Posted on 06/03/2010 6:31:08 AM PDT by AAABEST
Analysts say there are too many brands chasing too few buyers
Mercury has come to that big garage in the sky, and there's a convoy behind it of what could be more disappearing brands.
After 71 years, the Mercury brand will vanish from the market with little more than a whimper, by the end of the year. The brainchild of automotive pioneer Edsel Ford, Mercury had become little more than an afterthought on the automotive sales charts in recent years, a costly and irrelevant distraction that company officials, after years of debate, finally decided to do away with.
The move is one more step in CEO Alan Mulally’s One Ford strategy which previously resulted in the sale of foreign luxury brands Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Jaguar, and will allow the Detroit-based carmaker to put a “laser focus” on rebuilding the struggling Lincoln brand, which has steadily lost ground to luxury leaders like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and arch-rival General Motors’ Cadillac marque.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
You see alot in New York, but they are all owned by car services.
My favorite is the version by David Lindley and El Rayo X.
Very true. I used to wonder, what was the point? I once asked a dealer why not import European Fords(Mercur) instead of repackaged Fords.They did do that with one model(XR4) in the 80’sk
We had a 1963 Mercury Monterey when I was a kid. It had the powered back window that slid down at the touch of a button on the dash (actually a little lever). With the back window down (or even partially down), you could keep the windows rolled up and open the underdash vents, and you got a huge amount of air flowing through the car. The car was very heavy and was a dog as far as acceleration, even with a 390 cubic inch V8. Once it got rolling it was very quiet and comfortable and really ate up the miles on the interstate.
I wish we could claim her, but Jill Wagner is from North Carolina.
The Grand Marquis is not the coolest thing but it’s no POS.
some designer at lincoln like the melted marshmello look. BIG mistake.
The towncar has not changed or improved in over a decade.
mercury marauder...
Assuming that you are building your premium brand as well as you can build a car, that means that you are intentionally building your budget line at a lower quality. One some things quality costs (more metal, tighter specs with more parts thrown out), but other things cost nothing or so little it doesn't matter. GM was the worst because then had to make a Cadillac better than an Oldsmobile, which was better than a Buick, which was better than a Pontiac, which was better than a Chevy. Throw in Hummer, Saturn and a few other brands in that stack and you either don't have room for differentiation or you have to make your Chevy really, really crappy.
My bet on the next car line to disappear is GMC. Its sole reason for existance was to allow Cadillac, Olds, Buick and Pontiac dealers to sell rebanded Chevy trucks. Just dump GMC and make all the trucks Chevies (or dump Chevy trucks and make them all GMC).
You should check it out. Wipeout is pretty low-brow humor, but I’m a simple man, I guess. heh It’s one of the few belly-laugh shows I’ve seen in a long time.
I’d love to try my luck at the Wipeout course - it looks like fun!
Ah, I remembered wrong then. From now on, I’ll just say she’s a conservative southern gal... Then we can all take credit for her! :)
Fletcher J
Merging the division with Ford or Lincoln would make sense but why not keep building the cars for which niches exist and giving them the Mercury label?
That a song -- even if it hasn't been played for 30 years -- actually has been written about your product should be marketing gold but I guess that's why I don't run a car company.
FYI, “Mercury Blues” was written in 1949 by K. C. Douglas and Robert Geddins.
Wow! I thought it was written for Alan Jackson. Where do guys like you come up with this stuff? I love Free Republic.
Thanks.
Well, at least I still have my Hot Rod Lincoln.
Driving an ‘05 Montego and have had zero issues with it. I’ve had warranty work done to the braking system and replaced the throttle body, but the car ran fine. I’ve owner Mercs in the past and had zero problems outside of what’s standard with most Fords: cooling system failures.
I’m very sad to see Mercury go. A comparably equipped Ford (i.e. Sable vs. Taurus) is much more expensive than a mid-range Merc. This leaves us with Lincoln as a higher-end standby, but most Lincolns I’ve priced are higher than what I would want to pay. Love the MKZ though!
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