Mercury name officially disappears from dealerships
By Andrew, 03 Jan, 2011. 0 Comments
2010 Mercury Mariner Hybrid
Today it became official: the Mercury name disappeared from dealerships, marking the end of a once-heralded brand. Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insight for the auto research website TrueCar said that the Mercury brand has been a redundant brand for Ford for at least the last five years. Still, for most customers, Mercury vehicles were just cosmetically enhanced Fords. Apparently, the Mercury brand was just a solution for those people who couldn’t afford a Lincoln, but wanted something more than a Ford.
Furthermore, Mercury was designed to be an automobile "for the aspirational class," but it appears that the brand’s models were not different enough from Ford to attract auto buyers in sufficient numbers. Trough November, Mercury sold only 84,802 units, which means a 57 percent decline from the 195,949 units sold just five years before. Moreover, Mercury sales represented less than 5 percent of Ford's total sales of 1.7 million in 2010.
"Mercury's customer profile, pricing and margins are almost identical to Ford," the company said in a statement, when it decided to eliminate the brand back in June 2010. So, for those who would like to see again Mercury vehicles in all of their glory, you’ll just have to watch some movies such as "Rebel Without a Cause" (James Dean was behind the wheel of a customized 1949 Mercury) to "On His Majesty's Secret Service," in which James Bond's drove a red 1969 Cougar XR-7 known as the Eliminator. [via DetroitNews]
Latest Auto Shows
