By BRIAN TUMULTY
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. manufacturer of marine outboard engines is charging its leading Japanese competitors with dumping engines on the U.S. market below cost.

The petition that Mercury Marine, based in Fond du Lac, Wis., filed Jan. 8 with the International Trade Commission charges Yamaha and Honda with selling marine outboard engines at lower prices in the United States than in Japan.

The panel will have a preliminary hearing Thursday on the charges and must rule by mid-February on whether to conduct a full investigation or dismiss the case as unfounded.

However, domestic manufacturers usually are given the benefit of the doubt in these cases, and more than 80 percent lead to a full-fledged probe taking up to 10 months to complete.

The filing is unusual because Yamaha and Mercury Marine are business partners in the production of the latest generation of outboard motors. These so-called four-stroke engines, which take their name from the number of movements of a piston in a cylinder to complete one power cycle, operate with less air pollution and higher fuel efficiency.

The older technology, two-stroke engines have been losing market share and are being phased out with the onset of new Environmental Protection Agency rules scheduled to take effect in 2006.

Mercury Marine imports Yamaha-made motor heads for 225-horsepower four-stroke outboards, other parts for 70- to 115-horsepower four-stroke motors and has a complicated production-sharing agreement for engines ranging from 9.9- to 40-horsepower.

Steve Fleming, a spokesman for Mercury Marine, indicated the agreements with Yamaha are separate from the allegations filed with the International Trade Commission.

"Our goal is to level the playing field because we feel it is not that way now," Fleming said. "Our understanding is that one of the possible outcomes would be duties on the imported engines."

Meanwhile, Yamaha counters that the driving force behind Mercury Marine's protest is its corporate parent, Brunswick Corp., the recreation equipment giant that also makes bowling gear and manufactures several popular boat brands such as Bayliner, Boston Whaler, Hatteras and Sea Ray.

About 80 percent of all new outboard engines are sold as part of packages that include a boat and often a trailer.

The allegations of unfair discounting by Yamaha relate to prices offered to boat manufacturers and dealers, not the public.

The National Marine Manufacturers Association in Chicago estimates that Americans spent $2.5 billion on new outboard engines in 2002, the most recent year for which data is available.

Mercury Marine claims about 40 percent of the market, according to documents filed with the International Trade Commission.

"This case is completely baseless," said Christopher Dunn, a Washington lawyer representing Yamaha, the leading Japanese outboard engine maker. "It is ridiculous for Brunswick to claim that they are being injured by low prices from Japan when Yamaha motors have consistently been among the highest-priced outboard motors in the U.S. market."

The lawyer for Yamaha said the problems Brunswick experienced are the company's own making.

Mercury Marine is ramping up its own production of large four-stroke outboard engines. Four models in the 200-, 225-, 250- and 275-horsepower range will be unveiled Feb. 12 at the Miami Boat Show.