It also brought Outboard established overseas markets in China, Burma, Iran, and Albania, to broaden Evinrude's array of dealers in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Its $800,000 price tag brought Outboard a well-known line of outboards and plant and equipment worth $1.5 million. In 1935, the Outboard Motors Corporation bought the Johnson Motor Company. This last-ditch effort did not revive the business, and shortly thereafter Johnson was for sale. Next came an attempt to lessen its reliance on seasonal sales by entry into the refrigerator-compressor market. A too-costly advertising campaign, as well as an ill-timed offering of matched motors and hulls, drained all cash reserves by 1930, when control of the company passed to its bankers. To keep the business afloat, the entire inventory was sold at bargain prices, and Evinrude sacrificed his salary until his death in 1934. Already responsible for $500,000 in bank loans as a result of the merger, the company had to increase its debt to $600,000 between 19, when operating deficits totaled $550,000. Outboard scarcely had time to find its feet before the stock market crash of 1929 tested its staying power. Briggs became chairman of the brand-new Outboard Motors Corporation with Mr. Ole Evinrude merged ELTO with Stephen Briggs the following year when he and Harold Stratton disagreed over diversifying Briggs & Stratton into the outboard engine market. Now far ahead, Johnson produced a net profit of $433,000 in 1927, far outpacing Evinrude's $25,000 and ELTO's $30,000.Ī new engine in 1928 restored the ELTO Company, whose annual net profit rose to $300,000. Neither the Evinrude Company nor ELTO could match this. Johnson gained market share, snatching the lead four years later with an updated model weighing a trim 100 pounds, costing a thrifty $190, and able to drive a boat at a zippy 16 miles per hour.
It also attracted the attention of a competitor, Johnson Motor Company, which brought out its rival lightweight engine in 1922. Popular with the fishing fleets, this revolutionary engine outstripped sales of Evinrude's original outboard motor within three years. His new offering was the Evinrude Light Twin Outboard, a motor partly made of aluminum, reducing its weight by a third. The company continued without him, becoming a subsidiary of the gasoline-engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton Corporation in 1926.īy 1921, Evinrude was back in business, in a venture he called the ELTO Outboard Motor Company. Friction between the partners forced Evinrude to sell his share to his backer in 1914 and depart, after signing a guarantee restricting him from the outboard motor industry for five years. The business was an instant success-its market included not only recreational boaters but also the Scandinavian fishing fleets operating in the North Sea. Needing financial help with this undertaking, he found a backer and established the Evinrude Motor Company in 1910. and overseas readers that he decided to try large-scale production. Evinrude placed an advertisement in a motor magazine to introduce his motor, drawing so many inquiries from U.S. Motorized transport was just becoming an everyday part of life in 1907, when Ole Evinrude first mass-produced a practical outboard engine for boats. Unfortunately, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Outboard Marine had a difficult time keeping up with the competition, notably archrival Brunswick Corporation, currently the world's largest manufacturer of powerboats. Outboard Marine also marketed clothing for boating, and resort wear. Other products under the brand names of Four Winns, Seaswirl, Trade Winds, Sunbird, Stratos, and Hydra-Sports include fiberglass runabouts, cruisers, performance boats, and craft for offshore fishing. Based in Waukegan, Illinois the company had become famous for its brand-name Johnson and Evinrude outboard motors, as well as its Chris-Craft and Grumman powerboats. Outboard Marine Corporation was the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of outboard motors and second largest producer of powerboats. Outboard Marine Corporation sometimes referred to as Outboard Motor Company was formed in 1929 when ELTO was merged with Lockwood-Ash Motor Company. 1.4 Retrenchment and Reorganization in the 1970s.1.3 Expansion and growth in the postwar years.1.2 The Great Depression and World War II.