Ford Firms Up Mercury's Future
By Michelle Krebs February 16, 2010The reports of Mercury's death just became even more exaggerated.
Dealers for Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln-Mercury division were told at this week's National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando, that the weakly-endowed Mercury lineup will get a big boost come next year: Mercury is slated to get a version of the hot-looking and much-hyped (perhaps deservedly so) 2012 Ford Focus.
The choice of potential names might not be so hot: dealers told reporters at the convention Ford could revive the unflattering Tracer name for the planned Mercury-badged variant of the Focus. The Focus goes on sale in the U.S. about a year from now.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally gave a lukewarm reply when questioned at last month's Washington auto show whether perpetually moribund Mercury has a future, considering Ford's no-looking-back haste to dump its Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo (deal pending) units - all high-profile marques that nonetheless had been boat anchors on Ford's bottom line.
"The plan right now is (to develop) Ford, Lincoln and Mercury," Mulally said. Later, he again stressed the "right now" aspect of Ford's strategy to support Mercury - the division that sold less than 100,000 vehicles (92,299) for all of 2009. Discounting the fleet-queen Grand Marquis and soon-to-be-gone Sable and Mountaineer, Mercury has two models of contemporary vintage - the Milan and Mariner - currently gracing its showrooms.
Although it seemed Mulally was keeping open Ford's options for Mercury's future, he did elaborate by saying planners envision Mercury as offering a lineup of smaller models positioned between the mainstream Ford brand and the full-blown luxury of Lincoln.
The move to give Mercury a version of the coming Focus seems to support that tactic.
It will not, however, quiet criticism of Ford's longstanding reliance on badge engineering for Mercury's entire lineup.
Even before rival General Motors Corp. last year finally took the step of eliminating redundancy in its marketing divisions by eliminating the Pontiac and Saturn brands, analysts had speculated a cash-strapped Ford might also decide to cut loose the division that offers little beyond competition for the Ford models on which Mercurys are based. The former Chrysler Corp. discontinued one of Mercury's closest rival counterparts, the Plymouth division, nearly 10 years ago in 2001.
It's also possible the 2012 Tracer could be Mercury's last chance.
Response to the design and strategic direction of the new Focus has been intensely positive, so unless it drives like a jalopy, there's potential for a vastly successful effort. Ford management may reckon that if Mercury can't make a go with its version of a car with such potential, perhaps the brand genuinely is no longer viable. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
Photo by Ford
The Mercury variant of the 2012 Ford Focus shown here may be called the Tracer.
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If Alan introduces vehicles that you can not get from the Ford brand agree. Otherwise, Ford can close the Mercury books for good.
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