Most people don’t think “future” when they’re looking at an outboard marine motor. The engineers at Evinrude are looking to change that.
During a recent rollout event near the company’s HQ at Milwaukee’s South Shore Yacht Club, Evinrude mounted its new E-TEC G2 engine to multiple classes of pleasure craft to show off its power and, more importantly to the company, its groundbreaking aesthetics of its design.
Whether artists are working on the outward appearance of a new car or a marine engine, they work in spaces decorated with inspiring images, both natural and manufactured. Those images are intended to forge a design language for the new product on the drafting tables.
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Evinrude reps revealed some of the top inspirations for the look of their new engines, and Marvel’s Iron Man was front and center. As a result, the E-TEC G2 line abandons the stacked, drumstick style of previous generations — looking more like a modern electronic component than a mechanical device.
Evinrude didn’t limit its re-creation of outboard engines by merely carving out something that resembles a robot out of the video game Portal. The engine boasts 15% better fuel economy and (more importantly in this ecology-obsessed era) 75% less emissions. Suffice to say, with these new Evinrudes in the water, you’ll be seeing less blue oil smoke burning above the props.
The engines will be available by late summer or early fall. Buyers can design their own engine, choosing color and spec packages at Evinrude’s product page.
