Mercury is gone?

[OriginalWheelman]

http://www.dailytech.com/Ford+Kills+Mer ... e18601.htm

Ford Motor Company is continuing to trim the fat and transform itself into a lean, mean fighting machine by offloading its long underperforming Mercury division. The Mercury division has long gotten the leftover table scraps from the mainstream Ford brand. The Milan, Mariner, Mountaineer, and Grand Marquis are all thinly veiled rebadges of the Ford Fusion, Escape, Explorer, and Crown Victoria respectively.

“Mercury originally was created as a premium offering to Ford and was an important source of incremental sales,” said Ford in a press release. “However, the continued strength of the Ford brand – particularly during the past three years – has accelerated the migration from Mercury to Ford for many customers.”

Mercury vehicle sales totaled just 92,299 for all of 2009 compared to 1,445,742 for the Ford brand. Even Lincoln, which caters to a more affluent audience than either Ford or Mercury, managed to move nearly as many vehicles as Mercury with 82,847 vehicles sold.

Ford Motor Company will wind down Mercury production in the coming months and expects to cease all production in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Kinda sad, but it makes sense. I can't remember the last item there was a Mercury without a Ford equivalent.

[Kompresshun]

Yeah, i'm not sad seeing this brand fade off into the horizon. I think Mercury was a pretty useless brand for about 20 years or so, the only thing Merc I ever liked was the late 60's Cougars and the Comets. I'm shocked they hung around this long honestly, when I was selling them and Lincolns in '06-07 I never understood then what the appeal was for them other than the Grand Marquis having huge incentives.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Yup... good riddance.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I've been pointing out the redundancy of the Mercury brand for years. It's about time Ford killed it off. Mercury right now consists of the same Ford products but with clear tail lights and extra chrome glued on wherever it can fit. Not exactly a great brand strategy.

[93coupe]

Oh man, I'm going to miss.. um, only the Marauder.

[kouki munster]

Oh man, I'm going to miss.. um, only the Marauder.

QFT.

[Jesda]

I have a guest room now. Jill Wagner needs to come hang out while she collects unemployment.

[Infinitiguy19]

Wow thats who Jill Wagner is (Google Search), she looked old next to a Mercury (TV ads).

The Grand Marquis was the only new car from Mercury I liked. And I like almost all the old Mercury cars too.

[MellowZ32]

not a good time to be a car manufacturer named after a planet!
right Saturn?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Planet-schmanet.

[Jesda]

There was also Moon Motor Cars based out of St Louis MO. That operation didn't last long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Motor_Car

[Jesda]

Fun trivia:

Through several acquisitions and buyouts, the Moon Motor Car company, in a very distant way, turned into this:
http://www.focuselectrics.com/

[elwesso]

A lot of the mercury brands were slightly nicer than the fords... IE the grand marquis is a little bit nicer than the crown vic, but not really that much..... IMO it makes sense because people probably wont mind stepping "down" to the ford brand, or stepping up to lincoln (which i imagine they will try and make the ford cars a little nicer)...

The marauder was a pretty sweet ride though... I might dare say thats one of the last true big body muscle cars of its time.. I cant think of anything else that compares since the impala SS

[Jesda]

300C SRT8. Cant wait for that to become a used cash bargain.

[themadscientist]

I was always partial to the Cougar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnHyMk5D ... re=related

I walked away from a 302 Comet when I was 16. All that motor in that little car and no power brakes scared the crap out of me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YN0ockY ... re=related

[Dattebayo]

I honestly thought the planet slipped into the sun or something. It does have a highly elliptical orbit, after all. I think it's on borrowed time anyway.

[themadscientist]

WTF are you talking about?

[Dattebayo]

WTF are you talking about?

[themadscientist]

how dare you be relevant!

[raremotive]

I honestly thought the planet slipped into the sun or something. It does have a highly elliptical orbit, after all. I think it's on borrowed time anyway.

[Dattebayo]

You know how I can tell this guy is gay?

[dre1507]

there's too much going on in that pic to not think he's gay.

[IBCoupe]

Kinda sad, but it makes sense. I can't remember the last item there was a Mercury without a Ford equivalent.

Wasn't this one it?

[IBCoupe]

Wait... I'm only half-right. Does a four-door equivalent count?

[sultan]

this will piss off a lot of old ladies


crown vic is garbage and not an alternative for them, dunno why

[Bubba1]

Oh man, I'm going to miss.. um, only the Marauder.

So you're gonna miss a Grand Marquis with blacked chrome and bucket seats???

I'm not going to miss Mercury, and I've owned 3 over the years.
IMHO the last interesting Merc's were '67 Cougar and '71 Capri (made in Germany)

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

I came in here expecting the destruction of a planet.
Disappointed...

[Bubba1]

I came in here expecting the destruction of a planet.
Disappointed...

If it helps, there was a lively discussion about...uranus.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

Really? What was discussed?

[skydragoness]

I've been pointing out the redundancy of the Mercury brand for years. It's about time Ford killed it off. Mercury right now consists of the same Ford products but with clear tail lights and extra chrome glued on wherever it can fit. Not exactly a great brand strategy.

^This

No idea why they existed. "Yes, I would like a Ford Fusion.. but with more chrome.." Voila! The Mercury Milan.