Citing impact from the COVID-19 outbreak, Canadian company BRP makes a surprising announcement that they will cease production of Evinrude outboard boat engines.

In a statement on the company’s website, BRP states it has “re-oriented its marine business by focusing on the growth of its boat brands with new technology and innovative marine products. We will discontinue production of Evinrude E-TEC and E-TEC G2 outboard engines. Our Sturtevant, WI, facility, will be repurposed for new projects to pursue our plan to provide consumers with an unparalleled experience on the water.”

The company went on to explain they are “committed to our Buy, Build, Transform Marine strategy which has been underway since 2018 with the acquisition of Alumacraft and Manitou boat companies in the U.S., followed by the acquisition of Australian boat manufacturer Telwater in 2019.”

President and CEO José Boisjoli said in the news release, ““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.”

Moving Forward

Following the decision to discontinue E-TEC and E-TEC G2 outboard engines, the company has signed an agreement with Mercury Marine to “support boat packages and continue to supply outboard engines to our boat brands. 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. These decisions will impact 650 employees globally.”

Exciting Things Ahead

Though this news is a bit of a bummer, it sounds like the company has big plans for the future of their marine products. They hinted at their plan to expand their presence in the pontoon and aluminum fishing boat markets, and even dropped a couple “code names” for new products they’re working on which they expect to “transform the industry.” Those projects are called “Project Ghost” and “Project M.” 

I have no knowledge about either of these products in the pipeline, but whenever something has a code name attached to it you can expect it to be pretty cool.

Personally, I wish BRP would have sold the technology – and the rights to use it in outboard marine engines – to another big name company, and ensured their great American brand continued onward in some form or fashion.

BRP also makes Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo water craft and Alumacraft, Manitou, Quintrex, Stacer and Savage boats along with the Rotax marine propulsion system.