http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/16/a...nt-of-mercury/

 

Mercury means more bells and whistles than the comparable Ford badged product, but also slightly less than the comparable Lincoln. In the case of our family the Mercury Milan fit quite well. We drove the Fusion, Milan and Zephyr all back to back, well of course we wanted the Lincoln but the $ was just a tad high for our budget. The Mercury afforded us projector headlamps and LED tails over the Fusion for the same money. Mercury is somewhere in between Ford and Lincoln and for those that can't quite spend the Lincoln dollars. We love our Milan.

 

The Milan looks great!
It is on my "future car list"

 

The problem with Euro-izing Merc is Mullaly's determination to put all Global Ford brands on par. So either you won't be able to do it at all because the cars will be so similar, or the cosmetic/tuning differences will put Merc in the same re-badge situation it's in today.

I think you have 3 serious options:
1. Scion-ize Merc. Give it a small, unique lineup of affordable and exciting cars. With Focus losing its Hatch in the US there's an opening in the lineup, and it might work better in the B segment.
2. Rebadge a non-US brand they way GM is treating Opal. For example: I'm still wondering if Jag's low-end X-type might be reborn as a Rover since Jag's going upmarket and the nameplate is owned by Ford. Selling Rovers here as Mercs is an option.
3. Make Merc a trim level. Imagine if SVT editions Ford's sedans/wagons/crossovers wore the Mercury badge. It sounds cooler than a jumple of letters, and it goes with turning the SVT Mustang into the Shelby Mustang by SVT.

 

I like the idea of a B-segment under Ford... but not with Mercury's name on it

 

don't know whats up with mercury but the Chick in the commercials is pretty hot

Jill Wagner

 

Darn it Glenn, you beat me to it!!!

My reason for Mercury is two words; JILL WAGNER!!! She is HOT!!!

 

UPDATE: There is life at Lincoln-Mercury


http://coupes.autoblog.com/2007/01/2...ncoln-mercury/

 

Good to hear they're doing something. Maybe they'll show us one day.

 

The Mercury brand has so much possibility, I just think Ford's attention is fixed on on it's own name right now. The only thing is if they are working on more re-badges or Mercury exclusive cars, both are fine by me. I think if Ford turned around and gave Mercury a new Cougar built on the Fusion platform with 2 doors it would have a potential hit on it's hands.

I don't think building a cougar on the Mustang platform will do it much good as the Mercury brand's customers don't seem to fall in line with a RWD V8 performance car. Not to mention the weight of the Mustang (not baring any Mercury oriented interior upgrades) would kill gas mileage in the necessary (if not only option) V6.

Though build it on the Fusion platform with a small roomy, 2 door sporty (much like the older Cougars) look with the new 3.5 in it and they could start to cut into the Scion market. That along with some flashy re-badges (the Milan is fantastic) and you will have a great mid point between Ford and Lincoln with a few unique exclusives.

 

I'm going to disagree with this bit. The early Cougars were longer and heavier (if memory serves) than their Mustang counterparts (then they changed to being built on the T-bird). They were luxurey meets muscle, there were even two '70 Boss 429 Cougars built... only one still around sadly.

I'm not sure how folks who liked Classic Cougars (such as myself) would like the resurrection of the Cougar name once again as a fwd wanna-be ricer. Which was possiby part of what killed the last run of Cougars.

and that's my Cougar ranting...