Yamaha-Mercury Deal: Yamaha Marine Power said it...

Yamaha-Mercury Deal: Yamaha Marine Power said it will work with Mercury Marine to develop four-stroke gasoline engines for use in outboard motors for boats. The engines will be mated to transmission and propeller assemblies manufactured separately by each company, and the completed outboard motors will be independently marketed under each brand name.

The first motors are expected to be released in 1995 and all engines developed under the agreement will be co-produced for five years, Yamaha said.

Yamaha Marine is part of Yamaha Motor Corp. in Cypress--the U.S. arm of Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co. Mercury Marine is owned by Brunswick Co., an Illinois-based maker of powerboats.

The companies said they are developing the four-stroke engines because they burn more cleanly than the two-stroke engines that power most outboards. While four-stroke engines use straight gasoline, two-stroke engines use gasoline mixed with oil, and the oil can produce smoke in the exhaust.