My plan to save Mercury
03-13-2003, 01:02 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: USA
Posts: 3,698
My plan to save Mercury
Welcome back to the GMI Bottom Line, my name is Branden I will be your enchanted tour guide. Today’s trip will actually not involve GM directly actually. It will be about the competition, or more appropriately a brand that could be competition. Please hold you laughter…but today’s bottom line is on how Ford could make Mercury a contender…to GM and the whole auto industry.
Okay now I know your wondering why I would give a rat’s *** about lowly Mercury, I mean after all I am the GMInsider guy and all. To be honest with you I am not fiercely GM brand loyal, no mater of fact I have owned quite a few Ford’s. My first car was a 1987 Mercury Cougar LS with the raging 120 hp 3.8L V6. The car was given to my step dad after the owner thought that the motor was blown. It sat in my yard broken down with 230,000 miles on it for nearly two year before I was near getting my license. As the day I would have my license neared, me and my step dad too to the task of bringing the cat back from the dead. It took $600 and 4 months of working on it to fix it, but when I had a car to drive…a slow dented rusty one…but it drove. Well after a year of service I totaled the car in an accident and the car was finally put to rest. Being my first car though Mercury still has a soft spot in my hear…to the point a few month back I considered buying a New Edge Cougar..well till everyone teased me for it being a chick car. So all that I guess I guess explains my weird hopr to see Mercury live.
First off the problem with Mercury is it is branded as an almost Lincoln…which doesn’t work. I don’t need to explain why…it just doesn’t. Buying an almost Lincoln says “I can’t afford an actual Lincoln” which is not an image people want to portray with cars. Also Mercury’s current design is questionable at least and appeals only to people between 50 and dead. They had a good thing with the Cougar initially, but they watered it down and didn’t give it the performance or convertible versions that it sorely needed. Then the 2001 redesign sealed the cars fate as it killed the appeal the car had to the younger import market. Other than that Mercury’s other styling is bland and boring. There is no performance in the brand aside from the Marauder, which has been bashed for not living up to expectations power wise. Rather than giving it more power, Ford has reported decided to axe the car in two years. All the other cars suffer from having the same or less power than their Ford counterparts, yet weighing more because of all the luxury crap. So in essence you have a slower, uglier, more expensive Ford that no one under 50 gives a crap about. How to fix this you ask?
The answer of course lays with GM and their much lambasted brand management scheme. See GM has way more brands than Ford (NOT counting PAG, GAG or whatever it called) and manages to sell cars fine. Last year GM car czar Bob Lutz announced that Pontiac’s would lose the cladding and make a run at being the American BMW. Though far fetched if the G6, 2004 Grand Prix and GTO are forbearers GM will have a winner on it’s hands, even with out matching the BMW standard. The new Pontiac’s are characterized by athletic styling, great interiors, and something called “total performance”, that is the mixture of handling, ride, and acceleration that make the car and all out performer. While GM is marketed to the lower middle class and to some extent maybe even people who have trouble paying their bills, Pontiac is for people who live comfortable and want something sporty and upscale…not a car the next size down from a Lincoln. I live to call it “refined sportiness”, kind of like the guy who dresses in a nice shirt and tie but will knock you on your *** if he says something bad about him. The Pontiac’s in most cases have more power than their Chevy counterpoints. Case and point, the new 2004 Impala SS has a 240HP 3800 series II V8, yet the 2004 Grand Prix has a 260 HP 3800 Series III engine and will be bumped up to 280 once powertrain can figure out how to make the 4T-65E transaxle survive it. Same with the Bonneville GXP, which sports a watered down 4.4L Nothstar, Chevy has nothing like that with the Impala. Now think back to Ford, who thinks they would allow the Sable to have a more powerful engine than the Taurus? The Marauder was an anomaly because it is the one Mercury that holds it own against its Ford counterpart. In short Mercury needs to become Ford’s Pontiac.
Here is my suggestion for a future Mercury lineup….First, off give it version of the Focus, but a sportier Focus. Make the base model a little faster than a base Focus and the top of the line a Turbo version faster than the SVT Focus. The interior should be spruced up with titanium and other sporty bits. Next, use some of Fords global reach and bring in versions of the Miata and Mazda 6. Again, make them sport yet tasteful in the styling department with plenty of difference between the Mazda cars skin up. I also say take top of the line that Mazda offers and make it the base, then create new top of the line performance models for Mercury. The Miata could have a supercharged 200 HP engine to fight the Solstice, and the 6 counterpart would need at least 245 HP to compete in the sport sedan segment. Again a sporty interior with nice materials will serve its purpose…no wood grain. Also these two models WILL not be shared with Ford. Next bring back the Cougar, which is a no brainer. The Cougar name is the one mercury name everyone knows and loves. I say take the Mustang platform lengthen it to about the size of a GTO and stuff a 4V 4.6L in it base with a XR7 running the Cobra Engine. Give it a few retro cues, but make the design modernistic. Charge around $35K base, maybe $45K for top of the line. Make the car worth every penny. Next take the Grandpa Marquis and use the Marauder engine standard with a supercharged engine in the new Marauder. Change the styling to a little more aggressive and charge more. If people can’t afford it they can buy a Crown Vic. Next give the car a larger Sedan, I think the upcoming Montego would be fine long as it was a little more aggressive and had more power than the 500. As for trucks…I say dump the whole line…I know it sounds drastic, but Pontiac gets by with out them. My guess would be if the Mountaineer wasn’t there people could be Sold on the Explorer or Aviator just as easy. Next give it a big ad campaign so the people know Mercury has changed. Use a revised God of Speed logo and come up with a catchy tag line and use it on all your commercials…like Pontiac’s “Driving Excitement”. How bout “The God of Speed is Back” or “The Definition of American Performance”, or even “A Mercury so fast you’ll soak your Depend’s” Make the commercials no nonsense and business like…people who buy these kinds of cars like that. And remember stay your ground Ford….don’t be afraid to let a mercury be better than a Ford…they are supposed to be.
I know this is all a pipe dream, but I would be nice to see Ford spend the money to save a classic marquee. GM did it with Old’s and at the last minute chickened out. It would be awesome to see if an American brand can really be revived from the dead….so far Plymouth and Old’s say no..but I have faith ford!J
And that’s the Bottom Line!
Okay now I know your wondering why I would give a rat’s *** about lowly Mercury, I mean after all I am the GMInsider guy and all. To be honest with you I am not fiercely GM brand loyal, no mater of fact I have owned quite a few Ford’s. My first car was a 1987 Mercury Cougar LS with the raging 120 hp 3.8L V6. The car was given to my step dad after the owner thought that the motor was blown. It sat in my yard broken down with 230,000 miles on it for nearly two year before I was near getting my license. As the day I would have my license neared, me and my step dad too to the task of bringing the cat back from the dead. It took $600 and 4 months of working on it to fix it, but when I had a car to drive…a slow dented rusty one…but it drove. Well after a year of service I totaled the car in an accident and the car was finally put to rest. Being my first car though Mercury still has a soft spot in my hear…to the point a few month back I considered buying a New Edge Cougar..well till everyone teased me for it being a chick car. So all that I guess I guess explains my weird hopr to see Mercury live.
First off the problem with Mercury is it is branded as an almost Lincoln…which doesn’t work. I don’t need to explain why…it just doesn’t. Buying an almost Lincoln says “I can’t afford an actual Lincoln” which is not an image people want to portray with cars. Also Mercury’s current design is questionable at least and appeals only to people between 50 and dead. They had a good thing with the Cougar initially, but they watered it down and didn’t give it the performance or convertible versions that it sorely needed. Then the 2001 redesign sealed the cars fate as it killed the appeal the car had to the younger import market. Other than that Mercury’s other styling is bland and boring. There is no performance in the brand aside from the Marauder, which has been bashed for not living up to expectations power wise. Rather than giving it more power, Ford has reported decided to axe the car in two years. All the other cars suffer from having the same or less power than their Ford counterparts, yet weighing more because of all the luxury crap. So in essence you have a slower, uglier, more expensive Ford that no one under 50 gives a crap about. How to fix this you ask?
The answer of course lays with GM and their much lambasted brand management scheme. See GM has way more brands than Ford (NOT counting PAG, GAG or whatever it called) and manages to sell cars fine. Last year GM car czar Bob Lutz announced that Pontiac’s would lose the cladding and make a run at being the American BMW. Though far fetched if the G6, 2004 Grand Prix and GTO are forbearers GM will have a winner on it’s hands, even with out matching the BMW standard. The new Pontiac’s are characterized by athletic styling, great interiors, and something called “total performance”, that is the mixture of handling, ride, and acceleration that make the car and all out performer. While GM is marketed to the lower middle class and to some extent maybe even people who have trouble paying their bills, Pontiac is for people who live comfortable and want something sporty and upscale…not a car the next size down from a Lincoln. I live to call it “refined sportiness”, kind of like the guy who dresses in a nice shirt and tie but will knock you on your *** if he says something bad about him. The Pontiac’s in most cases have more power than their Chevy counterpoints. Case and point, the new 2004 Impala SS has a 240HP 3800 series II V8, yet the 2004 Grand Prix has a 260 HP 3800 Series III engine and will be bumped up to 280 once powertrain can figure out how to make the 4T-65E transaxle survive it. Same with the Bonneville GXP, which sports a watered down 4.4L Nothstar, Chevy has nothing like that with the Impala. Now think back to Ford, who thinks they would allow the Sable to have a more powerful engine than the Taurus? The Marauder was an anomaly because it is the one Mercury that holds it own against its Ford counterpart. In short Mercury needs to become Ford’s Pontiac.
Here is my suggestion for a future Mercury lineup….First, off give it version of the Focus, but a sportier Focus. Make the base model a little faster than a base Focus and the top of the line a Turbo version faster than the SVT Focus. The interior should be spruced up with titanium and other sporty bits. Next, use some of Fords global reach and bring in versions of the Miata and Mazda 6. Again, make them sport yet tasteful in the styling department with plenty of difference between the Mazda cars skin up. I also say take top of the line that Mazda offers and make it the base, then create new top of the line performance models for Mercury. The Miata could have a supercharged 200 HP engine to fight the Solstice, and the 6 counterpart would need at least 245 HP to compete in the sport sedan segment. Again a sporty interior with nice materials will serve its purpose…no wood grain. Also these two models WILL not be shared with Ford. Next bring back the Cougar, which is a no brainer. The Cougar name is the one mercury name everyone knows and loves. I say take the Mustang platform lengthen it to about the size of a GTO and stuff a 4V 4.6L in it base with a XR7 running the Cobra Engine. Give it a few retro cues, but make the design modernistic. Charge around $35K base, maybe $45K for top of the line. Make the car worth every penny. Next take the Grandpa Marquis and use the Marauder engine standard with a supercharged engine in the new Marauder. Change the styling to a little more aggressive and charge more. If people can’t afford it they can buy a Crown Vic. Next give the car a larger Sedan, I think the upcoming Montego would be fine long as it was a little more aggressive and had more power than the 500. As for trucks…I say dump the whole line…I know it sounds drastic, but Pontiac gets by with out them. My guess would be if the Mountaineer wasn’t there people could be Sold on the Explorer or Aviator just as easy. Next give it a big ad campaign so the people know Mercury has changed. Use a revised God of Speed logo and come up with a catchy tag line and use it on all your commercials…like Pontiac’s “Driving Excitement”. How bout “The God of Speed is Back” or “The Definition of American Performance”, or even “A Mercury so fast you’ll soak your Depend’s” Make the commercials no nonsense and business like…people who buy these kinds of cars like that. And remember stay your ground Ford….don’t be afraid to let a mercury be better than a Ford…they are supposed to be.
I know this is all a pipe dream, but I would be nice to see Ford spend the money to save a classic marquee. GM did it with Old’s and at the last minute chickened out. It would be awesome to see if an American brand can really be revived from the dead….so far Plymouth and Old’s say no..but I have faith ford!J
And that’s the Bottom Line!
03-13-2003, 02:12 PM
#2
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: The Golden State
Posts: 13,711
I read an interesting interview a few days ago about this very subject. Seems that Mercury was to become a casualty as money was moved to Lincoln to becom a global brand. Now, Lincoln is abandoning that goal, and money is being moved back to Mercury, and they will infact have some new models comming out.
The catch is, as projects are being started now, it means 5 years or so before they come out. Till then, We'll have to settle for rebadged Fords. At least these will have bigger engines than their Ford counterparts.
The catch is, as projects are being started now, it means 5 years or so before they come out. Till then, We'll have to settle for rebadged Fords. At least these will have bigger engines than their Ford counterparts.
03-13-2003, 04:56 PM
#3
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 1,873
They should bring over the latest Mondeo as a Mercury. They are really nice cars. There used to be a 4 door hatchback around here with manufacturer plates and it looked better than any other Ford car sold here.
03-13-2003, 08:47 PM
#4
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Inland Empire, CA
Posts: 599
If they bring back a performance Cougar, they should bring back the Eliminator name. It's so much cooler than "XR7"
I've always hated the XR7 name.
But yeah, the Mercury of the 60's was always the better car. The Cougar I have came standard with a 351W and a 9", where the Mustang of the day was coming standard with an I6, and the standard V8 was a 302. The 69/70 Cougar was basically a Mustang Mach 1, so it started pretty far up the chain.
So I'd like to see Mercury of today, kind of like that. Always starting with the bigger engine, the better options. If Mercury got a compact, I'd like to see it starting at the level of the SVT Focus. Otherwise what's the point?
I've always hated the XR7 name.
But yeah, the Mercury of the 60's was always the better car. The Cougar I have came standard with a 351W and a 9", where the Mustang of the day was coming standard with an I6, and the standard V8 was a 302. The 69/70 Cougar was basically a Mustang Mach 1, so it started pretty far up the chain.
So I'd like to see Mercury of today, kind of like that. Always starting with the bigger engine, the better options. If Mercury got a compact, I'd like to see it starting at the level of the SVT Focus. Otherwise what's the point?
03-13-2003, 09:02 PM
#5
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: The Golden State
Posts: 13,711
Originally posted by WERM
They should bring over the latest Mondeo as a Mercury. They are really nice cars. There used to be a 4 door hatchback around here with manufacturer plates and it looked better than any other Ford car sold here.
They should bring over the latest Mondeo as a Mercury. They are really nice cars. There used to be a 4 door hatchback around here with manufacturer plates and it looked better than any other Ford car sold here.
03-13-2003, 10:21 PM
#6
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 576
I agree about the Mondeo, I saaw one in Texas in Octobe last year and First it looked like a Focus with Projectors, when I took a closer look it was a Mondeo and I was wondering what I had missed, but later found out that they are sold in mexico and a bunch of them are in South Padre Islands...
Formula79 I think I get what you are saying, and agree with you but wouldn't it just make a lower volume niche brand that would sell even less and thereby be subject to the same fate as Oldsmobile? I am just asking...
Formula79 I think I get what you are saying, and agree with you but wouldn't it just make a lower volume niche brand that would sell even less and thereby be subject to the same fate as Oldsmobile? I am just asking...
03-13-2003, 10:36 PM
#7
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: USA
Posts: 3,698
Originally posted by ced8
I agree about the Mondeo, I saaw one in Texas in Octobe last year and First it looked like a Focus with Projectors, when I took a closer look it was a Mondeo and I was wondering what I had missed, but later found out that they are sold in mexico and a bunch of them are in South Padre Islands...
Formula79 I think I get what you are saying, and agree with you but wouldn't it just make a lower volume niche brand that would sell even less and thereby be subject to the same fate as Oldsmobile? I am just asking...
I agree about the Mondeo, I saaw one in Texas in Octobe last year and First it looked like a Focus with Projectors, when I took a closer look it was a Mondeo and I was wondering what I had missed, but later found out that they are sold in mexico and a bunch of them are in South Padre Islands...
Formula79 I think I get what you are saying, and agree with you but wouldn't it just make a lower volume niche brand that would sell even less and thereby be subject to the same fate as Oldsmobile? I am just asking...
03-14-2003, 05:00 PM
#9
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 1,873
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
PFYC
Supporting Vendor Group Purchases and Sales
0
09-17-2015 11:53 AM
NewsBot
2010 - 2015 Camaro News, Sightings, Pictures, and Multimedia
0
09-14-2015 09:20 AM
RX Speed Works
Supporting Vendor Group Purchases and Sales
0
09-11-2015 03:31 PM