Why is it so?

[Kero]

Does anyone know why some motors are sold under different names? For example, is there any difference between Mercury & Mariner? If not, then why do they sell them under two separate names? Why did OMC sell the same engines badged with Johnson & Evinrude?:-?

[Rhinoc]

Probably just to expand market share enabling them to focus on slightly different target groups with each brand. Some countries tend to have a affinities with particular brands irrespective of who the mother company may be.

Just my guess anyway.

Rhino...

[Kero]

You may be right! However it's not hard to see that they are one and the same, just with different stickers!
I've never checked, but I wonder if Merc & Mariner have different pricing!
Has anyone here with a Mercury ever considered a Mariner when buying?

[finga]

To make the pot a bit cloudier...
Early Mariner's were Yamaha's....they even had the tuning fork logo on the blocks.

[dodgyone]

And smaller Mercs were Tohatsu. And Late model Johnson 4 strokes were Suzuki. And the Merc 4 stroke 60 was a Yammie block. Makes you head sore thinking about it.

[Noelm]

some of it had to do with dealers, like (say) a certain dealer may be an Evinrude dealer, but nearby there could be a Johnson dealer, operating completely differently to each other, and lots of manufacturing companies started out by just building "things" for others, like Samsung and LG, they used to build anything a company asked for, at a specified price, other times it was just economics, like Tohatsu would make small motors for Merc, and Merc made the bigger ones for them, sometimes it is just a market share thing, I have heard of people that love (say) Mercs, but would never buy a Mariner, and on that, I once read a consumer magazine aticle (Choice) comparing wipper snipper, and at the time, Macullough and Ryobi where the exact same thing, but the Mac came out as being so much better than the Ryobi! how stupid is that?

[Kero]

Yeah Noelm, it makes sense in a way for a manufacturer to market a couple of brands, it helps them push their product into a wider market. I guess the beauty of selling the same product under different names is that they can offer the public a wider choice without upsetting their bottom line (they become their own opposition).;) eg. If you don't like the Mariner brand you'll buy a Merc. Either way they still get to sell you an engine.

[bigjimg]

Bought my Bluefin/motor package and was asked do you want the Merc Or Mariner cowling,was the 30hp longshaft,made no difference as it was a motor with either or cowling.Ended with the Mariner and looked better than the Merc cowl,the colour of the Mariner cowl broke things up a bit.I heard that the UK likes Mariner over the Mercury,don't know how true this is.Jim

[Daisy Burnett]

My god its insest at it's worst I never realised how many motors were rebadged under another name.
Daisy

[Steeler]

Noelm is correct that in most cases it allowed a manufacturer to have more than one opportunity in a geographical location to sell motors.

Steeler

[finga]

My god its insest at it's worst I never realised how many motors were rebadged under another name.
Daisy
Don't look into who made what in your car then....

[wrxhoon]

Don't look into who made what in your car then....


True .

Did you know that Yamaha makes som e cylinder heads for Toyota!!

In the case of Mariner , at first it was a Mercury made in Japan when Japan was cheap , this is how it started . Mercury buys some engines from Tohatsu , Tohastu use the Optimax set up on some of their engines.

Olie Evinrude made the first outboard engine, Johnson came along some years later. Some time later OMC was formed and kept marketing both names .
Went under a few years ago and was taken over by BRP ...

[cgibbo308]

My god its insest at it's worst I never realised how many motors were rebadged under another name.
Daisy

Just have a look at the car and heavy transport industry. Its all the same :)
company a owns c, c owns b and company b owns half share in a...
its like reading a phone book from the US deep south (from what i hear) :-?

[PinHead]

cheaper to buy another make in certain sizes and rebadge it than tool up your own factory to make every size you want in your range.

Don't even bother with air conditioners..that will open some eyes also.

[marto78]

Don't even bother with air conditioners..that will open some eyes also.[/quote]

House hold appliances also, you can buy a samsung or LG fridge at one price and pay more then double that for the same fridge with a different badge on it. ::)

[Noelm]

in the US, the Mariner brand is no longer available, the market share was so small they discontinued it, but Merc is one of the biggest sellers, and is/was much dearer than a Mariner, go figure!