Mercury
Type	division
Founded	1939
Headquarters	Dearborn, Michigan, United States
Industry	Automobile
Products	Luxury vehicles
Parent	Ford Motor Company
Website	www.mercuryvehicles.com

Mercury is an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company founded in 1939 to market entry-level-luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles, similar to General Motors' Buick (and former Oldsmobile) brand and Chrysler's Chrysler brand. A division of a business entity is a portion of that business that operates under a different name Dearborn is a city in the US state of Michigan. It is located in the Detroit metropolitan area and Wayne County, and is the tenth largest The United States of America —commonly referred to as the For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury &mdash that which is beyond strict necessity &mdash in exchange for increased cost to the buyer A holding company is a company that owns part all or a majority of other companies' outstanding Stock. Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on Worldwide vehicle sales, following A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages A marque ( French for "brand" ˈmɑrk is a Brand name especially in the Automobile industry Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on Worldwide vehicle sales, following Lincoln is an American Luxury car manufacturer operated under the Ford Motor Company. General Motors Corporation ( GM) ( is a multinational automobile manufacturer founded in 1908 and headquartered in the United States. Buick (ˈbjuːɪk is a Marque of automobile sold in the United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Qatar, and Oldsmobile was a brand of Automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Chrysler LLC is an American Automobile manufacturer that has been producing Automobiles since 1925 Chrysler is the Flagship brand of Chrysler LLC, named after founder Walter Chrysler. Today, all Mercury models are based on Ford platforms. The Mercury name comes from the "messenger of the gods" of Roman mythology, and during its early years, the Mercury brand was known for performance, which was briefly revived in 2003 with the Mercury Marauder. The Mercury Marauder was the name of different automobiles made by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company.

The Mercury brand is used in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Middle East. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} The United States Virgin Islands is a group of Islands in the Caribbean that are an Insular area of the United States. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. In 1999 the Mercury brand was dropped in Canada, although the Grand Marquis was still marketed there wearing a Mercury badge through 2007.

History of Mercury

First generation Mercury Cougar

Mercury was its own division at Ford until 1945 when it was combined with Lincoln into the Lincoln-Mercury Division, with Ford hoping the brand would be known as a "junior Lincoln", rather than an upmarket Ford. The Mercury Cougar was an Automobile sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company 's Lincoln-Mercury Division In 1949, Mercury introduced the first of its "new look", integrated bodies, at the same time that Ford and Lincoln also changed styling radically. Again in 1952, Mercury offered a further modernization in its look. In 1958, the Lincoln-Mercury Division and the ill-fated Edsel brand were joined into the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln Division; with the demise of Edsel in 1960, it has been in the Lincoln-Mercury Division ever since. The Edsel was a marquee division of Ford Motor Company during the 1958 1959 and 1960 model years

Mercury, like the defunct Edsel, was created from scratch, rather than being a takeover of an existing company like Lincoln. Mercury's heyday was in the 1950s, when its formula of stretching and lowering existing Ford platforms was very successful. The marque has changed several times throughout its history. During the 1940s and 1950s, the make moved between as a "gussied up" Ford, to a "junior Lincoln" and even to having its own body designs. From the late 1950s, through the 1960s and early 1970s, Mercury began to distance itself from Ford and offered several different looking models such as the Turnpike Cruiser, Park Lane, Cougar and Marquis. The Mercury Turnpike Cruiser was a halo model of the Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company that was produced from 1957 to 1958 The Mercury Park Lane was a fullsize automobile produced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1958 to 1960 and by the Lincoln-Mercury Division from 1964 The Mercury Cougar was an Automobile sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company 's Lincoln-Mercury Division The Mercury Marquis was a vehicle produced by the Ford Motor Company under its Mercury brand from 1967 to 1986 During Ford Division's "Total Performance" era in the early 1960s, Mercury produced some equivalent models, such as the full-size S-55 Marauders, which shared the same body styles and mechanics as the Ford Galaxie 500/XL sports models. These big Mercurys were somewhat successful in racing. But in the late 1970s to the early 1980s the brand was joined at the hip with Ford again and its image suffered as a result.

Mercury sales peaked in 1978 at 580,000 and again in 1993 at over 480,000. Since then, sales have declined by more than half to roughly 200,000 annually. In the mid-1990s the Mercury car brand received some very good free PR when country music star Alan Jackson scored a hit with a cover of K. Alan Eugene Jackson (born 17 October 1958 in Newnan, Georgia) is an American country Singer-songwriter who has sold over C. Douglas' "Mercury Blues", a song which heaps complimentary praise on their vehicle range.

Mercury has had a few unique models not shared with domestic Fords, but usually related to other vehicles sold domestically or world wide. These include the Capri convertible (which shared some parts with the Mazda 323 but wasn't nearly as popular, ending production in Australia in 1993), Mercury Tracer (later shared with the Escort, but was a Mexican-built version of the Mazda 323 hatchback in the late 1980s and in '90), Mercury Villager (a name used earlier as a luxury station wagon, but from 1993-2003, it was a minivan shared with Nissan, which sold its version as the Quest and built the drivetrain for both versions), Mercury Cougar (1999-2002, based on the Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique/Ford Mondeo platform but sporting a 2-door, hatchback only bodystyle with sharp styling not shared with the more mundane sedan versions), and the German built Mercury Capri in the '70s (before that model moved to the Ford Fox platform as a twin to Ford Mustang). The name Mercury Capri has been used for several different Cars over the years The Mazda Familia is a long-running nameplate used by Mazda for their Small family cars manufactured between 1964 and 2003 with 10589052 sold worldwide The Mercury Tracer was a Compact car sold by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company. The Mazda Familia is a long-running nameplate used by Mazda for their Small family cars manufactured between 1964 and 2003 with 10589052 sold worldwide The Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest were the products of a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Nissan. A station wagon (or simply wagon) in American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand usage and an estate car (or just estate The Nissan Quest is a Minivan produced by Nissan since 1993 There have been three generations of this model The Mercury Cougar was an Automobile sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company 's Lincoln-Mercury Division The Ford Contour is a passenger car manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America. The Ford Mondeo is a Large family car sold by the Ford Motor Company in various markets throughout the world The Ford Mustang sports coupe, manufactured by the Ford Motor Company, was initially based on the Ford Falcon In 1971, dealers also sold the De Tomaso Pantera exotic sports car, with a Ford V-8. The Pantera was a Sports car produced by the De Tomaso car company of Italy from 1971 through 1991 the last one delivered to a customer in 1992

Mercury (Lincoln-Mercury Division), Ford Motor Company, 1975-1990

Mercury's ride through the seventies and eighties wasn't gentle, but it fared better than some. Mercury continued its historical role of dressing up plainer Ford vehicles and selling them at a higher price, as "near luxury" cars. This type of car was the bread and butter of the 1970's car market. Unfortunately for Mercury, there were too many "near luxury" cars on the market. Only Mercury's niche products, like the Cougar XR-7 specialty coupe, seemed to find real success with buyers. Much of this might really have had to do with Ford's topsy-turvy financial situation in the seventies. Lincoln-Mercury dealers had plenty of good selling cars, they just weren't the right cars. The Cougar and Lincoln Mk V shattered sales records, but the staples of Mercury's business, the mid-size and full-size sedans and wagons, moved out of showrooms at a snail's pace. The Mercury Cougar was an Automobile sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company 's Lincoln-Mercury Division The small Bobcat didn't lure economy minded buyers, instead bringing only bad press from its close ties to the ill-fated Ford Pinto. The Ford Pinto was a subcompact manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market first introduced on September 11, 1970 The Ford Pinto was a subcompact manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market first introduced on September 11, 1970 The recession year of 1980 saw Cougar sales fall by more than 50%.

Ford's product planners were busy reworking Ford and Lincoln's images, trying to prop up those lines, so they couldn't devote much time to Mercury. As a result, Mercury had few unique cars in the eighties, and even less of an identity. The company entered 1975 with a distinct Buick-like character, but left 1990 with no image at all. The lack of a distinct personality showed through in the cars (many are closely related to Fords), although there were some unique twists to Mercurys in the eighties, like the controversial roofline of the '83 Cougar, the light bar and slick looks of the '86 Sable, and the very existence of the Japanese built '88 Tracer. The Mercury Sable is a Mid-size (1986-2005/ Full-size (2008-2009 sedan created by the Ford Motor Company and sold under the Mercury The Mercury Tracer was a Compact car sold by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company.

Mercury experimented with importing what were for the American market some advanced European Fords under the Merkur nameplate, such as the XR4ti with biplane spoiler. Merkur Merkur, the German word for Mercury, was an automobile brand which was briefly marketed by Ford Motor Company in the United States and But these quickly faded as buyers continued to flock to more conventional cars such as the Mustang and Sable. The Capri, which was a rebadged Mustang was briefly revived with an Australian 2 door convertible. The new Cougar was an innovatively styled Mystique-based coupe which was not given to Ford. Traditionally Mercury was given a counterpart to most Ford platforms. But when the mid-size Mystique and compact Tracer, and later Cougar were withdrawn without replacements, only the Sable and Grand Marquis automobiles were left. These targeted mostly grown families and retirees when Mercury had offered compacts since the Comet, and subcompacts since the Bobcat. By the time Mercury got the Monterey, Ford minvans were no longer competitive. While Ford Five-Hundred sales nose-dived from a moderately successful start, the Mercury Montego large sedan has sold only a fraction of the Ford, in contrast to the Dodge Charger selling nearly as well as its platform-mate, the Chrysler 300.

Future

2008 Mercury Milan and Mountaineer

Mercury renamed the 2008 freshened version of the Montego, the better known name "Sable", in hopes that it will generate more sales

As of 2008, Mercury's range is quite small and very similar to those sold under the Ford brand. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Many industry observers have questioned whether Mercury will survive in the long term, but Ford insists that there is no intention of letting the brand die. The introduction of new models, such as the Milan, and the Mariner, as well as the revival of the Sable would seem to bear that out. The Mercury Milan is a Mid-size luxury sedan based on the Ford CD3 platform built by Ford Motor Company and distributed by the The Mercury Mariner Compact luxury SUV was introduced in 2005 The Mercury Sable is a Mid-size (1986-2005/ Full-size (2008-2009 sedan created by the Ford Motor Company and sold under the Mercury Its alliance with Lincoln has helped keep the brand alive; all Lincoln dealers also sell Mercury vehicles, as they desire some lower-priced vehicles in their showrooms.

As part of their effort to re-assert the brand, Mercury has also begun implementing design elements common to all of their vehicles to create a more "unified" marque. These include an update of the signature "waterfall" front grille and badge lettering based on that of the last generation Cougar. The Mercury Cougar was an Automobile sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company 's Lincoln-Mercury Division

This effort also includes an advertising campaign featuring actress and model Jill Wagner^[1]. An advertising campaign is a series of Advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works A model is a person who is posed or displayed for the purpose of Art, Fashion, or other products and Advertising. Jill Suzanne Wagner (born January 13, 1979 in Winston-Salem North Carolina) is an American actress Ford designer Patrick Schiavone commented on the debut of the 2008 Mariner Hybrid that Mercury would move from being an in-between marque to having a special stylish identity apart from others, competing more with Pontiac than its traditional rival, Buick. Patrick Schiavone is an Automobile designer currently in charge of trucks for North America at Ford Motor Company. The Mercury Mariner Compact luxury SUV was introduced in 2005 Pontiac is a Brand of Automobiles produced by General Motors that has been sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico Buick (ˈbjuːɪk is a Marque of automobile sold in the United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Qatar, and He compared the marque's image to that of fashionable discount retailer, Target^[2]. Target Corporation ( is an American Retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1902 There have also been reports ^[3] that Mercury is trying to appeal (perhaps even exclusively) to female drivers.

However as of October 2006, the Mercury brand was being examined for possible elimination, according to Alan Mulally, who succeeded Bill Ford, Jr. as CEO of Ford, largely on hopes that he would be able to restructure Ford's operations back into profitability after its most recent $5. 8 billion quarterly loss. [1].

J.D. Power and Associates announced in August of 2007 that the Mercury line of vehicles had placed fifth in Overall Dependability Ratings, fifth in Powertrain Dependability Ratings, and sixth in Body & Interior Dependability Ratings. JD Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm founded in 1968 by James David Power III. [2]

However, the brand's future is in doubt. Currently, Mercury is selling less than 200,000 units a year, which is less than both Plymouth and Oldsmobile right before they were phased out. Plymouth (founded 1928 - dissolved 2001 is a Marque of Automobile based in the United States, marketed by the Chrysler Corporation Oldsmobile was a brand of Automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. [3] Many blogs & online sites have stated that Mercury can be gone as soon as 2012, including the usually reliable auto site edmunds. com. [4] However, Ford claims that they have no plans to discontinue the brand.

June 10, 2008 - It was revealed by several online Autoblogs & Auto consumer sites that according to Ford's suppliers, the Mercury brand has no more supplies ordered past 2012. As the Milan sedan is expected for a mid-cycle refresher to carry it until 2012, it can't build vehicles without any parts which it will likely be sometime in 2012 that Ford will shed some real news about Mercury's future.

Logo

Mercury's signature "waterfall" grille and logo on the front of a 2000-2005 Mercury Sable. The Mercury Sable is a Mid-size (1986-2005/ Full-size (2008-2009 sedan created by the Ford Motor Company and sold under the Mercury

The first logo of the Mercury brand was its namesake, the Roman god Mercury. "Alipes" redirects here For the Centipede Genus, see Alipes (centipede. The side profile of his head, complete with the signature bowl hat with wings was used during the early years.

In the 1950s, the logo became a simple "M" with horizontal bars extending outward from the bottom of its vertical elements in each direction. This was described in advertising as "The Big M" - probably most notably as the prime sponsor of The Ed Sullivan Show. Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan ( September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American Entertainment Writer

During the late 1960s and up to the mid-1980s, the Mercury used the "Sign of the Cat" ad campaign based on its popular Cougar model. Many of the cars during this time carried cat related names such as the Lynx and Bobcat. The Mercury Lynx was a Compact car produced by the Ford Motor Company for its Mercury division from 1981 to 1987 The Ford Pinto was a subcompact manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market first introduced on September 11, 1970 On some of the upper-tier models, such as the Marquis and Grand Marquis, Mercury used a shield or cross, sometimes surrounded by a wreath, which was shared by some de luxe Ford models as well. The Mercury Marquis was a vehicle produced by the Ford Motor Company under its Mercury brand from 1967 to 1986 The Mercury Grand Marquis is a Full-size Rear-wheel drive sedan sold by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company. Some iterations bore a resemblance to Lincoln's diamond logo.

During the mid 1980s, the logo changed from the Cougar to a highly stylized letter M (nicknamed 'the Waterfall' by some, and the "Winding Road" by others). This logo was introduced on the all new 1984 Mercury Topaz, and continued on the new-for-1986 Sable, new 1988 Tracer, and the 1988 Grand Marquis. The reason behind this new logo has never been fully explained, but it is still being used today. Another possible explanation is that it is a stylized wing, an allusion to Mercury, Roman messenger of the gods. Since 1999, the Mercury logo has "Mercury" written on the top part of the logo.

Mercury sponsored a professional cycling team from 2000 until 2002 ^[4].

List of Mercury automobiles

Current models

• Mercury Grand Marquis (1975-present)
• Mercury Mariner (2005-present)
• Mercury Milan (2006-present)
• Mercury Mountaineer (1997-present)
• Mercury Sable (1986-2005 as mid-size, 2008-present as full-size)

Recent models

• Mercury Marauder muscle sedan (2003-2004)
• Mercury Cougar sports coupe (1967-1997, 1999-2002)
• Mercury Villager minivan (1993-2002)
• Mercury Montego full-size sedan (2005-2007)
• Mercury Monterey minivan (2004-2007)

Past models

Concept cars

See also

• List of automobile manufacturers

References

External links

• Mercury Vehicles (Mercury | New Doors Opened)
• A short history of the marque
• Winged Messenger: Dedicated to the promotion and preservation of all Mercury vehicles
• Canadian Mercury trucks catalogs and ads