[Frost__2001]

Ford Sets Out to Save Mercury
The Daily Auto Insider
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
October 2006


Ford's Mercury brand lives — at least for now, Automotive News reports.

Despite calls by industry analysts and others for Ford to kill off its ailing Mercury brand — its sales have fallen below 200,000 units from its 1978 peak of 580,000 units — the company is unveiling a fresh product lineup supported by a 20 percent boost in ad dollars, the story said.

Except for the Grand Marquis, all of Mercury's models have been refreshed or redesigned since the 2005 model year. But, aside from the restyled, re-engineered 2008 Mariner and a mild freshening for the 2008 Montego, industry sources told Automotive News that the model line will remain basically untouched through the 2010 model year.

However, next spring, Mercury will introduce its new marketing message with the 2008 Mariner, positioning the brand as "the sophisticated alternative to mainstream vehicles."

Also, as part of its plan, Mercury will seek more Hispanic, female and black buyers. In May, Mercury sponsored the eighth annual Miami Fashion Week, and it sponsored a similar event in New York. This month Mercury sponsored a Latino film festival in Miami.

Mercury's lineup for the 2007-10 model years:

Mariner: Restyling, re-engineering for 2008 model year
Milan: Debuted 2006 model year; no significant changes expected
Montego: Debuted 2005 model year; restyled grille, new headlight treatments for 2008 model year
Mountaineer: Redesigned 2006 model year; no significant changes expected
Grand Marquis: No significant changes expected

[Mike]

Sigh , when will ford ever learn , why the heck would you want to buy a ford car with a different trim package for more money ??? i dunno , mercury should be buried, alive at that too. Talk about a *yawn* boring brand

[NefCanuck]

I dunno, for a company hemorraging money like Ford is, pumping money into the Mercury nameplate at this stage of the game seems a no-win scenario to me. Sure you might grab some sales from other makes but your just as likely to cannabalize your own sales (at slightly higher profit margins, I will grant)

A "Bold Move" would be Ford euthanising the Mercury brand in the US as they did in Canada. Concentrate on producing one line of desirable, well built cars and forget trying to skim bits of "cream" as opposed to the mainstream milk of the purchaser dollars...

NefCanuck

[CanadaSVT]

Bring out a 5.4 S/C Marauder and I'll buy another Mercury! B)

[CanadaSVT]

NefCanuck,Oct 17 2006, 09:04 PM Wrote:A "Bold Move" would be Ford euthanising the Mercury brand in the US as they did in Canada.  Concentrate on producing one line of desirable, well built cars and forget trying to skim bits of "cream" as opposed to the mainstream milk of the purchaser dollars...
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It's weird how you can buy a brand new Mercury Grand Marquis in Canada at a Ford dealership, but you can't buy a Ford Crown Vic anywhere in Canada.

[NOS2Go4Me]

CanadaSVT,Oct 17 2006, 11:23 PM Wrote:Bring out a 5.4 S/C Marauder and I'll buy another Mercury! B)
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Now that would be a thing to see/hear - a S/Ced Marauder that moves!

[ZTWsquared]

CanadaSVT,Oct 17 2006, 11:25 PM Wrote:It's weird how you can buy a brand new Mercury Grand Marquis in Canada at a Ford dealership, but you can't buy a Ford Crown Vic anywhere in Canada.
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Actually you can buy a Crown Vic in Canada, but fleet only - and so technically Crown Vics still outsell Grand Marquis.

The rationale is this: when Ford of Canada sold Crown Vics and Grand Marquis together, the vast majority of retail customers chose the Grand Marquis over the Crown Vic, and most Crown Vic sales were fleet ... and so today's situation is basically the same except there is no choice.

When Ford of Canada axed the Mercury brand Bobbie Gaunt actually tried to have the Grand Marquis rebadged a Ford like they do in Mexico, for exactly that reason. Detroit said no but then allowed them to keep the Grand Marquis as the only Mercury sold in Canada.

[darkpuppet]

I can just see the new ad campaigns.

"Have you donked a merc lately?"