Mercury Blues

It’s nice to know that singer Alan Jackson has a thing for Mercury, because it doesn’t seem like many other American motorists do. Despite the addition of some critical new products, including the 2009 Mariner hybrid crossover, as well as the restyled and renamed Sable sedan, things aren’t looking too good for the “other” Ford division.

Sinking fast, Mercury’s sales fell a painful 35 percent in January, compared to year-earlier numbers. And for all of 2007, the brand’s volume slumped 7 percent, to a grand total of jut 168,422 cars, trucks and crossovers. That’s barely a third of Mercury’s all-time record, 528,033, set back in 1985. And it’s even less than the numbers that convinced General Motors to pull the plug on its Oldsmobile division.

Dead man driving? There are plenty of analysts, such as Joe Phillippi, of AutoTrends Consulting, and Dan Gorrell, who question why Ford continues to pump resources into a brand that has had only one up year since the mid-1980s. They’d pull the plug and focus the automotive’s limited resources on the brands that matter, including both the Blue Oval, and Lincoln, which actually posted a much-needed gain, in 2007.

Going back a few years, Ford had a seemingly good reason to stoke Mercury’s fire. The brand had a reputation for styling and performance, and was a bit more exclusive than the mainstream Ford division. By the time the original Sable came out, in 1986, however, Mercury was little more than a badge-engineered alternative, it’s products perhaps offering a slight more bling than those carrying the Ford nameplate.

So why not put Mercury out of its misery?
That’s a question new marketing czar, Jim Farley, has had to consider. But for now, at least, he’s giving the troubled brand a reprieve. While he’s still formulating his strategy, Farley seems intent on turning Mercury into a Detroit version of Toyota’s Scion. Industry aficionados will recall that the young executive initially came to the public’s attention as the first general manager of Toyota’s youth-oriented nameplate.

But time, as the old cliché goes, really is running out. Farley and the rest of the Ford management team need to pull some sheet metal rabbits out of the hat soon or there won’t be any Mercury left to save.

© Source: thecarconnection
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