Me neither. Seems so straight forward....ah...what do I know......

 

I don't understand Mercury right now.

Take a Ford, put different tail lights on it, change the grille, change the wheels, change the badges, maybe add a chrome strip here or there, add $1K-3K to MSRP, and you have a Mercury.

With all the Mercury vehicles looking identical to their Ford counterparts, that division has absolutely ZERO identity anymore. Extreme boredom.

 

And to think of it, they are Fords most profitable division right now.

 

I agree. I really thought those were cool cars. I think the SC 4.6 would be the ticket. I am absolutely not a Ford person, but that car appealed to me a lot.

 

I can see that...
Production costs a couple hundred per car higher than Ford, and MSRP a couple thousand higher.

I guess if you market a stupid product to a stupid buyer, you have a winner.

 

Well, the Chicago show came and went and nothing from Mercury. From AH-HA’s Blog (AH-HA is another “insider” message board poster like Evok, and CamaroZ28.com’s own GuionM. AH-HA though for some reason has not posted on this site): “Currently Mercury consists of a six vehicle lineup, Mountaineer, Monterey, Milan, Montego, Mariner, and Grand Marquis, which was to grow to seven with the addition of a production version of the Meta One. Under the "Way Forward" plan, Meta One was cancelled and now several other vehicles will be phased out over the next several years, including the Mountaineer, Monterey and Grand Marquis, paring their lineup in half.”

I would venture to say it seems Mercury is going to be starved of product as Lincoln gets it’s product line-up broadened. Then, in a few years they can phase the big “M” out for good, even possibly re-badging some existing Mercury vehicles as Lincolns (can you say Lincoln Grand Marquis).

It’s probably going to be a lot easier for Ford to eliminate Mercury than it was for GM to drop Oldsmobile. GM had to sever contracts with some 2500 or so mostly stand alone Olds dealers. Whereas I don’t think there is a single Mercury dealer who does not also sell Lincolns. Right now Mercury accounts for 200,000 or so of the combined 300,000 sales at L/M dealerships. Lincoln alone may not be able to ever grow to those sales numbers, so we may see another brand join Lincoln at your local L/M dealer.

I believe we will see Ford emulate the three tiered brand strategy of Toyota. Ford will be the price and volume leader (Toyota), Lincoln the premium Brand (Lexus) leaving the youth brand slot open (Scion). I think ford is busy studying names for a stand alone Youth Brand and while I doubt Mercury will clinic well as the name to use (maybe Comet?), you could say that this Youth brand is the default replacement for Mercury at current L/M dealerships.

And you know what, as much as I cherish the great heritage of all the American brands, I think this would be a good decision for Ford…any thoughts?

P.S.
On his blog, AH-HA posits that Mercury will be turned into a brand marketed to Women, to that I have two words to say, Dodge LaFemme, ever hear of it? I thought not.

 

Yes, you are right, and I am very disheartened at the lack of Mercury presence at Chicago.

The new Navigator was their center of attention, and I guess it worked for them. The jury is still out for me - the grill is such a radical jump from anything else with Lincoln on it...
I think they were emulating the front grill on the Superduty truck lineup - which could save money on tooling if they can use the same stampings, and it also helps associate the Lincoln with Ford's Superduty lineup (as if anybody needed help knowing the Lincoln is a Ford truck underneath).

As for Mercury, I posted my thoughts on where they should be heading in another thread last month - hate to type it again.

And despite the Chicago show having come and gone, there ARE a few more shows left this season, and there is time left this year for the "cat" to get out of the bag - so to speak.

One big difference betwen Ford and GM lately is that Ford CAN keep a lid on projects where GM seems to be cursed with photo-happy teammates. Ford had the S197 car done as early as 2001, but we were all still guessing (even the Mustang magazines a-plenty) at the end-product as late as spring 2004.
[edit](PS - I got official word last week that the next Mustang design is nearing completion already! It's on the web, published in an article about the cutbacks if you know where to look for it (the TEXT that is, no images).)

The terminator project was not leaked, the recent Reflex was kept tight, the new Navigator body was kept tight, the shelby project(s) were not leaked, heck... even the Daisy project that was filmed by Rides TV crew during the entire project was kept under wraps until the Cobra concept hit the show floor at NAIAS for press day. Ford has a good security system in place... I just hope they are hiding something worthwhile (this time).

 

If I remember, they did at least 1 supercharged car to evaluate for production before the plug was pulled on Marauder all together.

 

Seems that's the story with Panther. Few years ago, it got a new hydroformed front chassis section, rack & pinion steering, and some revised chassis work out back. Outside, it looked like the car of the year before.

Yea, I knew the car was supposed to be refreshed for '06 a couple of years ago. I expected a front and rear revision. Instead, it was what? Slightly altered dash contours, slightly changed headlights on the Town Car & Grand Marquis, and slightly different grilles and tail lights?

 

That will be really sad to see Mercury faded out. That will make three brands that have been sweeped under the rug by the Big 3.

I think that Ford should move Mercury into the Lexus slot and move Lincoln up scale to compete against the Europeans. Leave the price, volume, and youth to Ford.

 

Im pretty sure Lincoln already has one of those...Lincoln Town Car

 

Thought Town Car and GM could fit together..heck GM could turn into the new Continental..

 

My second line manager has a marauder that he had a 'factory blower kit' put in, i assume some kind of SVT kit or something. I know he wrote a check for about $8K to get it all done and tuned, he said it turned ~360rwhp on the dyno, so it can't be anything too out there.

Funny thing is, ever since, he's scared of it. Talking to him a week after he got it, he said he floored it once from a 20mph roll and it went comepletely sideways and he almost lost it. By his own admission, took him another 6 months to get the nerve to even try that again (i used to josh him about it in the hallway "get the nerve up to floor it again yet" "nope"). It's not like he's too old too handle the power, he's only mid 50s, and an active / fit guy.

Now despite the fact that he's afraid of WOT, he still loves the car. He says the added torque just for general driving and passing on the highway is incredible and that the 8K is worth that alone.

Considering the average boat buyer would probably be similarly scared if they punched it and went sideways, maybe that's why ford never bothered with more power in the car. You'd never replace all the old people it would scare off with young people psyched about the power. Not to mention, trying to warranty a transmission in a way over 2 ton boat with that kind of HP and torque would be a reach too.

 

As a fan of American cars I'd love to see Ford take on the Europeans with Lincoln, like GM is doing with Cadillac. But it looks like Ford feels Jaguar is the S-Class/7-Series fighter and they have decided Lincoln must slot under Jaguar. Which seems like a lost opportunity to me, why not let Lincoln share platforms with Jag? A XJ8 platform, with a brashly American design, like the Conti show car of a few years back, and the SVT SC engine, would be mighty sweet, and not a threat to Jag, IMHO.

Almost 1/3 of the cars sold by L/M dealers are Grand Marquis'. I remember reading somewhere that Grand Marquis buyers are the most fiercely loyal group of consumers and the car is the most popular nameplate in several counties of southern Florida!

One more thought about FoMoCo, as a lifelong Detroit Lions fan, I am no fan the management style of the Ford family, Bill Ford Jr seems like a nice guy, but maybe not the man to run Ford. His dad sure can't run the Lions!

 

I wonder how many people buying Jag's know that Ford owns it?

I think it could be done. DC is trying to push Chrysler upscale, and it is getting into Mercedes territory without any problems. When I talked about Cadillac, I'm talking about the lower end of it. Maybe price Lincoln into the CTS/STS territory.