Charger is a small player in that market compared to CV/GM. On top of that, given Chrysler’s uncertain future, many will not risk making long-term commitments of this sort.

Talk about reinventing the square wheel here… I thought this was what Merc was already doing? So just what is changing here? This makes it sound like Ford is just going to kick back and keep pressing the reset button on Mercury until *maybe* they get what they want, or just kills it.

As I mentioned in a different blog, they need make more drastic changes with this company if its not feasible to just kill it off. All I see them doing is saying “yay, we made changes; but not really”. I strongly feel that the name Mercury should be changed to something new to get away from the “its just a Ford with overprices chrome” mentality. If not, then what kind of changes could Ford expect to get back out of this division? Make this division of Ford like Scion, and sell the small fuel efficient cars that everyone is buying or wants to buy instead of selling redundant oversized cars that overlap both Ford and Lincoln.

The Charger is relatively cramped for its size — I doubt it’ll be a better fit for RWD fleets than the CV/GM duo.

You mean police, taxi, and limo is NOT a mass market? On top of that, it’s a captive market because there is no one else in that space. To abandon it would be insane.

Cough cough… Charger?

Mercury owners, like their Buick counterparts, always seems to have the faint odor of formaldehyde about them.

Ford, please, just knife the thing and let Mazda handle this. They have the respect, they have the demographics and–this is important–they already have the product.

You mean police, taxi, and limo is NOT a mass market? On top of that, it’s a captive market because there is no one else in that space. To abandon it would be insane.

Grand Marquis is to Mercury what Camry is to Toyota. So of course now the Ford logic will be to dump it and go for small cars, since small cars are what Mercury is known for , that makes as much sense as marketing Mercury to women, eh?

The problem with the Grand Marquis (or really any panther platform car) is that only old people are remotely attracted to them. The big V8, RWD, huge hood, sofa-soft bench seat and simple retro dash and ergonomics make for a durable and comfortable car, but there is no flash and pizazz. What makes for an excellent platform for police cruisers, taxi cabs, and limos doesn’t make for an appealing mass market car.

Ford would have to spend big bucks to update the platform so that it could appeal to new tastes, and with the new RWD platform waiting in the wings somewhere, that doesn’t make the most sense.

No Grand Marquis = No Mercury

Grand Marquis is to Mercury what Camry is to Toyota. So of course now the Ford logic will be to dump it and go for small cars, since small cars are what Mercury is known for , that makes as much sense as marketing Mercury to women, eh?

And 30 years ago, Mercury advertised themselves as “The Man’s Car.” Just goes to show that Ford has never really known just what Mercury is or how to market it.

Sex sells. Even to people who are discreet (for lack of a better word). Maybe ESPECIALLY to people who are discreet.

I remember years ago, I started reading “Maxim” magazine. Haven’t read it for a long time, but their thing was that it was a men’s magazine FOR MEN. Maxim was the mag that put hot women in the calendar and on the cover, not pictures of some androgynous male model (yeah, that’s you, GQ).

The picture accompanying this article has that same appeal; Don’t know who she is, but… great pose, nice legs.

Uhhh, but what’s this with the dirty feet again?

At least she’s not advertising Virginia Slims. It’s the same concept, though. Mercury isn’t trying to sell cars to the Jill Wagners of the world (wherever they are). They are selling the idea that buying a Mercury will bring out the Jill Wagner in you. In other words, they are selling to women who smoke Virginia Slims because they think it makes them look glamorous.

Hey, a demographic is a demographic.

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1174/Lincoln-Continental-Concept.html

Part of the Big 3s problems is that they think so local. Does anyone think Hyundai plans to sell huge numbers of those Genesis sedans here in the US? Of course not – their reputation as a seller of cheap econo cars will see to that. But they can sell that car all over the world where they enjoy a better reputation. Maybe a RWD chassis will have a limited market in the US for Lincoln, but if it is a quality job, why can’t it be sold worldwide??

I’d sure like to see a car with traditional Cougar Styling cues from the sixties built on the Mustang chassis, although with IRS, and postioned to be more like a competitor to the likes of the Infiniti G37 Coupe.

Lincoln is Ford’s Buick and Mercury will be their Oldsmobile.

That makes perfect sense. Too bad it took several failed models to figure out what worked from the beginning.

I think all in all this is better news for Lincoln than for Mercury.

Amen. That’s been their modus operandi ever since 1939. No doubt a ‘49 Merc was a better planned entry-level premium model than a Mountaineer, but they’ve always tried. Maybe this time they won’t half ass it like they’ve done for decades.

Mercury: we’ll use our whole ass this time!

Entry premium sounds like a good idea for Mercury, although I would have to assume that any Focus based vehicles should come from the next generation euro-Focus, as the current one is not that desireable… The return of the Cougar would also be nice, stuff the 3.7 liter engine from the MKS/CX-9/upcoming Mazda6 into a small coupe with svelt styling and create a legitimate competitor to the 350Z et al.

Whatever that means. They should just axe the entire brand and upgrade Lincolns to compete with the Germans.

Ford positions Mercury as an “entry premium brand.” Isn’t that what they have been doing all along???

It would be great if Ford would design 3 or 4 unique Mercury’s that compliment Lincoln but don’t step on Ford (since more and more of Ford’s stores sell all 3).

I would like to see a Focus based hard top convertible, a Focus based coupe and sedan, then the Milan sedan and Mariner SUV – which needs to be Kuga style and lose the truck look. Nothing should be a strippy model and all should have unique sheetmetal.

Maybe Ford should introduce the brand to the world market to get the economies of scale to afford the unique bits.