Mercury Trumps Lincoln
Ford is unveiling a new high end trim level at the South Florida Auto Show– in a Mercury. Wait; isn't that kind of upmarket action Lincoln's purview? Not according to the report in The Detroit News. The "VOGA" trim level is set to debut on the Mariner early next year, and move on to other models from there. No, we're not kidding about the name. Despite being an obvious homonym for "vulgar" (at least in Massachusetts), "voga" means "vogue" in Italian. Anyway, according to Ford's NA design chief Peter Horbury, VOGA is "for people who really do care about style." Since the former "Man's Car" is now selling primarily to women, Mercury's going all out[ish] with "fashion-inspired trim." It has "a unique color scheme, embroidered leather and … subtle clues … designed to convey a greater sense of style." When the bar is low, "greater than" is a slam dunk. Just sayin'.
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tcwarnke:
Really? Mercury is bringing in SO MANY new customers that would never go near a Ford dealer…Really?????
Sure thing! They're lining up to buy them. Why, in October alone, Mercury sold a whopping six new vehicles per dealership!
And I betcha most of those six are brand loyal and/or lease returns. And most of those six are Grand Marquis. I expect the Mariner Hybrid is bringing in outsiders who hear about it on the Internet. Other than that, you gotta be kidding me.
That's a bit pathetic...