The Milwaukee Journal reported this morning on their web page www.jsonline.com that the U.S. International Trade Commission has found that Mercury was not harmed by Yamaha. This will throw out the 19% import duty.

Hopefully we will start to see our 2005 motors finally start to show up at the dealers now that this has been settled.

I just bought a NEW ON its way from WIS 115opti max ,gonna pick it up in alabama.

I just hope this is over with, now.

Mercury Marine loses fight against Japanese competition
By RICK BARRETT
rbarrett@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Feb. 2, 2005
Mercury Marine Inc. has lost a trade dispute with Japanese outboard-engine makers accused of predatory business practices.

In a decision announced this morning by the U.S. International Trade Commission, Fond du Lac-based Mercury was found not to have been harmed by its Japanese competition, including Yamaha Motor Co.

The government did not offer an immediate explanation for its decision that stemmed from a 12-month investigation. But the decision will toss out a nearly 19% import duty imposed on Japanese-made outboards late last year.

In early 2004, Mercury asked federal officials to levy a tax on Japanese outboards, claiming the engines were being sold in the United States at prices well below what they sold for in Japan - a practice called "dumping."

Mercury, through its parent Brunswick Corp., won several major decisions in its anti-dumping complaint, including one last August when the government imposed a 22% duty on Japanese-made outboards that was later reduced to 18.9%.

Mercury and Brunswick could file another complaint against the Japanese. The company has said the future of several thousand Wisconsin manufacturing jobs were at stake if it lost the decision.

But filing another complaint could take a year or more to reach a conclusion, and it would cost Mercury and Brunswick millions of dollars in legal fees.

There are better ways to spend that amount of money, such as supporting a marine industry campaign to attract more boaters, said Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Genmar Holdings Inc., a Minneapolis boat building company.

Genmar is the nation’s second-largest boat building company, behind Brunswick, and buys thousands of outboards a year. Jacobs became immersed in the trade dispute through criticisms of Mercury and Brunswick and support for Yamaha.

In a recent interview, Jacobs said it was his opinion that Mercury and Brunswick had attempted to use the trade issue as an excuse to raise outboard engine prices and pocket more money from the sales. He said it was ironic that Mercury and Brunswick complained about foreign competition when Brunswick closed U.S. boat factories and moved production to Mexico.

The trade dispute strained relations between Mercury and Yamaha, even though for years the two companies have been business partners on some products as well as competitors.

Last fall, Yamaha raised the price of engine components it sells to Mercury by nearly 92%, so as not to create any future potential dumping issues, according to Yamaha.

Mercury contested the price increase, and said it was working toward becoming self-sufficient so that it did not have to buy products from Yamaha.

I believe the tariffs were to go to Mercury, I hope they don't jack their pricing to cover not recieving this money plus the millions in legal fees. Manny

Will this change Yamaha's pricing this year?

I'm so happy they lost their bul##sh#t case I was nearly jumping around the office. Mercury was so full of it on this deal that it was hard to stomach as a consumer. I personally would not buy anything from this company or any parent company at this point. I don't think this case had anything to do with protecting the American worker either as Mercury attempted to portray.

I thought I would include an Article from earlier this month which basically completely gives us Irwin Jacobs most recent letter from before the decision. The letter was dated January 5th. I will paste the link below and then copy paste the article into my post.

http://fishingworld.com/News/Read.php?ArtID=000013671

Genmar Holdings, Inc.
Jacobs Expresses Concerns Over Brunswick/Mercury Actions


Page(s): 1
(Jan. 06, 2005 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN)... The following letter from Genmar Industries, Inc. CEO, Irwin L. Jacobs has been sent to all the Genmar Dealers and U.S. Boat Manufacturers, expressing Jacobs concern over the recent announcement that Brunswick/Mercury is acquiring several more boat companies, along with the current ITC hearings in Washington, D.C. concerning the Brunswick/Mercury anti-dumping case against the Japanese outboard engine manufacturers.

January 5, 2005
To all Genmar Dealers and U.S. Boat Manufacturers:

I am quite sure that by now most boat dealers and independent boat builders in the U.S. have heard about the Brunswick Corporation purchase of Sea Pro, Sea Boss and Palmetto boat companies. What I find particularly interesting and frankly, quite amazing, is Brunswick’s and Mercury’s continued arrogance and cavalier attitude in their thinking they can continue to go down the path of being the Number 1 competitor against both their non-Brunswick boat dealers and their independent boat company customers and still expect their customers wanting to do business with them.

I believe it is very important for anyone who competes with any Brunswick boat companies and/or their dealers to once again re-evaluate any existing or future business relationship you have or are planning to have with Brunswick and Mercury. I don’t understand how Brunswick/Mercury would consider for a minute that the independent boat builders and the non-Mercury and non-Brunswick boat dealers are going to want to continue to do business with their biggest competitor; particularly after what they are attempting to do to raise outboard engine prices through their self-serving filing of the anti-dumping complaint against all the Japanese outboard engine manufacturers as well as competing with their customers in the boat business.

As you know, for the past several months I have personally communicated by e-mail to the entire marine industry in an attempt to keep everyone up to speed on all the events surrounding the Brunswick/Mercury belligerent, self-serving anti-dumping case. Regardless of the International Trade Commission’s (ITC) decision, which will be announced on January 26, 2005, I am convinced that Brunswick and Mercury will ultimately be the biggest loser in their anti-dumping case against the Japanese outboard engine manufacturers. After attending and being a witness at the ITC hearings in Washington D.C. on December 14, 2004, and listening to Mercury’s desperate diversion and untrue statements of the facts, I further believe there is no way Brunswick and Mercury are going to come out on the positive side of the mess they’ve created.

It is most interesting to note that I had a lengthy conversation this week with a principal of one of the boat companies that Brunswick/Mercury brought as a witness for them to the December 14, 2004 ITC hearings. He said if he was asked again to be a witness for Brunswick/Mercury he would, without hesitation, refuse. He went on to tell me that he would discontinue using Mercury engines today and replace them with Yamaha engines if he could get the engines from Yamaha. I am sure there are other companies and individuals who attended the ITC hearings on behalf of Mercury that today feel the same way.

Although I am not yet aware of what Yamaha’s position is going to be in continuing to supply Yamaha outboard engines to Sea Pro, Sea Boss and Palmetto boat companies, I am hopeful that they will consider to discontinue selling Yamaha outboards to those boat companies. Frankly, after what Brunswick and Mercury have put Yamaha through, I can’t imagine Yamaha wanting to sell Brunswick or Mercury anything.

Although it has become very apparent that Brunswick and Mercury are attempting to become completely vertical by continuing to purchase boat companies and then converting those companies’ engine usage to 100 percent Mercury engines, I believe it is virtually impossible for Mercury to exist as a viable engine manufacturer being solely dependent upon Brunswick’s boat companies’ engine usage without the independent boat-builders also purchasing Mercury engine products.

I can and will commit to the marine industry that Genmar will use every resource we have available to make sure we, along with the rest of the marine industry, stand up to and against Brunswick and Mercury’s plans in their attempt to destroy the independent boat-building industry.

I further believe it is very interesting and important to note that what Brunswick and Mercury will spend for their expenses and lawyers, as well as what they have forced Yamaha to spend for their lawyers and expenses to defend against Brunswick/Mercury’s anti-dumping case, will most likely cost in excess of $20 to $25 million for the both of them combined. Do you realize that the money Brunswick and Mercury have squandered and forced Yamaha to squander could have funded the entire industry’s "Grow Boating" campaign without another single dollar coming from anyone else within the boating industry? There is no better evidence that Brunswick and Mercury could care less about anyone else but themselves than the fact of what they have done to cause enormous confusion and uncertainty in the boating industry during one of the most important times of the year, the beginning of the 2005 boat show selling season.

DON’T BE PASSIVE; BE PRO-ACTIVE AND LET BRUNSWICK AND MERCURY KNOW THEY’VE CREATED A SITUATION THAT COULD ULTIMATELY DESTROY YOUR BUSINESS AND YOU WON’T STAND FOR IT. THERE ARE SEVERAL OPTIONS TO MERCURY’S PRODUCTS. MOST, IF NOT ALL, OTHER OUTBOARD AND STERNDRIVE PRODUCTS ARE EVERY BIT AS GOOD, IF NOT BETTER, THAN MERCURY’S: YAMAHA, HONDA, SUZUKI, EVINRUDE E-TEC IN OUTBOARDS, AND VOLVO PENTA IN STERNDRIVES.

Once again, I welcome and look forward to your questions and responses. Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and prosperous 2005.

Personal regards,

Irwin L. Jacobs
Chairman & CEO
Genmar Industries, Inc.

Just watch the manufacturing sector of Merc.
move over seas. They have a great excuse now.
Get ready Fond du lac........ I'm praying I'm wrong.

mercury had previosly stated they were building a plant in china reguardless of the outcome of this case...

they took a risk and lost, i hope yamaha sues them to recover the fees they spent on this BS suit in the first place.

mercury had previosly stated they were building a plant in china reguardless of the outcome of this case...

they took a risk and lost, i hope yamaha sues them to recover the fees they spent on this BS suit in the first place.

No.

The tariffs (or dumping duties) do not or would not go to Mercury but to the government.

They have had this coming. They have consistantly ranked below Bomb and Yam in customer satisfaction. It had nothing to do with price. Yet, Merc tries to grasp for straws to get some help from Uncle Sam. Build a better product, meet...no make that exceed your customers' needs. It's that simple. Their horizontal and vertical integration has puked on them. Baja was reportedly the only Brunswick boat manf to make a profit last year (that is from an employee). You can't win giving your product away at a low price to your subsidiaries. I hope Verado works out for them...and at a profit. The alternative seems quite dismal in the long run.



>The Milwaukee Journal reported this morning on their web page
>www.jsonline.com that the U.S. International Trade Commission
>has found that Mercury was not harmed by Yamaha. This will
>throw out the 19% import duty.
>
>Hopefully we will start to see our 2005 motors finally start
>to show up at the dealers now that this has been settled.

They have had this coming. They have consistantly ranked below Bomb and Yam in customer satisfaction. It had nothing to do with price. Yet, Merc tries to grasp for straws to get some help from Uncle Sam. Build a better product, meet...no make that exceed your customers' needs. It's that simple. Their horizontal and vertical integration has puked on them. Baja was reportedly the only Brunswick boat manf to make a profit last year (that is from an employee). You can't win giving your product away at a low price to your subsidiaries. I hope Verado works out for them...and at a profit. The alternative seems quite dismal in the long run.



>The Milwaukee Journal reported this morning on their web page
>www.jsonline.com that the U.S. International Trade Commission
>has found that Mercury was not harmed by Yamaha. This will
>throw out the 19% import duty.
>
>Hopefully we will start to see our 2005 motors finally start
>to show up at the dealers now that this has been settled.

The main reason for this whole thing is Merc wants to Jack up prices on thier junk to pay for the millions thy spent on R&D for that Verado, 650# mammoth in 2002 the opti was listed at $13625.00 and hpdi was$14440.00, a .94 difference in 2005 the opti is at $14102.00 while the hpdi is $15480.00, now the difference is .91 and the verado is $15895.00, I hope Mercs tricks are worth the money and effort, they lost me long before all of this, and if the yammie is pushed to 35-40% more than Merc its becouse the Yamaha is worth the extra, you ever lose a pile of cash becouse of that black nightmare, I've seen it first hand today is a good day

The main reason for this whole thing is Merc wants to Jack up prices on thier junk to pay for the millions thy spent on R&D for that Verado, 650# mammoth in 2002 the opti was listed at $13625.00 and hpdi was$14440.00, a .94 difference in 2005 the opti is at $14102.00 while the hpdi is $15480.00, now the difference is .91 and the verado is $15895.00, I hope Mercs tricks are worth the money and effort, they lost me long before all of this, and if the yammie is pushed to 35-40% more than Merc its becouse the Yamaha is worth the extra, you ever lose a pile of cash becouse of that black nightmare, I've seen it first hand today is a good day

Your not, A factory is going up as you read this in China

Your not, A factory is going up as you read this in China

Lets watch the americans beg for their products when they no longer can make their own. Talk about giving america away! And some say this is good for america?

anyone know what the govt. was going to do with the tariff money?

ha ha ha go figure, i guess the reason we are not hearing apologies from the pro-mercury cheerleaders that we're so quick to burn Yamaha at the stake is because they are busy choking on all that crow. gotta say it looks good on you. can u say loooooosers!

that a boy, here here !!!

Only 4 more years maby then someone can work on the trade issues thanks W

>ha ha ha go figure, i guess the reason we are not hearing
>apologies from the pro-mercury cheerleaders that we're so
>quick to burn Yamaha at the stake is because they are busy
>choking on all that crow. gotta say it looks good on you. can
>u say loooooosers!

Apologies due to the bias ITC ruling? That's what I like to see, a Canadian National basking in the glow of hit to a US company.

And too all those who argued that Yamaha was BREAKING the LAW....choke, choke.


The case never should have been brought.......dumping, as I have maintained, NEVER HAPPENED.

Mercury may have lost the case but Yamaha isnt ever going to lower their price even though they dont have to pay the tariff. Merc and Yamaha both made out good in this deal, both got to raise prices.

If Mercury would not have started it - do you think Yamaha would have raised their prices just for fun. I think they enjoy building a better product and selling it for a fair price in the US.

Mercury ultimately won and screwed the consumer again by raising their prices.

wonder how the progress on building the factory in China is going...

>Only 4 more years maby then someone can work on the trade
>issues thanks W


Now it's W's fault that Merc builds a substandard product? Every time Bush tries to level the playing field for US manfs, the Environazis claim he's out to destroy the environment.

I always find it laughable when folks point fingers, yet they have no solutions.

This thing with Mercury getting their butt kicked is free market, survival of the fittest. Right now, they aren't all that fit.

You have got to be kidding me! Blameing this one on W is nothing short of hilarious. Last time I checked the President of the United States is not a king. LOL. You can bet that when Mercury went after the dumping suit they had to reach back several years for data to support their claim; which by your logic would make it Bill Clinton's fault. He would of had 8 years to work on the trade issues. LOL.
Face it we are dealing with a world wide economy and some of the finest minds in America work on this dynamic and complicated issue every day; mabey you have some suggestions?

I can't believe so many people are against Mercury. When oligoploy's exist (especially on an unlevel playing field), the likely looser will be (and already is--look at the cost of outboards AND boats) the consumer. How many US motor manufacturers are there now, let me see....oh, ONE? You better not B**CH when there are ZERO. OH, but you already are crying about prices.

blacky is moving the opti pop to china.

WormDunker Thu Feb-03-05 04:07 PM




#170329, "Yamaha Wins Anti-Dumping Case"


Yamaha has issued a press release to announce that the International Trade Commission (ITC) made its ruling in the anti-dumping case filed by Brunswick Corp. against Japanese outboard manufacturers. Brunswick is the parent company of Mercury Marine.

The Department of Commerce had earlier found Japanese manufacturers guilty of dumping and instituted a temporary tariff on imported Japanese motors. However, in order to make the tariffs permanent, Brunswick had to prove to the ITC it had been injured as a result of the dumping.

Yamaha's press release states, "The ITC found that there was no basis for Brunswick's claims of injury filed on Jan. 8, 2004."

Yamaha marine group president Phil Dyskow said, "Yamaha has consistently stated that from the day that Brunswick filed its complaint there wasn't any dumping. We appreciate the fact the ITC investigated the facts, listened to our arguments and voted in favor of our position."

Mercury has not yet issued a statement.

WormDunker Thu Feb-03-05 04:46 PM




#170330, "RE: Yamaha Wins Anti-Dumping Case & Mercury Respon..."
In response to Reply # 0


Mercury has issued a statement to address the International Trade Commission's (ITC) ruling in favor of Japanese outboard manufacturers.

Patrick Mackey, president of Mercury Marine, said, "Given the substantial evidence of harm to the industry presented by Mercury, we are disappointed with the ITC's decision. Dumping was proved and we demonstrated that our outboard unit has suffered since 2000, so we don't understand how this conclusion was reached.

"We want to assure our dealers and independent boat builder customers that this decision will in no way lessen our commitment to providing the quality products and services they have come to expect from Mercury."

I wonder how the people at lund boats like their newowners now
.

you said it brother!

it was your own commission you winer, man it must suck too have no one to blame but yourself. what's a canadian national anyway? shouldn't there be some sort of minimum requirement for IQ's to post on this page. so much for taking it like a man.