

jimh
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Re: Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

Postby jimh » Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:23 am

I am sure Evinrude can make an outboard rated at more than 300-HP.

I don’t know how significant the market could be. For example, TIARA has a 38-foot model with three 350-HP outboard engines. The boat costs $500,000.

As an outboard engine manufacturer, you get to sell three engines on that transom.

But for $500,000 in boat sales, there could be five boats at $100,000 with a single 300-HP engine.

As an engine maker, would you rather sell five engines at 300-HP or three engines at 350-HP?

Or perhaps the market might be ten $50,000 boats with 150-HP engines.

In the imaginary world of boating magazines all readers are potential customers for triple 350-HP or maybe triple 425-HP engines, but NONE of those engines are going on the transom of any classic Boston Whaler boat—or ANY boat that 99-percent of us can afford.

dtmackey
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Re: Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

Postby dtmackey » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:52 pm

Evinrude's market share globally is small and the biggest market is the U.S. and this is where the higher horsepower motors are sold. But even in the U.S. when you look at the financials and performance of Bombardier Recreational Products and break down the company, only 10% of their sales are in propulsion.

BRP Annual Report
39.3% Year round products (fastest growing)
35.3% Seasonal products (SeaDoo and SkiDoo) Robust groth
15.4% Clothing and accessories
10% Propulsion (Evinrude) Slower growth

50.8% is U.S. market
17.7% Canada
31.5% Rest of World

Based on annual outboard sales of all manufacturers in the U.S. (Suzuki, Yamaha, Mercury, Nissan, Tohatsu, 7 Marine, Honda, Evinrude and others), only 165,435 are sold annual. While it's difficult to determine the exact marker share Evinrude has, they are one of the smaller volume manufacturers in the market.

If Evinrude does shoot for the higher HP market, they better make the motor a game changer the way Yamaha, Merc and Suzuki have. The new Merc and Yamahas have eliminated the weight penalties that previously plagued 4-strokes and in some cases are lighter than Etecs.

Merc, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda are seeing sales growth at or greater than the market, I'd be very curious to know where Evinrude fits in and how they plan to compete.

D-

jimh
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Re: Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

Postby jimh » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:49 pm

To be the market share leader may be nice, but having the largest market share is not necessary for profit and sustainability. A manufacturing company can be profitable and sustainable while not being the market share leader. If this were not true then all markets would eventually have only one supplier.

dtmackey
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Re: Will BPR make over 300 HP outboard?

Postby dtmackey » Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:58 pm

I agree to some point Jim, but the increased sales and flood of new models with pent up demand for the higher horsepower models of the other brands does indicate there's a market they are chasing. I'm not sure the stockholders or the board of directors would endorse companies chasing after diminishing returns, hence the new Zuke 350, Merc V8s and Yamaha 425 models. The nice thing about volume is the ROI on the heavy upfront R&D, tooling and regulatory costs to design/launch a new motor. Because of this, it is my opinion Evinrude may not be lusting after the higher horsepower market since they are a low volume player and ROI would be a long slow process. The 300 is already a 3.4L motor "near capacity" as far as displacement to power and reliability. Anything more powerful than a small bump would require a new design. Not to mention, more power would mean looking at the lower unit and beefing things up as they chase after heavier boats.

I like the DI motors and the G2 is a engineering marvel, but I'm just not seeing Evinrude as a competitor in the over 300 horsepower market. I've been wrong before and I may eat those words, time will tell.

D-