Jerry York, a prominent representative of Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp, said on Thursday he thinks Ford should sell Volvo and sell or kill Mercury. Tracinda famously attempted to arrange an alliance between GM and Renault- Nissan last year, but failed and subsequently dumped most of its GM stock. Tracinda is now increasing its stake in Ford.
York said he believes Ford ’s CEO, Alan Mulally, is probably planning to sell Volvo within the next 18 months. He said there is no “rational reason” for Ford to keep the Swedish automaker, according to trade publication Automotive News. York says he was simply speaking hypothetically, but he did meet with Mulally last month — suggesting his speculation might be well-founded.
As for Mercury, York outlined two options — selling the brand or simply shutting it down. As reported by Leftlane, Ford has virtually no new products in the pipeline for the brand. In fact, the Milan is the only Mercury product with a firm future for the next few years, but could be killed off when its sibling, the Fusion, comes up for a redesign in 2011.
York said his instinct would be to sell Mercury, but if a large number of customers would stick with Ford if Mercury was killed off, it might be the better choice. It’s unclear how a sale of Mercury would work, or if there would be much interest in an acquisition. Unless the new owner was allowed to continue using Ford platforms and the Ford distribution network, the value of Mercury would be dubious.
