Comments on: Stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealers quickly disappearing

By: sal500

sal500 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:09:46 +0000

Not sure why there are so many haters on here.
Mercury does serve a purpose. It caters to people who want something a little more upscale than a ford but dont want to jump into a Lincoln. For the ignorant people on here, Milans & Mariners sell fairly well, infact the Milan is rated higer than a Camry or Accord. Mounatineers are a great value in the mid size SUV segment.Obviosly, Ford is trying to put more Lincolns on the floor than Mercurys, but they’re not killing the brand, just starving it a little. The Grand Marq has unique buyer, somone who wants comfort, room and a traditional amercan rwd body on frame ride. Thexe people dont like gadgets, bluetooth, nav etc. There are obviosly less and less of them, but they have $$ Vs the younger way over leveraged buyer.
And NMOFGm, you are a true idiot. How many GM divisons were killed off this century?! Hmmm..not enough, since theyre still sucking up our tax $$$$$.!

By: Need more oil for GM

Need more oil for GM — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:59:24 +0000

Mercury customers have made the switch to Buicks since Mercury is dead

OOPS, did I let out a secret? Shhhh don’t tell anybody.

GM. An American Revolution

By: TomF

TomF — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:45:28 +0000

NMOFG, if you think GM killed Mercury, you’re out of your mind. GM is too sick to get up and go kill anybody.

By: Need more oil for GM

Need more oil for GM — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:15:37 +0000

Mercury = Victims of the American Revolution!

Time to close up shop for good?

There are only two auto manufacturers, GM and everybody else…

GM. AN American Revolution

By: orangecones

orangecones — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:21:44 +0000

the Grand Marquis is a boat that is 2 decades out of touch with technology. Anyone who drops $30k on one of those is an idiot, or perhaps confused it for a real (water-going) boat. A huge V8 making only 230-odd ponies @ 18mpg mixed driving is truly sad. But hey, you can have an optional cassette tape player

By: zoomzoomer

zoomzoomer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:48:58 +0000

This has been a long time coming.. and makes total sense for Ford and Lincoln. The difference seems to be that Ford is trying to let Mercury bow out quietly and gracefully, unlike the way GM trumpeted their “final 500″ Oldsmobile models and their current Pontiac and Saturn closeouts that have been all over the news. Seriously, there is nothing to indicate that Mercury will be around in 3 years, so why not consolidate the dealerships! The facts are clear:
- no badge-engineered replacements for Mercury Sable, Mountaineer and Mariner when the new Ford Taurus, Explorer and Kuga arrive.
- most Euro Ford models (which have long been suggested to be used as Mercurys) will be sold as US Ford models in their next generations.
- currently badge-engineered Lincoln models (like MKX and MKZ) are supposed to be more heavily differentiated from Fords in their next generations.
- Mercury disappeared from the Canadian market almost a decade ago.. and its only unique product (Grand Marquis) was sold there as a Ford!

By: TomF

TomF — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:14:17 +0000

There hasn’t been a real “point” to Mercury since the Cougar / “Sign of the Cat” days, which ended about 35 years ago.

Imagine the gazillions that Ford has paid consultants since then to map a new Mercury brand strategy. All work ignored and worthless.

Of course Mercury models had to be sold separately from Fords, because it’s the same car with a different grille for another $2,000. Pairing them in the same showroom is instant death for Merc.

The stand-alone LM shop in my part of the world collapsed and died in July. Graffiti and junk everywhere, empty parking lot, signage shattered or shot out by vandals. Sad.

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:58:31 +0000

With many of GM’s ridiculous divisions gone, there is no automobile brand as superfluous and absurd as Mercury.

By: orangecones

orangecones — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:48:36 +0000

Winner is on teh right track. Mashing Mercury and Ford in the same showroom is a bad idea because the sheet metal is 99% identical between the Mercury, and Ford it rode in on. So the buyers will finally see that and be like “oh, i am paying a 20% premium for what?”. So I do expect Mercury to die. I seriously don’t understand the point of this brand. And…of course, Ford/Lincoln dealers might not be such a bright idea either, but then again….do consider the M-B/Smart dealers, GTR being sold in Nissan dealers only steps away from the Versa 1.6…etc. My point is that the buyers looking at one, aren’t necessarily concerned about the other. if anything, the service will improve for the “lower tier” brand buyers.

By: And The Winner Is...

And The Winner Is... — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:45:53 +0000

This will be the death of Mercury. If they position Lincoln as mid-lux brand (Acura, Buick), it might help Lincoln, but Tier 1 lux buyers won’t want to hobnob with Ford buyers in the same showroom. Not when they can get their posteriors pampered in a dedicated luxury brand showroom from Lexus, BMW, Mercedes…

By: carstuff

carstuff — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:26:17 +0000

Zesty, Ford has/is selling Volvo for awhile.

By: Zesty Honda

Zesty Honda — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:17:42 +0000

Why not sell Lincolns at Volvo dealerships and increase the number of Volvo dealerships? This would increase traffic to Volvo dealerships certainly! Selling Lincolns at Ford dealerships is really a downgrade in status! On one side of the lot is a Ford Edge and on the other side costing a lot more is a MKX; ummm people might notice the similarities!

By: Borat

Borat — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:42:42 +0000

…and I thought Acura is in real trouble. They are never “attached” to a Honda dealer (or I never saw).

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:34:31 +0000

i kind of think this is sad. I spent alot of my childhood in LM dealers and they are all either demolished or used as Honda spillover lots. Really kinda depressing. You could always get a Mercury cheaper than a Ford where I live too – less demand for the Mercurys than the Fords in the midwest made them always willing to deal more.

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:08:01 +0000

There is precedent for Lincoln having stand-alone dealerships. I believe the ancient Romans called them vomitoriums.

By: DenverGuy217

DenverGuy217 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:32 +0000

The stand-alone near me is so packed with new MKXs that they’ll be selling them through 2012. I think I drove by this dealership for over a year before realizing it was even there.

By: RaineMan

RaineMan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:15:29 +0000

Shouldn’t these dealerships have vanished like 10 years ago? Isn’t the Grand Marquis the only Mercury that even sells anymore?