Scrapping Merc, fine. Concentrate efforts on Ford NA and Lincoln.

But man, why sell Volvo, they're finally making some very good cars and their safety technology is top notch?

I was sitting at a gas station today and this brand new white Volvo coupe, looked like a retractable hardtop (?) with dual exhaust, its the first time I can ever remember saying "man, thats a nice volvo"....

 

volvo wont be sold, ford already tried selling it back with jaguar and land rover, but its still worth too much and they couldnt find a buyer

as for why there is ford and mercury, its because there re alot of people that dont want a ford product, but will still buy amercury, plus it alows you to make very simple variations of the same car. i think mercury should have some of its own vehicles though, but there is still a good reason for it

 

I agree that Volvo is worth keeping.


Are any of those people under 80 years old?

You can make variations without a Mercury. Call it a Lincoln or just make it a second Ford. However, the most successful current companies don't seem to make variations of a single model, unless they're adding in luxury. So I question whether two or more variations of the same vehicle with minimal functional difference is really a winning strategy.

 

Like australian derived vehicles? That'd be pretty neat

 

And without the platforms provided by Ford, I'd have to think that potential buyers perhaps wouldn't see a lot of value.

 

Which platforms do Ford supply to underpin Volvo cars? I thought Volvo's cars were all on their platforms, and in fact supplied chassis for some of Ford's cars, e.g. the Taurus being on the Volvo P2 platform.

 

The S40, C30, small convertible are all on the Euro Focus's C2 platform right?

 

Ah, did not know that, thanks.

 

Personally, I like how the Mercury models look better than their Ford counterparts. I also liked how Oldsmobiles looked better than Buicks.

 

IMO, that would would be the perfect idea.

Saturn is Opel USA, and Pontiac's connection to Holden is defining Pontiac's personality. Taking Mercury and using Australia's Ford Falcon line along with Europe's Mondeo line and rounding it out with Mercury's current crossovers (which aren't doing all that bad) would make a pretty strong Mercury lineup IMO.

 

But wouldn't that Super-Mercury tank sales of US Ford cars?

 

Anything you do to strengthen Mercury sales will be at the cost of Ford sales.

 

They could bring the cars over, but Ford would never be able to convince people that Mercury is not an old lady brand.

It might even be cheaper to launch a new brand (or a sub-brand of Ford) than it would to reinvent Mercury.

 

Eventually the Fusion will be the same as the Mondeo, and the Falcon may be substantially the same car as the GRWD Ford sedan, so I don't think this is a good idea.

 

They could launch a new brand. Hmm. What about using the German name for Mercury to emphasize the Europeanness of the cars



Seriously though, after you solve the problem of the name, you still have the dealers to deal with, and that (along with Merkur being clumsy on American tongues) contributed to sinking the previous attempt.