Who Makes Mariner Outboards?
The birth of 'Mariner'
Mecury Marine introduced it's new brand of outboards under the 'Mariner' name in Australia in 1974. Then two years later in the USA and Europe in 1976. Mercury had conducted some analysis of it's market share and at the time thought a new brand, targeted more towards the leisure cruising market rather than the high-performance market that Mercury targeted might gain it overall market share.
Mariner was created by Mercury Marine Corporation in 1974Main Mariner markets
Mariner are still distributed to this day in Europe and Australia but were discontinued inthe US in 1990.
- 1974-on Australian Market
- 1976-1999 USA Market
- 1976-on European Market
The Mariner brand was first introduced in Australia in 1974 and two years later in the USA and Europe, Mariner instantly doubled the distribution potential for Mercury Marine. The new outboard brand established a foothold in Europe and quickly became populate with a reputation for reliability and durability.
Manufacturing joint venture with Yamaha
Mariner outboards were originally built by Yamaha but after a competition enquiry by the US authorities Mercury brought manufacturing in-house, attempting to benefit from shared R&D and economies of scale in the manufacturing process at the same time. As the similarities between Mariner and Mercury outboards grew it becuase difficult to distinguish the motots substantially. When electronic fuel injection was introduced in 1986, the two outboard models were mechanically the same.
The end of Mariner in the U.S
In 1999, Mercury ceased sales of Mariner outboards in the USA but continued distribution internationally in markets where it remains popular to this day.
Read more about the history of Mercury/Mariner on Wikipedia
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