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Mercury dealers fear brand is back on the chopping block

 
9 1,752 views May 27, 2008
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Mercury dealers fear brand is back on the chopping block

Mercury dealers fear brand is back on the chopping block

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The future of Mercury, one of Ford's subsidiary brands, is once again the subject of open speculation and this time its Mercury's own dealers that are asking Ford the tough questions. Members of the Lincoln Mercury National Dealer Council have asked Ford to reveal their plans for Mercury in order to determine if the brand has any future.

Ford and the Lincoln Mercury National Dealer Council are meeting in September to discuss the issue but so far the news doesn't look good for Mercury. Other than a hybrid Milan and a refresh of the petrol Milan this year, there are no new products in the pipeline for Mercury, and the lack of product planning has analyst Jim Hossack predicting that Ford is not planning to kill Mercury, but rather "let it die".

Mercury's sales have dropped more than 30% over the last two years and billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's chief adviser has previously stated that Ford should drop Mercury and streamline the Blue Oval.

Ford, in the meantime, is being its usual taciturn self on the matter, refusing to give any indication of its plans for Mercury - a spokesman said earlier that Ford has "been investing, and continue[s] to invest, in new Mercury product."



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Comments (9)

  1. By Gus Posted: 5/27/2008 12:59pm PDT

    Ford and Lincoln. That's it.
     
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  2. By chris Posted: 5/27/2008 1:45pm PDT

    NO! lincoln upmarket, and mercury to replace lincolns current market segment. jeez.
     
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  3. By Gunnar Posted: 5/27/2008 1:57pm PDT

    It's a legitimate fear. Mercury has no identity at this point.
     
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  4. By Roy Posted: 5/27/2008 2:24pm PDT

    Exactly, gentlemen whose names being with G. Mercury has no identity. Chris, Ford tried the luxury route and failed. They had to sell off almost every luxury brand they owned. Plus it's not like some magical quality fairy is going to wave a wand over Lincoln to bestow BMW-style quality and engineering.
    The big holes Ford has in its line-up are: green, youth/economy and sporty. Mercury could fill any of those holes. The cheapest one would be the youth/economy brand. Honda (Fit), Nissan (Versa) and Toyota (Yaris) have shown that there is increasing demand for small vehicles. BMW (Mini and 135) has even shown that the segment can be highly profitable! Ford already has some world-beaters (Fiesta and Ka) in this class, which it has not launched yet. Cue Mercury's re-invigoration as a brand for small, cool cars.
    So, picture Mercury as Ford's version of Mini, not as a Lincoln-clone!
     
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  5. By NCyder Posted: 5/27/2008 3:10pm PDT

    Mercury who? As far as I know, here in the states, it is a brand for single urbanites who like to talk to their cars. And most of them realize a Mercury has zero sex appeal, driving right on past the F-L-M dealers into the hands of the German import dealers.
     
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  6. By chris Posted: 5/27/2008 5:39pm PDT

    roy; if memory serves me correctly, cadillac was nearly dead 10 years ago. now look at them. lincoln could reinvent themselves./. they'd just need to get witht he program and hire young engineers and designers.

    personally I think that volvo and lincoln should move up market. I don't care about the fact that the premier group failed.. they failed because ford took too much control of certain things (like the money) and didn't force them to radically change. those brands werent pushed aggresively enough.

    i think lincoln and volvo should be competing with caddilac, and ford is already aiming to unify ford over all markets and with mazda as well. mercury can do what lincoln is doing.. remain a rebadge of the fords.. but with no upper limit to flash. thats what they're doing with lincoln right now.. jazz up a ford as much as you can. that should be mercury.. lincoln should be an actual american luxury brand. theres no reason why caddy should be left as the only brand in the segment,.. cause the corporate slogan "american luxury" is just too damned good.
     
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  7. By Roy Posted: 5/27/2008 8:06pm PDT

    I don't think that's the best plan for Mercury OR Lincoln, given that the luxury car sector appears to be poised to contract and that "American Luxury" is still perceived as at least two rungs down from "European Luxury"... Or in other words, show me the armies of young Swiss Cadillac drivers and I'll concede the point.
     
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  8. By chris Posted: 5/28/2008 3:36pm PDT

    oh absolutely, i agree that caddy has a long way to go to get the respect it needs, but pretty much every review on either side of the pond has said that the new cts is actually doing what the old one tried to do... be better than the 5 series and the E class. its just a matter of brand image now. and i think that more and more americans are seeing it too.
     
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  9. By Pete Posted: 6/17/2008 1:22pm PDT

    The Mercury brand can be revived, its exactly what was being said about Cadillac in late 90’s. The Cadillac brand didnt have much to offer at that time it was just a buick for men, it took the struggling brand quite some time but it was able to revive itself with the introduction of the CTS, and the Redesigned Escalade.

    Mercury has the potential to restablish itself in the autmotive industry, It was just recently announced as the Highest Ford Brand in Initial Quality, Mercury landed right behind Toyota at No. 6 where as its more luxurious sibling Lincoln came in No. 15 and Ford at No. 8.

    Mercury doesnt have the sales of the imports but it still has higher quality than most of the german imports, Mercury landed at no. 6 and BMW at no. 21 and VW at no. 24 and Audi with a respectable quality increase at no. 10.

    Mercury has the quality, it just doesnt have the appeal of BMW or even VW for that matter.
    Ford had/has intentions for the brand...in 2 more years the redesigned Mustang will be coming out giving Mercury the perfect chance to introduce a New Cougar based on the Messenger Concept, which for once is nothing like a Ford product.

    To be hearing about the brands demise is somewhat sad, Im an american car fanatic, and american cars arent crap, yes for years they cared more about how much they could sell and not quality but that has changed, its just a matter of showing people that the american car market is back and is in full force.

    Lastly the FoMoCo should follow the idea of Chryslers (although they are doing even worse) Genesis project and get rid of all the Twins and create distinctive cars that dont confuse the buyers as to what segment the car fits in and to stop making it compete with its sibling brand
     
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