By Matthew Keegan
The auto industry is buzzing following unsubstantiated news that the Ford Motor Company is planning to kill off its Mercury brand. That story, first reported by Automotive News in late May 2010, says that Ford will continue to starve Mercury of products before finally discontinuing the marque in 2013.
Automotive Press
As usual, Ford isn’t commenting about what the automotive press is saying, but they have indicated that a decision will be announced during the company’s July 2010 general meeting. If Ford kills off Mercury, this 70 plus year old American brand will join Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Plymouth and Eagle as brands that have died or were extinguished within the past 15 years, underscoring a shift in the way car makers market and sell their cars.
Mercury’s demise isn’t likely to result in a huge outpouring of grief from the car buying public. According to The Auto Writer, fewer than 100,000 Mercurys were sold in 2009, a brand that has already disappeared from Canada. Most Mercury dealerships are tied in with Lincoln while a number of Lincoln dealers already sell Ford brand models. Ford is by far and away the largest brand for the Blue Oval, while Mercury only sells thinly disguised copies of existing Ford product.
Premium Brand
Ford Motor Company corporate material says that the brand was launched by Ford in 1939 in order to give customers an intermediate brand between “for the masses” Ford and luxury make Lincoln. For a time, Mercury sold well, topping 500,000 models sold in 1978 before beginning to decline.
Mercury has always represented different trim level Ford products, with the occasional unique or differentiated product in the mix. The Mercury Capri was unique to the brand, car imported from Ford of Europe for a time. The Mercury Grand Marquis saw some success as a livery model, but then Ford has long sold the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car too.
Small Cars
Mercury’s demise had been discussed for many years, but soon after Alan Mulally took over the reigns of the Blue Oval, the thinking was that Mercury would become a small car brand, somewhat in the way Toyota markets Scion. However, all of the new product continues to find its way to Ford, demonstrating that the auto trends are not in Mercury’s favor.
Instead, Mercury will soon be without a single new product while its older models are quietly retired, yet another footnote brand in more than one hundred years of US automotive history.
Matthew C. Keegan is a freelance writer who resides in North Carolina. Matt is a contributing writer for Andy’s Auto Sport an aftermarket supplier of quality parts including body kits and truck parts.
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