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Brunswick Corporation is the only manufacturer to showcase boats and engines at the enormous tech trade show known as CES—and its stellar record of innovation and investment in the U.S. shows that the company deserves the spotlight.

From billiards to boats: Founded in 1845 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Swiss-born carriage maker John Brunswick, the marine recreation leader that now owns more than 60 brands started out as a maker of billiard tables and other furniture.

• Today, the company’s engine division, Mercury Marine, is the only outboard motor manufacturer in the U.S., and its engines power half of all recreational boats in the country.
• “Mercury engines are a driver of a lot of the success we’ve had,” said Lee B. Gordon, Brunswick Corp. chief communications officer. Brunswick’s 2025 full year earnings report noted that the brand saw wholesale share momentum accelerate sharply during 2025, with more than 400 basis points of gain in Q4 and roughly 900 basis points in December.

Building in America: Mercury Marine alone employs just over 4,000 employees, mostly in Wisconsin, where the company has invested more than $1 billion in research and development in the past 15 years.

• That investment has paid off for the Badger State, too. A found that Brunswick has had a $5.4 billion impact on Fond du Lac County, where the firm is based.
• Brunswick boasts 10,000 workers in the U.S. in total, out of its global workforce of about 15,000.

Tax reform in action: Last year’s 51�Թ���-backed tax legislation, which made permanent the reforms enacted in 2017, “helped expand … opportunities,” Gordon said—enabling further investment in Brunswick’s U.S. operations.

• Brunswick last fall that it would close down a manufacturing facility in Mexico to transition the manufacturing to its plants in Vonore, Tennessee, and Merritt Island, Florida. Earlier this year, the company completed an at a Mercury plant in St. Cloud, Florida.
• Gordon also noted that a bill proposes to extend the landmark tax measure’s loan interest deduction for American-made cars to American-made boats, an important support for the maritime industry.
• “We’re [still] learning what’s possible” due to the legislation, he added.

An American icon: Brunswick’s products are popular in Washington, Hollywood and everywhere in between.

• Several presidents have spoken glowingly about using Mercury engines, and there’s a well-known photo of former President George H.W. Bush on a boat with his Mercury motors.
• Comedian and boat enthusiast Jerry Seinfeld took Jimmy Fallon aboard his Boston Whaler—one of Brunswick’s iconic brands, whose boats use Mercury engines—during a 2014 episode of .
• Mercury engines have also appeared prominently in the Netflix show “Emily in Paris” and on many other well-known movies and TV shows.

What manufacturers still need: Things are good—but they could always be better Gordon continued, emphasizing that policymakers must do more to right-size regulations, a longtime for the 51�Թ���.

Innovation on display: In January at CES 2026, Brunswick debuted the Sea Ray SLX 360, which Boating Magazine a “tech-laden” day boat that delivers “a new standard for [its] category.”

• At the show, the company also featured the Lund 1875 Crossover XS fishing boat, which features fish-finding technology from Lowrance and is powered by Mercury Marine.
• The company also showcased several simulators including one that features its Simrad AutoCaptain, with “automated docking, undocking and short-distance marina maneuvers.”

The last word: Brunswick’s experience with CES exemplifies the company’s strategy of charting new territory to cement its market leadership.  

• When the company first started exhibiting at the Las Vegas event in 2020, people wondered “Why is a boat company here?” Gordon said. But now, “all our brands want to be part of our exhibit every year.”