The. Again we're comparing apples to oranges. It's not as much regional bias as regional needs.
For a coastal boater, 150hp is a small motor. 8 out to 10 are 200hp and bigger. If you pull all the 150hp and below motors out of your count, what are you left with?
Merc only one has one product line in this market ( Verado) and they are not very impressive. Pretty Unresponsive until the turbo kicks then you hear a very loud sucking coming from the transom.
The economics of 2 strokes (Opti and etec) in this market puts them at the bottom of the wish list. Oil cost isn't an issue to the gallon a year crowd, but it adds up quickly for those of
who go through a gallon or so a day. Checked the price of a barrel (55 gallons) of XD100 lately?
I run high HP motors from both camps (4 strokes and 2 strokes) on a regular basis.
While 2 strokes have come a long way, they have not solved the problem of the bottomless oil pan and the associated hassles, i.e. Buying, storing, mixing a second oil supply