The Ford Motor Company officially announced in June 2010 what most analysts had long expected: its Mercury brand was going to be discontinued.

Rumors of Mercury’s death have been around for years, but only had strengthened just days before Ford confirmed the same. Founded by Edsel Ford in 1939, Mercury was positioned as the premium brand between run of the mill Ford and luxury Lincoln, but it never had much of an identity of its own.

No Differentiation

For years, every product sold by Mercury was a rebadged Ford model, with slightly different trim levels. That lack of distinction has hurt Mercury and contributed to its gradual decline from its 1978 peak when more than 500,000 cars were sold. Today, Mercury is hard pressed to sell 100,000 units, due mostly to a lack of new product.

The demise of Mercury leaves Lincoln-Mercury dealers without a lower end product to sell. For years, dealers have been accustomed to having younger buyers purchase a Mercury, working their way up to Lincoln as they aged and as their net worth increased. With Mercury gone, Lincoln dealers will have to find other ways to attract people to the brand.

Fortunately, the Ford Motor Company is in the midst of preparing a strong response.

Fresh Products

That response involves bolstering the Lincoln brand with fresh product. In a statement released outlining these changes Ford officials said that Lincoln would benefit from seven new or updated models over a four year period. Among the models planned is the brand’s first c-segment or compact model, a vehicle line to go up against BMW’s vaunted 3-Series. Read the rest of this entry »