Ford Said to Plan End of Forgotten Mercury After Seven Decades

www.businessweek.com ^ | 5-27-2010 | By Keith Naughton

[Red Badger]

Ford Motor Co. is preparing to wind down the Mercury line, created in 1939 by Edsel Ford, after sales plunged 74 percent since 2000, said two people familiar with the plan.

The automaker’s top executives are preparing a proposal to kill Mercury to be presented to directors in July, said the people, who asked not to be indentified revealing internal discussions. Mercury, losing two of four models next year, will be starved of products and promotion, the people said.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally emphasized the automaker’s namesake brand as he revived the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy. The timing of Mercury’s demise depends on how fast executives can convince the brand’s dealers, who also sell Lincoln models, to close or merge with Ford showrooms, they said.

“Mercury is a forgotten brand,” said John Wolkonowicz, an auto analyst with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Many Americans probably already think it has been discontinued. Mercury was too similar to Ford from the very beginning.”

Mulally also is unloading Ford’s European luxury brands, after the automaker failed to achieve a goal to have them generate one-third of automotive profits. Ford in March agreed to sell Volvo to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. It sold off Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin in the last three years.

Detroit’s Departed

Mercury would join Pontiac, Saturn, Oldsmobile and Plymouth among the departed Detroit brands of the 21st century. Sales will end within four years, one of the people estimated. General Motors Co., as part of its U.S.-backed reorganization last year, sold or closed four of its eight brands sold domestically.

[Red Badger]

Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....

If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me.....

This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....

[I see my hands]

Mercury Blues

[Red Badger]

Steve Miller Band

Mercury Blues

Had my money
I tell you what I’d do
I would go downtown
Buy a Mercury or two
Cause I’m crazy ‘bout a Mercury
Cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road
I’m goin’ to buy me a Mercury
And I’ll cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road

You know that gal I love
I stole her from a friend
Fool got lucky stole her back again
Because she knowed he had a Mercury
Cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road
Well, she knowed he had a Mercury
And she cruise up and down this road

[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/bK8 ]
Hey now mama
Where’d you stay last night
Your hair’s all down
Your clothes don’t fit you right
Had my money
I tell you what I’d do
Go downtown and buy a Mercury or two
Cause I’m crazy ‘bout a Mercury
And I’ll cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road

I’m going to buy me a Mercury
And I’ll cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road

I’m going to buy me a Mercury
Going to buy me a Mercury
Going to buy me a Mercury
Cruise, cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road

I’m going to buy me a Mercury
Buy me a Mercury
Going to buy me a Mercury
Cruise, cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road

[Red Badger]

See next post..........

[Williams]

Damn shame I like the mercurys, a nice upgrade from the Ford models.

[The_Victor]

But I just put Mercury on my list....

[PGR88]

What about that cute girl on the TV adverts who says: “you gotta put Mercury on your list!”

Please tell me she will be OK!!

[nina0113]

poor old Bobcat...was there a Mercury version of the Mustang?

[Myrddin]

Too bad. I moved from a 2003 Escape to a 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid. The Mercury has leather seats with "seat heat". I was planning an eventual replacement with a conventional gas engine, 4x4, leather seats, nav system and tow package. Perhaps I'll have to choose differently or not at all.

[brownsfan]

“was there a Mercury version of the Mustang?”

The Cougar.

[Red Badger]

Cougar............

[hinckley buzzard]

Awful lot of Grand Marquis's around here. I never noticed until I took one off my brother-in-law's hands. They're everywhere. My daughter has an old Sable which has been a very nice car and served her well.

The difference between the GM and the Crown Vic is only the quality of interior, likewise the Sable and the Taurus. If they offered a better top of the line for their own models they really wouldn't need the Mercury nameplate.

[lack-of-trust]

in the 80’s , the Mercury version of the Mustang was the Capri

[MarkeyD]

Alan Jackson had a good cover of that too.

[Coldwater Creek]

I shared a blue 49 Mercury with former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs when we were teenagers. Had enough chrome to blind one’s eyes. It was named My Blue Heaven.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

First the Cougar, then the Capri.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I just bought a new SUV the other day... was tempted to buy a Chevy Tahoe ... but then I remembered that GM now stands for Government Motors, and kept on driving to the ford dealership to make my purchase.

[okie01]

.was there a Mercury version of the Mustang?

The original Cougar.

[nina0113]

I can’t remember ever seeing one, but the name is familiar, and it makes sense:

Mustang :: Cougar
Pinto :: Bobcat

Wasn’t there a Mercury Lynx? What was its Ford analogue?