After Ford’s President of the Americas, Mark Fields, announced last month that the automaker would inject a little life into its rather stale Mercury brand by introducing a new small car, there was much speculation about a name. Now, according to two dealers present at a brand meeting, word has emerged that the car will resurrect the Mercury Tracer nameplate.
Hardly one of Mercury’s more fondly-remembered models, the Tracer name was applied to Mercury-badged versions of Mazda’s 323 and Ford’s Escort from 1988 to 1999. Now, if the dealers who spoke to Automotive News are to be believed, the name will live on as a Mercury-badged version of the Michigan-built 2011 Ford Focus.
The vehicle will also debut in showrooms around the same time as the Focus, meaning we could see it as soon as the New York International Auto Show next month.
Mercury’s showroom will shrink next year when the venerable Grand Marquis and the slow-selling Mountaineer are dropped. A small car would help boost traffic, though it might not help the brand achieve the upwardly-mobile aspirations it once sought. Still, the blue oval says it is backing the brand and does not plan to kill it off.
