Automotive News [sub] interviewed Jerry York, former Chrysler CFO, GM board member and, most importantly of all, Kirk Kerkorian's man about Motown. Now that Captain Kirk owns five percent of FoMoCo, 'Jer's handing-out advice on how to fix The Blue Oval Boyz. York says he's "very confident that (Mulally's turnaround plan) is the answer." But then the Lion's cub demonstrates how much he really knows about the business: he says Ford should sell Volvo and Mercury. OK, we're with you on Volvo, although I'm not sure how you'd separate all the Volvo/Ford products (Ford Taurus/Sable, Lincoln MKS, Ford Taurus X, Ford Flex, Ford Galaxy, Ford S-MAX, Euro Ford Focus just to name a few). But York's suggestion for "selling" Mercury has to be some kind of joke. Selling Mercury would be like GM selling the Chevy LTZ models and keeping the LT/WT/1LT/2LT models. One can only hope York meant Ford should sell the name. But who in the world would buy it? Perhaps Mr. York should stick to selling Ford, er, I mean, selling Fords. You know; the actual cars. To real customers.
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The Chinese might buy it to get a foothold. Better than getting nothing for it and just retiring it.
When you look at Mercury designs it’s hard to imagine that Ford would be inundated with offers.
Well, York’s boss has plenty of cash. Why not put their money where there mouths are and buy Mercury off Fords hands.
Actually, this might be brilliant way to get rid of excess dealerships!
Sell the division. Hell, sell for $1. As long as it and its dealers get legally separated from Ford.
Then let it fail, which it will. The Mercury dealers will then be free to sue the hell out of what is left, which is nothing.
Don’t sell, just dissolve. All Mercury dealers are associated with Lincoln, if there are no standalones the lawsuits probably won’t happen like with Olds. Plus, it’s not like the L-M dealers will lose much traffic with no Mercury.
Mr. York appears to be a candidate for the next Bob Lutz award.
Who cares?
Isn’t he the originator of the “Peppermint Patty?”
Mr. York appears to be a candidate for the next Bob Lutz award.
Word.
Even if anybody gave a rat’s bottom about Mercury, it couldn’t be sold separately from Lincoln. How many independent Mercury dealers are there?
This said, Jill Wagner’s probably worth a pretty penny.
To sell something, there’s gotta be someone who wants to buy it…
York = “Lion’s Cub”
I’m still laughing over that line.
Wow that only took, what, 3 or 4 days for these two boners to start screwing with the business?
Leeches I tell you.
Hopefully Kapt. Kirk dies shortly.
I still think Ford is doing to Mercury what GM did to Isuzu. Introduce little to no new models for a few years then pull the plug. The only catch is Mercury dealerships also tend to be Lincoln so it’s not as likely that the dealership would want out like most of the Isuzu dealers did.
It will be a happy day in Motor City when this old ultra rich POS kicks the bucket. He set off the string of events that destroyed the 90’s darling of the industry Chrysler, then it was off to screw with the General. Now Ford gets their turn. Good ridence when your gone Kirk, and take your know nothing little mouthpiece Jerry with you!
The only way to “sell” Mercury would be to sell it in name only. Would someone want to badge their cars as Mercurys? Gosh, maybe a Buick sub-brand? Or possibly a line of golf carts for retirement communities? The possibilities are endless.
Mercury has no reason to exist at this point, the last time I went to a dealer, the sales guy admitted that they are just a trim level for Ford. At this point, in this market, why bother? Now, I could see making “Mercury” a fleet-only trim level, perhaps that would make Fords seem less like rental cars when I see one on the road, but even that doesn’t make real sense in the end. When Toyota and Honda have proven that there is no need to have a new marque for a model that if only a few hundred bucks more, there is no need for Mercury other than avoiding paying off the dealer network to kill the brand. And there you have it.
Well that’s just silly.
This said, Jill Wagner’s probably worth a pretty penny.
I can’t image TV without Jill and the Mercury ads.
“Mercury has no reason to exist at this point, the last time I went to a dealer, the sales guy admitted that they are just a trim level for Ford.”
I will take this opportunity to suggest that Leaving Mercury as is….as a gussied up Ford…is not a big deal. As has been suggested by others on here in the past, as long as what they sell pays the bills on the extra cost of another grill, or a different material/stitch pattern for the seats simply gives those who might say “well, I like the driving the car but don’t like the front/rear end” another option for a buyer Ford might otherwise lose.
The problem is Lincoln. Because they have been doing the same thing. Lincolns should be distinct. Fix Lincoln, and Mercury will be fine. And I believe that Mulually (sp?) said basically that.
Please why can’t we send Kirk & York over to China and tinker with their auto industry?
Encourage them to buy 50% of all of the smaller Chinese car companies and try meddling/bossing someone else around for awhile.
It would give the Detroit 2.8 another two or three good decades to try to pull out of the tailspin…
The problem with leaving Mercury “as is” is the cost associated with that. It costs money to have even a slightly different model, you have to ship that model to different dealers, make different parts, stock the parts that are different, you have to market the product, support the product, etc. The whole package deal doesn’t make all that much sense. Perhaps if Ford pulled the plug on advertising costs, but even then you have Mercury dealers that are not necessarily the same as Ford dealers and there is ain inherent cost in that. It would be easier if Mercs were only sold at Ford dealers, but as they are, keeping them would really be easier if they were a stripped Lincoln not a gussied-up Ford.
How hard or expensive was it for Chrysler to shut down the Plymouth brand? It seems like a parallel situation Chrysler-Plymouth became Chrysler overnight. Why not Lincoln-Mercury –> Lincoln in exactly the same way. This is not like GM paying off Oldsmobile dealers. Who misses Plymouth and who is going to miss Mercury, spokeswoman not withstanding?
Hey Kirk, you’ve gotta put mercury on your list!
I’m going to buck the trend and agree with him.
Sell the brand to someone who wants a foothold in the market and transfer all the dealership agreements over to them.
Reduce the sale price by the amount required to continue supplying them with parts/labor/advertising until any Ford based Mercury is out of warranty + a few years.
Unlike killing Oldsmobile you aren’t going to have to pay dealers a fee.
They’ll be forced to decide if they want to sell whatever the new Mercury’s are (rebadged Alfa’s? something Chinese? A Tatra?), but that’ll be the dealer’s decision, not the manufacturers.
It shouldn’t be a franchise agreement violation if you supply them with vehicles and the contractually stipulated support. If those vehicles are just bad SEAT knock-offs…. too bad.
It sounds goofy, but it’s an eminently workable deal if Ford wanted to make it happen.
It would be more graceful to let the name bow out the way Plymouth did, but there might be some ambitious second-worlder willing to make it worth Ford’s time.
I’d also like to make this separate point: For those of you claiming that Ford should “keep on keeping on” or follow Chryslers lead vis-a-vis Plymouth, look at the current domestic situation and ask yourself if you really think their managerial decisions are ones you want to emulate.
They’re failing, so perhaps it’s time to consider doing something different.
Selling a storied marque to an ambitious new competitor, perhaps.
Perhaps they could sell the rights to Mercury to a big aftermarket parts and restoration company (like Year One?) – then Jill could sell Lincolns!
Captin Kirk and First Officer York were full of sage advice with GM where they soon brought out the Ghosn Show.
Also, I don’t remember Tracinda Corp. being in the running to acquire Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep when Daimler went looking for an exit. Those are some brands that can be played with and we may even see Cerberus doing just that.
With the SUV and truck market truck market declining rapidly, Ford needs to be able to spread the costs of which ever car platform comes next with Mazda and Volvo.
Except that Mercury has virtually zero value as a brand to Ford, in the US automarket and to anyone else.
Mulally is going to stick a fork in it quietly sooner rather than later.
I grew up in Iowa and all the retired farmers had Mercury`s.
The mercury motto passed around when was”the car you drive b-4 you die”
Maybe a mega mortuary/funeral home would want it???
Mercury costs Ford almost nothing to keep going. Mercurys are all straight rebadges of Ford – different grills/interior trims. Lincolns, while based on the same chassis’s, are much more differentiated.
As for separating Mercury from Ford, there are NO standalone Mercury dealerships left, so Ford would not be closing even 1 dealership by killing Mercury.
Believe it or not, there are people who prefer the Mercury style over the equivalent Ford and they are hard to switch. Mercury still holds a little cache, and people come in for them saying they won’t buy a car with e “Ford” badge on it.
That’s the problem.
Mercury is just a Ford. So why have Mercury?
You’d be surprised at how many car buyers (mostly women that I’ve run into) much much much prefer the softer lines of the Mercury version to the Ford’s. Escape is trucky looking and blocky. Mariner looks more chic. Milan is rather sleek, while Fusion has the bright chrome grill and flashy tail lights.
Guess that’s about it. Hahaha. Grand Marq doesn’t have a Ford equivalent any more. There is the Mountaineer/Explorer, but both those cars are rotting on the vine. Is that it for mercury?
Just saying, I would think it makes sense to kill them too. But there are a lot of particularly women shoppers out there who like the Mercury and buy them, but if the option went away, would NOT buy the Ford version. Those are lost sales, on a car that probably costs very little additional money to produce over the similar Ford.
I think they will be axed though. It does hurt the image of a Ford to see a rebrand as a Mercury. Plus (and especially if they get rid of Volvo), getting Mercury out of L-M dealerships will allow Lincoln to have a better prestige image. What if your Lexus dealership was Lexus-Toyota-Scion? It feels much more special when it is stand alone. I also believe it will allow Ford to focus on finally bringing Lincoln to the top of the luxury game, since they won’t have to dilute their image with Mercury sitting on the same floor, plus they don’t have to worry about Lincoln stepping on Jaguar’s or Volvo’s toes any longer. Lincoln can finally become what it used to be.
Uh, here’s an idea Ford. Make Mercury the sporty badge. Mercs have a long history of some sporty cars, why not capitalize on it. Ford for everyday, Mercury for sport,and Lincoln for luxury.
I think a fleet only brand is long overdue. Why have millions of people think the crappy rental car is your entire product line?
Selling Mercury is a world class dumb suggestion.
The only potential buyers would be Chinese or Indian companies looking for a jump start into the US market. Why on earth would Ford want to provide that jump start?
As others have said here and I’ve said in the past, Mercury is fine as it is. The engineering and manufacturing cost adder of trim goodies is minimal and there are people who will buy the Mercury and might not buy the Ford. If I were ever shopping Ford I would be inclined to go with the Mercury version because I don’t like the current razor-blade Ford grill.
Fixing Lincoln is a harder problem. It really needs to be an aspirational vehicle which people consider an alternative to Lexus. Alan had to cancel his order for a new Lexus when he took the job at Ford!
Wouldn’t the LM dealers scream bloody murder if Mercury were taken from them (by any means, closing, selling the name, whatever) ?
In 2007 Mercury sold 168,422 cars. Lincoln sold 131, 487. So basically what Ford would be saying to the LM dealers is this- “We know you aren’t selling enough cars to keep the lights on, so we’ve come up with a way to cut your sales by more than 50%.” I see no reason to think Ford could do this w/o lawsuits following.
IOW you can’t get rid of Merc without killing Lincoln in the process. If you want to make the case that Ford badly needs to get rid of 299,909 sales, make it.
And there is a case for getting rid of LM altogether – focus. But I’m going to take the less travelled road and say that Ford needs to get back to making Lincoln a real luxury car, and Mercury a “tweener” brand that is a noticeable step up from a ford, and a noticeable step down from a Lincoln. I take this approach because I have no confidence at all that these customers would go to a Ford dealer. I think they’d be lost forever to Ford, and maybe most would even be lost to Detroit.
It comes down to loosing the customers vs the gains projected from tighter focus on the core brand. But it’s one or the other – get rid of LM and focus on Ford, or keep all 3 and make real brands out of them again. Selling Mercury while keeping Lincoln is daft.
My first reaction to the comment was to laugh, for obvious reasons. But then I began to wonder whether it might be simply an opening volley in a battle to put The Mercury Problem on the front burner.
Anyone who spends ten seconds thinking about it realizes that there is nothing to sell here. Since it is apparently worth something less than a dollar, the next logical question is begging to get asked — why bother keeping it at all?
I am not sure what’s Mercury without Ford. Every Mercury sold in the past 20 years was a Ford with a little more chrome and a nicer interior. Mercury is a brand name, not a company. The only non-ford thing that Mercury has is its brand name.
I don’t think that selling Volvo is as difficult as some people make it sound. Volvo designs and produces its own engines (I don’t understand why this waste wasn’t chopped a decade ago, that could certainly save money). The only non-Volvo engine that Volvo vehicles use is made by Yamaha. For the most part, Volvo also designs and produces its own platforms (except for those based on Mazda 3 platform).
Some years ago Ford announced that the Mercury brand would no longer be sold in Canada. Lincoln/Mercury dealers either disappeared or changed to Ford/Lincoln outlets. Ford also stopped selling Crown Victorias to anyone other than the police, replacing them in the showrooms with the Mercury Grand Marquis, a strange anomaly of a model from a manufacturer who no longer sells the brand in this country. At least it rationalized the models a bit and stopped much of the overlap between competing Ford and Mercury brands. With a market one tenth that of the US, we couldn’t have sold many Mercurys even at the best of times in Canada. If this solution worked here why couldn’t it in the US? Is it the franchise laws that prevent it? Why not just offer identical models for each brand then, differentiated only by a badge and one bar more or less in the grille?
Ford is trying to keep Mercury alive? News to me.
What is there product plan — Mountaineer 2? Son of Sable? retro Bobcat?