Mercury, the neglected middle-child?* Mercury, the epitome of re-badging. Mercury, any way you look at it, it's Number 2 to Ford or Lincoln, right?. Mercury, the empty hole of FML's corporate donut!

But Mercury is not (just) the second FML brand - it's the center, the heart of their lineup. Ford = price. PERIOD. Lincoln? chrome & padding, padding & chrome... fluff & shine is ok if its attached to a darn fine automobile; not if the innards were designed for the lowest possible cost.

FML needs to shift its attention to Mercury. Make Mercury 'job1' for engineering, design, & styling. Maybe stop even thinking about designing Fords all together & start designing state-of-the-art Mercurys - then they can just de-content them down to meet the Ford price-point. No more Ford concept cars at all... ONLY Mercury concepts. Concept cars are supposed to be the dream machines. If the lowest priced division gets the dreams, the higher divisions have nowhere to go. It just doesn't make sense to pour all your R&D money & effort into the bottom rung division. HOW can you design better/the-best cars if your design dollars go to your ENTRY-LEVEL brand???

Ford caters to "their 'loyal' customers for the last 25 years". That's fine... but it's not the way to increase market share. For that, you have to get the attention of the non-loyal consumers. That's where Mercury comes in:
          more upscale (ie higher priced)
          therefore not caught by the afFORDable price restrictions
          yet not limited to the salon-like luxury required for Lincoln
It's a perfect blank slate that can be molded to appeal to car buyers who find the Ford aesthetic ("purposely designed for the vast middle of this country") not very, um... aesthetic. Ford should continue to build cars for its fans - just limit that to FORD. It makes no sense to build Mercurys that appeal to Ford fans because most of those fans buy Fords, not Mercurys. Can FML start treating Mercury like a separate brand? They could try changing Mercury from 'directionless' (just "a bit nicer" Ford) to 'dynamic'. In fact, let's start linking dynaMic with Mercury. dynaMic Mercury. dynaMic Mercury...
This isn't about the shape of the grille, the color of the faux-wood trim, or the choice of upholstery materials. It's about conceiving a different car for a different customer.

The near-luxury segment (30-40k US) may rightly be the most competitive. Here's the place where designers & engineers can strive for excellence, yet still have to be realistic (ie. lowest feasible costs/price) in their pursuit of 'image'. These need to be 'real' cars that real people can afford or aspire to. If Mercury made a real attack on the near-luxury class & developed/earned an 'image', the trickle-down would do plenty for Ford (whose price-points cannot sustain 'image' anyway).

Mercury is FML's only chance to attract import buyers - not only to Mercury itself, but to Ford as well. One of the biggest desireability factors of Honda/Toyota is Acura/Lexus. Every H/T buyer has A/L in the back of their minds. And those H/T owners just love it if their car is mistaken for its 'big brother'. (Does a Ford owner feel that way when someone can't tell their BlueOval from a Merc?) H&T sure knew what they were doing when they invented upscale divisions to be their halos. Of course, it helps that H&T did it right.

Imagine a Mercury with a better image than [ fill-in-the-blank ]. I'm thinking Acura with a bit of Infiniti & Audi thrown in (even a little pre-bangled BMW). What if the TL was Rwd-Awd with Dsg, had an available v8 as well as a silky v6, AND was made by Mercury? Shouldn't FML be working towards this? There'd be nothing wrong with a Ford owner saying "My car's almost a Mercury". The reverse doesn't work. So...

  • Offer models that Ford doesn't get - like an XC90/Allroad-ish stationwagon instead of a clone of the less formal (tho admirable) Freestyle crossover - stick a new greenhouse on the Montego and they're practically there. And it would be easily distinguished from the luxo-Lincoln crossover sitting right next to it at the dealership.
  • Give Mercury ESP & std.Awd/Dsg & Climate & yes, real wood/aluminum - as an option? Ford gets ABS & CVT & a/c & woodgrained/silver-painted plastic or maybe imitation-carbonfibre.
  • Bring out the new Mercurys (a year?, a quarter?) before the Ford knockoffs.
  • Occasionally bring in Amercanized imports, ex. the euroFocus that's too expensive for Ford to sell in NA. They don't have to be re-badged as Mercurys, "Ford of Europe" models could be a supplement for selected L-M dealers. Just don't go for volume or mega-bucks - the idea here is attainable exclusivity. **
  • Get your act together - have more than one engine ready when introducing new models. And if enough 3.5's can't be made soon enough for both the 500 & Montego - the Montego gets it first, not the Ford.
  • Oh, while we're at it, get over these silly F & M naming schemes. An idea that limits you is not a good thing. Forget all the old names. AND old ideas too - pleeeeease forget 'retro'.
  • Eliminate the CrownVictoria (what IS the idea with that name? may as well be 'Hapsburg Tiara'), only give Mercury & Lincoln cars on that large of a platform. Mercury can build a copcar version of the Marquis. (But not a taxi version... copcar=tough, taxi=cheap. The low priced brand IS Ford. Maybe just brand it 'CV' for Commercial Vehicle.)

    What about Lincoln? Has it had an engineering or design reputation in living memory? Does it even need one? Lincoln sure saw no reason to support/grow the LS! Couldn't they just add a few hundred lbs of padding & chrome to a lean, advanced, dynaMic Mercury and consider themselves lucky? Lincoln could keep its trademark grilles and fussy interiors... whatever. Lincolns would be super-plush versions of 'TheBest' cars - nothing wrong with that! And Fords would be an affordable version of 'TheBest' cars. IMHO this works! (BTW the new 'CD3' cars; Zephyr, Milan, & Fusion; will be almost the same size as that hypothetical TL. Unfortunately that might be the only similarity. *** )

    Let Mercury develop the best cars possible and let Ford (continue to) concentrate on trucks, suv's & crossovers. All cars larger than the proposed B-class model would be designed first as Mercurys... then a cheaper knock-off would become the Ford version, suitably de-contented. People need to want the Mercury but buy the Ford for its price. Ford would still be the volume brand. But instead of sinking money into an extravagant halo sportscar (that winds up just another Jay-Leno-toy), the entire Mercury division would be the halo. (Which car do you care more about? the one in Leno's garage? or the one in yours?)

    Too bad the head guy's name is Ford. Probably the whole problem could have been avoided if, way back when, they'd made Mercury the cheap version of an up-market Ford. Is it really just misplaced family pride that keeps holding back an important American corporation?

    Please, FML, realize that Mercury is the CENTER of your lineup - do what it takes to fill up this hole - even if it means someone has to change his lastname to Mercury. (or does he like being the CEO of a corporate donut?)

    *** This rant began back when all we knew of the CD3 cars was the attractively styled Zephyr showcar. Since then we've seen the Fusion and Zephyr production models.... Fusion? GOOD JOB! Kudos! Can't wait to drive it! Why, it's practically good enough to be a Mercury.
    But, was the Fusion meant to be a truly aspirational vehicle? a hot, gonna-have-it- someday-soon, dream car? Was it meant to compare with the TL? No... it was never meant to be more than (one of) the best of the entry level segment. It succeeds!
    Zephyr? A lot has been said by online fans but the response I feel most strongly is:
    "You never should have TEASED us with that showcar, FML!!!"
    also
    ** A top-of-the-line Mondeo, sold as a Ford of Europe model by Lincoln, would have offered a Zephyr-sized vehicle without duplicating the sheetmetal of the Milan sitting next to it or making the Lincoln nameplate stretch down-market by offering smaller cars.

    *Update!Update! Don't know why I didn't see it before. Mercury isn't the neglected middle child. MERCURY IS CINDERELLA!!! And of course Fords & Lincolns are the step-sisters and Ford mgmt. is the nasty/cruel step-mother, who makes Cinderella always wear hand-me-downs.

    • to a proposal

    to a metaphor