Another One Bites the Dust

chefdennis

Veteran Expediter
And the US Auto industry loses another Icon....

Ford to Kill Mercury Brand

CEO convinces Ford family to dump 71-year-old line

By Kevin Spak
Posted May 28, 10 6:10 AM CDT
Ford to Kill Mercury Brand - CEO convinces Ford family to dump 71-year-old line

(Newser) – Ford CEO Alan Mulally has convinced members of the Ford family to let him kill off one of the company's oldest brands, the 71-year-old Mercury. Mulally will soon seek official approval from Ford's board to pull the plug, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Mercury was created in 1939 by Edsel Ford, as a step between cheaper Ford models and pricey Lincolns, but it lost its identity over the years: By the '80s, Mercury models were little more than Fords outfitted with different grilles and tail lights.

With sales in a sharp tailspin—only 92,299 were sold last year, down from 359,143 in 2000—Mulally decided to consign the brand, to the scrapheap. Mercury, which currently has only two models, the Milan and the Mariner, "is a brand that has lost its meaning in the American automotive marketplace,” says Edmunds.com's CEO, “and it isn't worth trying to change that.”
 

Dakota

Veteran Expediter
I never understood the Mercury line anyway. Take a Ford slap a Mercury nametag and grill on it and you have a Mercury. At least that is how it has been since the eighties. The cars really are no different from the Fords
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
It seems that they need to return to single brand recognition. Like Lexus in the EU market, it is look at as something else.

Dakota, there was always a difference in interior design and there was always a higher quality of material used in the interior of the merc. Even the lower end cars (escort/tracer) had differences that were not just noticeable but welcomed at times.

I wish they would do something with Lincoln though.
 
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