I hate to say “I told you so”, but in January of 2006 I asked then Ford CEO Bill Ford Jr. why they had not canned the Lincoln and Mercury brands in order to focus squarely on Ford. Bill responded by claiming that the three brands worked very well together, and seemed pretty dismissive of the idea to streamline the brand portfolio. (Read the Q&A on Time.com)
Shortly thereafter, Ford Jr. was replaced by Alan Mulally as the company CEO, and today the newswires are reporting that Mercury is on the chopping block. This comes just a couple months after Ford unloaded Landrover and Jaguar to Indian automaker Tata.
According to the Cleveland Leader, industry analyst Aaron Bragman of Global Insight believes “Mercury has one more product cycle left in it, and then will most certainly be retired as a brand.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that Mercury sales have dropped off dramatically. “After regularly selling half a million vehicles a year during the mid-1980s, Mercury sold only 168,000 cars and sport utility vehicles last year. Its U.S. sales are down 23% this year — the biggest drop for any brand except Chrysler and Hummer.”
From a FordMuscle viewpoint, Mercury really hasn’t produced anything of enthusiast interest since the 2003-2004 Mercury Maurader (pictured). Before that you had to go back to the early ’70s to find any significant muscle. Since then, the brand has carried an awkward, semi-luxury, position between Ford and Lincoln. Most of the models offered were just nameplate upgrades of a Ford model (e.g. Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr), the reasonable deduction was that Ford was the bottom-end “econo” product to Mercury and Lincoln. This, in my opinion, made no sense at a time when Ford was struggling to revive its brand image and perceived quality, among other things.
-Chirag
Read the entire story, and tell us what you think.
I have a 1995 Lincoln Towncar, purchased it for my wife (she loved it) it now has about 73,000 miles. When she died, I went to a used car dealer and got a 1997 towncar because I liked the older one. The 1997 is a big piece of CRAP, they put a composite intake manifold on it for the MPG stuff, how about making them just replace them free for ever. I have replaced one, at my cost, now that one is also gone. Looks like the chopping should be in the stupid engineers. The 4.6 L engine is in a lot of cars, and they lost a class action law suit on this, but alas I am too late. Last time I ever buy a cheaply built FORD product.
By Dave. August 29th, 2008 at 10:03 amSeriously, the Aussie made BF Falcon is a perfect replacement. Comes in a 6, turbo 6 and a V8. Check it out for yourself.
By Ben. July 20th, 2008 at 7:24 amWell, I love my Mercury Cougar to death. A lot of mercury cars suck though. I really think mercury should bring back the cougar and keep it going with more performance oriented views. They need to drop that V6 junk and get some V8 power under their hoods. Personally, mercury cars are awesome, but their TRANSMISSIONS SUCK!!!! They just need to shape up, and design their OWN models.
By Ian. May 31st, 2008 at 8:27 pmput mercury out of its misery already! Mercury has not produced anything worthwhile for years, just uglier versions of Ford cars. It’s a dead brand and it will just continue to weigh down FoMoCo until they kill it. I mean look at all the rebadged crap they have forced on the poor dealers. Mecury Topaz (AKA Ford Tempo), Mercury Sable (AKA Ford Taurus), Mercury Capri (AKA Ford Mustang), Mercury Tracer (AKA Ford Escort), Mercury Mystique (AKA Ford Contour), Mercury Grand Marquis (AKA Ford Crown Victoria), Mercury Mountaineer (AKA Ford Explorer) and probably many others I am forgetting. Even when Ford didn’t badge engineer their own cars, they badge engineered other manufacturers. Case and point- the Nissan Quest (AKA Mercury Villager). MERCURY IS PATHETIC
By Brian. May 26th, 2008 at 4:35 pmI would hate to see the mercs go away,they just need something other than rebadged fords, that cougar sounds great1
By roger. May 26th, 2008 at 12:22 pmBy PaceFever79:
“By the way, the 1985-89 Capri 5.0 should also be in that all too brief roster of modern Mercury muscle!”
The Capri was made from ‘79-’86.
By J.M.. May 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pmDoes this mean the value of my 1964 Mercury Comet will go up?
By SLCK64. May 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pmHere’s an alternate suggestion for the Mercury brand: Move all Ford car platforms over to it, and make Ford the truck-only brand. Let the smallest Ford be the Exploder or whatever’s going to replace it.. move all the cars and small “crossover” crap to Mercury. I’ve run into plenty of people who love Ford trucks but would never buy a Ford car.. so it’s not really that big of a stretch to just make Ford truck-only.
Lincoln can still be the step up from Mercury.
(..and no, in case you’re wondering, I don’t care how it affects your perceptions of the Mustang. I hate Mustangs, so I don’t really care if they’re called Ford Mustangs or Mercury Mustangs.. or even Chevy Mustangs for that matter)
By Ben. May 18th, 2008 at 6:03 amFord Man, I don’t know what OHC engines you worked on but having the spark plugs located on the intake side vs. the exhaust side makes plug changing much easier. As well as valvetrain maintenance since coolant doesn’t need to be drained, the intake manifold can stay in place, and just the timing and valve covers need to be removed.
As for the old Panther platform, I’ve heard that a new full size rwd platform is on the way. I mean the old platform was great but come on, it’s 29 years old, it’s time for something new and better. Wouldn’t surprised if the great Aussie muscle makes it here.
As for chopping Mercury, it’s dumb. Mercury was always the classier Ford, a great middle ground between cheap Ford and Caddy’s competition, Lincoln. Problem is Ford got way to use to the old rebadging trick. Because honestly, given a Fusion and Milan, if the Fusion is cheaper and you know Ford makes both, which are you going to go with? But, if Ford made the Milan a bit more classier and threw in maybe a different engine or different features, it’d be a different story. Just hope that Ford realizes that the problem is more towards them not making Mercury desirable for the price.
By bassman97. May 16th, 2008 at 11:02 pmWell as a Ford ,Lincoln,Mercury lover and driver , I dont believe that the brand should be axed. But Ford needs to make better body structures and keep the full frame. I hate unibodys. Most of all they need to add more power to the large sedan at least the crown vic. I know people are worried about gas consumption, but if someone could drive a fullsize suv, then a large car would still pale in comparison. Ford needs to develop a regular pushrod engine instead of overhead cams for easier maintainence. And last but not least more leg room. I like the large sedan mainly cause there great cars, last of the Big Body no one still uses full frames , rear wheel drive, and v8 engines, at least not all together.
By Ford Man. May 16th, 2008 at 1:19 pmTorinoStyle, I totally agree that a retro styled V8 Cougar Xr7 on the Mustang platform is a no brain home run. Question is, does anyone at Ford care what enthusiasts really want to buy? The design team at Mercury has been sucking since about 1970 when they forgot how to make stylish alternatives to Ford products and started down this creepy path of personal luxury, which is just a crappy marketing gimmick.
By PaceFever79. May 15th, 2008 at 7:48 amSounds like an easy way out to me. Instead of actually putting thaught into making these better and more desireable, just can it. There are plenty of people who will ONLY buy a Mercury, and still they aren’t available in Canada, new anyways. FOMOCO as a whole is in no position to start eliminating what little choices they currently offer to begin with.
By 64GALAXIE514. May 15th, 2008 at 6:12 amI dont understand why they wont put out a new Mercury Cougar!! It can share the same chassis as the Mustang, and with retro styling just like the Mustang enjoys, it would be a hot seller.
By TorinoStyle2. May 15th, 2008 at 12:11 amMaybe even hot enough to save Mercury from certain doom.
I seen some proposed drawings of a retro styled Cougar that looks like a 67-68 model, but they never ok’d it for production…why?? It would be a big hit.
Ford seems to be making one bonehead move after another if this is true. First, they discontinue the Crown Vic for all but police use. If the Merc line is discontinued, the Boyz from Dearborn will cut their throats again by dropping the Grand Marquis. This car is perhaps the best value for the money in the entire Ford lineup. I hustle cars for a Ford dealership and our used car sales manager buys tons of off-lease ‘Grand Monkeys” Even with the gas price crunch, these family trucksters move surprisingly well and are durable as Father Time.
Yeah, I loved the ‘67-’68 Cougars too and have owned several. IMO, they were a much nicer ride than the Mustangs of the same era.
Jan
By Jan Games. May 14th, 2008 at 8:31 pmUnfortunately for Ford is that Mercury has always rated higher than Ford in most quality surveys of the last 10 years. Mercury gets more conquest buyers than Ford as 40 % of Mercury buyers state they would not consider the purchase of a Ford, but would by another Mercury.
By ranchero67. May 14th, 2008 at 8:13 amI remember neighbor Mr. Hardy would always buy a new Mercury. I can only remember him in one Ford, a red 1967 Galaxie convertible. Then he drove Mercury until the day he passed.
This persistent rumor makes me sad. At the tender age of 6 my Dad bought a black 1968 Cougar XR7 that became my first love. He would let me help him wash and wax it and would take me “cruising” just the two of us and he would always chirp some rubber for me. When he sold the car in 1974 to buy a (sic) Marquis, I refused to speak to him for a month. It’s a family joke today but that is how much I loved that Cougar. This will only make the Mercury brand worth that much more as a by gone classic. By the way, the 1985-89 Capri 5.0 should also be in that all too brief roster of modern Mercury muscle!
By PaceFever79. May 13th, 2008 at 1:59 pm