How's this for gallows humor. What's the difference between Ford's Mercury franchise and the Titanic? The Titanic had a band. That little piece of levity arrives courtesy John Pico, a dealership consultant in Dallas. Speaking to Automotive News [AN sub], Pico pointed out that Chrysler killed Plymouth when the brand's new vehicle sales descended to 246k units, and GM pulled the plug on Oldsmobile when that brand's sales fell to 289k. Mercury's sales are currently below 200k, and heading south. Automotive News surveyed 125 Mercury dealers to do the math. No can do. Despite the fact that two-thirds admitted they sell fewer than 15 new Mercury vehicles a month, five out of six said Mercury's current product lineup is competitive. It better be; aside from a Merc version of the 2009 hybrid Focus, there is no new product planned for the brand. AN also reports that the "How great is that?" Mark LT pickup is about to go away. Yet still they believe. "Dealers in the survey said they hope Ford will apply proceeds from the sale of these European luxury brands to strengthening Mercury." According to Brian Allan, general manager of Galpin Lincoln-Mercury in suburban LA, "With the possible sale of Volvo, Mercury could be even more important in the near future for Ford Motor Company." Of this possibility FoMoCo's silence speaks volumes.
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Currently the only people coming in on purpose to a Mercury dealer are the old timers buying their last Grand Marquis.
Despite the Jill Wagner commercials – which are the best commercials Ford makes, the customers they are targeting ARE NOT responding. There are no 20 something professional women coming into the Mercury store excited about the iPod jacks.
Mercury exists to give the Lincoln dealers a little extra volume to get by.
Again and again Ford fails to market it’s products effectively, and despite the fact that most of its products are competitive, they are just off the radar of too many people.
Mercury has only rarely made any sense. I think the ’39 models offered a slightly longer wheelbase but were otherwise just super deluxe Fords. Something with which the Lincoln dealer could compete with the Ford dealer.
Maybe in the 50s/60s there was enough sheetmetal distinction, and price differential that Mercury made sense as a step up from Ford, but by the 70s, the distinction was getting pretty marginal.
Today Mercury is to Ford as Dodge and Plymouth were to each other. Except that Mercury still bothers with different grills and different names for the same car.
Either make it a competitor with Lexus, or kill it. Selling rebadged Fords never has made much sense.
Perhaps L/M dealers would like to handle Pontiac and GMC as well? :-)
I recently bought my wife a Mercury Mariner. Why? Because aesthetically she liked its looks better than the import competition. Plus with added incentives, an A Plan discount and a Michigan dealer willing to ship for free to the east coast, we weren’t able to say no.
Is it a better performer than a RAV 4? Hell no. Did I expect it to be? Nope. Where the merc caught my wife and I’ll admit my attention, was its looks. Different enough from the Escape yet still familiar.
I for one am hoping Mercury and FoMoCo can figure out a way to “Saturnize” its lineup. I think Saturn should be their benchmark. Sad it seems difficult to reach even that level of competition for Mercury these days…
Mercury can stumble along forever because the additional “investment” FoMoCO makes in it is next to nothing. The products are simply trim package options of Fords. Thus is doesn’t need much volume to pay for itself. Saturn, on the other hand, has unique sheet metal AND stand-alone dealers.
I doubt we will see Ford killing the Mercury brand anytime soon, but I also doubt they will spend any windfall from Volvo on it.
Compared to GM, Ford has a brilliant brand lineup!
Now if only they fired all the idiots who supported the “Ford starts with F, Mercury starts with M and all Lincolns are MK_s” idea then they might have a shot. There should be a paper trail of memos on those decisions. Just find all the yes-men and yes-women who were in on that rubbish and fire them.
Hey RF, shut up and let them keep making the commercials. :-)
Mercury, in several models seems to offer a little more luxury. This is enough for a lot of us that like top product & comfort.
Example: Mercury offers perforated leather seating which is much cooler than the solid leather offered in the Ford line.
I have also noted that certain GPS features, etc. are available in the Mercs not offered by Ford. (or at least they are not shown on their web site)
I like the styling of the Mercs better than Ford models. Would I buy one with a Z-plan discount? Not unless my wife was dying to have a Mariner. Can’t they figure out how to do ESC with a hybrid yet?
It may seem that Mercurys are simply rebadged Fords, but in fact that is not the case. Countless hours go into dynamic tuning of chassis components such that extra cost is driven into both the Ford and Mercury products despite infinitesimal actual difference being achieved. Later that cost is beancounted out and countless engineering dollars go into removing it and establishing a new baseline for both vehicles.
My dad replaced his Crown Vic with a Grand Marquis because he thought it was “better”. 3 years later, he knows better, and is headed to Avalon ownership, like the rest of the conservative retirees he hangs out with.
My snooty in laws bought a Mercury Mountaineer because they said it drove “better” than a Ford Exploder. 18 months of miserable ownership experience later, they hate the goat anyway.
I don’t think there are enough people left to think the Mercury branded product is different enough than the Ford sleds. And even the ones who get suckered in don’t come back for more.
But the fact is, I thought all Mercury dealers were also Lincoln dealers, so it probably allows them to draw in a few more people on price and upsell them to Lincolns – and the costs for Ford can’t be that much to badge engineer the cars…why not leave it alone?
Of course, all Lincoln-Mercury dealers could close their doors tomorrow and I’d never notice…or care.
The heart of the problem with Mercury is that Ford seems unwilling to distinguish Mercs other than by name badges, upholstery patterns and taillights. It wasn’t always thus: compare the smooth and elegant early 90’s Sable with the Taurus. Mercury sold better when it looked more classy and expensive. Ford is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Or do they just not give a damn about making Mercury more viable?
But it’s an old issue. From Brinkley’s “Wheels For The World”: “To [Edsel Ford] the only question was whether [the new line] should be called the ‘Ford-Mercury’ or the ‘Mercury-Ford.’ … From sales to design, he heard the same thing: get the name ‘Ford’ off the Mercury entirely. … Only after Edsel attended an auto show and heard the comments of customers circling the car did he realize that the Ford-Mercury ha to be Mercury, all on its own and come what may.”
“The Mercury cost about $900, giving it space between the [Ford] V-8 and the Zephyr. ‘We must not, under any circumstances,’ said Jack Davis, the general sales manager, ‘allow the introduction of this new car to absorb any portion of the market which logically belongs to Ford or to Lincoln-Zephyr. This car has been brought out to expand, not to divide, the business which belongs to Ford and Lincoln-Zephyr.\'”
Mercury was always marketed as the more masculine brand compared to Ford. The fact Ford has tried to turn that 180 degrees is no surprise it has been an abject failure.
For the last 30 years, Mercury has been the full size sedan division – the Grand Marquis. The decline of Mercury can be traced to Ford’s unwillingness to keep the Panther more competitive.
The rest of Mercury is pretty much a throw-away without the Grand Marquis kept up to date. That is exactly what is happening.
Anecdotally, I’m seeing more new Sables than Tauruses on the road in upstate NY. I think Mercury could make a lot of sense in a Volvoless FoMoCo, but not if they continue to be regrilled Fords. That used to work, but no more.
Its sad that they never brought out a new Cougar based on the current Mustang chassis and using a more formal notchback roofline, and classic Cougar styling elements from the 60s and early 70s. (Chrysler is rumoured to be considering a “Chrysler Barracuda” version of the Dodge Challenger and Pontiac is supposed to get a version of the new Camaro that might use the GTO name.)
Meanwhile, it seems that Lincoln is extending down into the traditional Mercury market with its MKZ (nee Zephyr) and MKX crossover. The MKZ is what the Milan should have been, and the MKX should have replaced the Mountaineer.
Still, even though Mercurys are not significantly different from Fords, it probably makes economic sense to keep them in production for the foreseeable future.
“It wasn’t always thus: compare the smooth and elegant early 90’s Sable with the Taurus.”
Say what? The early 90s Sable differed from a Taurus only having a different headlight/grill treatment, slightly different interior trim packages and different taillights. The 2008 Taurus/Sable twins are likewise differentiated by nose, tail, badges and trim. Same old same old.
It is true that Mercury’s position in the FoMoCo family of vehicles has always been an on again off again proposition since it’s birth.
Interestingly enough, there was a period of time in recent history where Mercury got unique vehicles (compared to Ford) through importation of German Fords, Australian Fords, and joint ventures with both Mazda and Nissan. I will leave the name those cars game as an exercise for the student :).
It’s telling that even the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn (I was there last week) has only ONE Mercury on display — a 1949 “lead sled” customized by none other than George Barris, the “King of Kustomizers.”
There’s a big display about the birth of the Taurus, including the car tested by Motor Trend for its Car of the Year award, but I recall no mention of the Sable.
The early 90s Sable differed from a Taurus only having a different headlight/grill treatment, slightly different interior trim packages and different taillights.
No. It had a “pillar-less” wrap around rear window, different rear fenders, and the infamous light bar grill. There was no doubt what it was.
Perhaps L/M dealers would like to handle Pontiac and GMC as well?
When I started shopping for my last new car (circa ’00), my local dealer (Lincoln-Mercury & Isuzu) was a beehive of activity. Navigators, LS’, Continentals, Town Cars, Mountaineers, Sables, Cougars, Grand Marquis’ and Rodeos were flying off the lots. Four acres of inventory.
The last couple of years as I go by for service, there was sadly very little inventory and even fewer customers. The other day I had my truck towed in for a new starter – but the dealer wouldn’t have it ready until Tuesday despite only having cars in a third of his stalls. I had it towed to the neighborhood garage, where my truck was ready 3 hours later. The silver lining, I guess, is that the dealer’s ponderous, barren back lot is filled once again….sadly with Toyotas from a neighboring dealer, who obviously needs more room.
Could you think of anything worse you could be than a L-M Isuzu dealer? Maybe Suzuki-Pontiac…..
Mercury doesn’t make sense as a brand anymore..Ford should be streamlining and killing off Mercury is an easy one..if people want to step up from their stripper model Fords…they can buy a Lincoln.
Take the nice looking bits they are cramming in Mercury models to make em different and tart up Ford a bit to increase their ability to compete with the barbarians at the gates.
Consumer Reports consistently rated the Sable higher than the Taurus, so I guess it was a different car after all!
If Ford finally kills off Mercury I wonder if the dealers will team up with Horvath and come up with some cock-eyed conspiracy to explain it all.
ronin: Consumer Reports consistently rated the Sable higher than the Taurus, so I guess it was a different car after all!
This happens all the time with two cars that, for practically all purposes, are mechanically identical. In years past there was a similar situtation with the Chrysler Concorde and the Dodge Intrepid.
In general Sable and Concorde owners are older and wealthier than Taurus and Intrepid owners. They don’t drive as much, they drive more conservatively, and they are more likely to closely stick to recommended maintenance schedules. It would seem this accounts for the different ratings.