Mercury Marine’s Lake X facility was originally intended to be the most secluded marine testing facility in the world, covering 12,000 acres of land and 1,440 acres of water. Lake X had long been a pillar of Mercury’s heritage and was long used for performance tests of Mercury-powered boats, research and development, new product testing and endurance validation. Lake X was designed and built by Mercury Marine founder Carl Kiekhaefer in 1957. Mercury Marine previously closed Lake X in 2004 when it chose not renew its lease.

“Mercury Marine is closing in on its 80th anniversary (in 2019) and we have a rich heritage that is unmatched in the marine industry,” said Michelle Dauchy, Mercury Marine chief marketing officer. “Returning to Lake X is an opportunity to build an immersive brand experience around that heritage and capitalize on the popularity of the Mercury brand. We have been able to host customer and media events as well as take advantage of the lake to test product.”

“We hear stories all the time about folks who worked for Mr. Kiekhaefer and their wonderful experiences at Lake X,” said Dauchy. “We want to create new memories and build on our heritage of performance, reliability and to merge together our new Go Boldly brand cache with almost 80 years of history.”