Mercury Marine markets and manufactures a full range of outboard engines, sterndrives, inboard engines and propless water-jet propulsion systems under the familiar Mercury, Mariner, Mercury MerCruiser, Mercury Racing, Mercury SportJet and Mercury Jet Drive brand names.

In 1957, Carl Kiekhaefer, Mercury’s founder, began operations at a 1,400-acre undeveloped Florida lake – a new testing area away from prying eyes. To keep the location a secret, Carl referred to it as "Lake X" when speaking with outsiders, and the name stuck.

Because Mercury and MerCruiser use Lake X to test their new- and pre-production products, Kiekhaefer insisted on absolute secrecy lest the competition get wind of what Merc was up to, and the mystery of Lake X is still in place today. There are no "slow speed" zones on Lake X. In addition, the top speed recorded on the lake is in excess of 170 miles per hour.