The problem with Mercury is Ford. Mercury IS the Grand Marquis. Ford is too stupid to invest in the Panther platform, thus the Grand Marquis does not get invested in.

Breaks down like this:

No investment in Grand Marquis eventually equals No Mercury, period.

I resemble that remark. I still own one of my Mercury Mystiques. It made sense at the time, the V6 on the Ford Contour was a hard come by, but the Mercury came with it, and anti-locks, traction control and airbags, and was more heavily discounted than the Ford. Dealers usually regard the smaller Mercs as a nuisance and are quicker to make a deal to move the metal.

My kids were teenagers in the 90s and I did not want to have them driving something that I would worry about. The Mystique was reasonably sized, reasonably priced, well equipped, and I did not mind driving it when I had to.

They are in their 20s now and two of them live in Chicago. I let them keep the 99 up there. It has a value of maybe $2000. They park on the street, and I loose no sleep over it. If it gets stolen or totaled, I will spend no time worrying about it.

If that isn’t everything you need to know, call your doctor.

Of course if they’d just build interesting products that people want to buy Ford could grow themselves into a profit instead of having to save their way into a profit.

Whether or not Mercury should continue to live is not, in my opinion, that complicated – it needs to die at some point or be completely changed think Scion-like (small, urban – hopefully not as ugly and cheaply executed as the new ones) or Prius-like (futuristic powertrain-only brand). Euro Fords will be U.S. Fords starting late next year, so that strategy won’t work either. Until Ford gets its brand image closer to that of Toyota or Honda – and it will as it launches the new Fusion this year, the Verve and updated Edge next year, the new Focus and new Explorer in 2010 – Mercury is a place where domestic-weary buyers are still willing to shop. And Ford needs that to help its overall corporate image in the longer run.

I just realized we are making a big mistake. We need to stop talking about Jill all the time. They are going to realize that she is more popular than the name brand and she will go the way of the Legend.

Mercury is car? I thought that was Pontiac. :-)

It’s so simple everyone but an auto exec. can figure it out. Take Lincoln upmarket where it belongs and make Mercury a step up from a Ford.

Wait, no. There was a kid I went to high school with who had one of those last gen Cougars with a intake, headers, exhaust, and underbody lights. I whuped him pretty good once with an I/E and more boost AWD 1st Gen DSM.

Though if I had the money I would have loved to get the Lincoln Aviator, but new, that thing is ridiculously overpriced. Yes it the interior is great, but a 1-2 year devalue was close to 25%. Sorry.

mmmmmmmm timeshifted HD Jill Wagner….

With that in mind, Ford certainly doesn’t want to bring an Oldsmobile-like death upon themselves. GM is too afraid to kill off one of their many parasitic brands these days, after the massive lawsuit payouts to disgruntled dealers immediately following the three-year-long closeout of Oldsmobile.

I certainly don’t think Mercury would be missed as much by the marketplace, however. They don’t even have a single unique product.

Perhaps Mercury will be winnowed to an affordable line of CUV’s, and then left to wither on the vine. That’s where the sweet spot in the market seems to be if you don’t have the money to come up with a unique lineup.

I guess that nails it: Mercury is a better-looking Ford.

The Marauder was pretty cool too (when gas cost half as much).