Despite earlier reports, Ford ’s Mercury brand will not face the axe but get more new vehicles instead, though they will be smaller, entry-level but premium cars and crossovers that will complement the Lincoln brand, say senior executives. The Lincoln brand’s smallest offering will be mid-sized sedans, with Mercury offering smaller vehicles than that, and will include a car based on the next-generation Ford Focus, due to come to North America in 2010.
“Mercury and Lincoln will complement each other,” Derrick Kuzak, Ford ’s global product chief, recently said in a Detroit News report. “Lincoln will start with midsized sedans and move up from there.”
Previously, Ford toyed with the idea of eliminating the Mercury name and focusing instead on Lincoln, but changed its mind after studying the demographic Mercury attracts. Compared to Lincoln shoppers, Mercury buyers are younger and comprised of more females. Hence, the new line-up, which will include crossover vehicles, will have a large assortment of small, fuel-efficient products.
Mercury will offer the Mariner crossover, Milan sedan, and the new Focus-based compact. Hybrid versions of the Mariner and Milan are also expected fairly soon. The Mercury Sable, based on the Ford Taurus , has not been mentioned, implying it will be dropped from the line-up. The Grand Marquis will also be eliminated.
Other plans aimed at boosting the fuel economy of all of Ford’s products include offering customers a six-speed automatic on every model by 2013, with an EcoBoost engine option available on 90 percent of its models by the same deadline.
