Mercury, Dead At 71?

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Bloomberg and Automotive News are reporting that Ford is getting ready to wind down the Mercury brand.

Sources say the plan will be presented to directors in July. The stats make a compelling case for euthanasia...the brand's peak sales year was 32 years ago, sales have dropped 74 percent in the last 10 years, ad spending by 88 percent in the last four, and with the 2011 demise of the Grand Marquis and Mountaineer, the brand would have only two models, the Milan and Mariner, clones of the Ford Fusion and Escape respectively.

The truth, of course, is that those were self-inflicted wounds. While Mercurys have had an on and off history of being based on supposedly lesser Fords, there was a time when FoMoCo worked to make them different, establish the argument for spending more for a Merc, and in the process, came up with some compelling and iconic vehicles (helped a bit by Hollywood and the original Mad Men):

The movie "Rebel Without A Cause" starred James Dean, Natalie Wood and a customized '49 Mercury. It made such an impression that 55 years after the film, the cars are commonly called "James Dean Mercurys".






Flash forward 13 years and it was another Merc, also black...driven not by a teenage rebel but by a middle-aged cop. McGarrett's four-door hardtop defined cool.





At about the same time, some star power with four legs and a tail....a real-life cougar serving as the mascot for the new Mercury Cougar...a stretched, re-bodied Ford Mustang, but different enough to be percieved as a major step up.

But just as Mercury was finding its mojo, the party ended. First, Ford marketing lost the thread. Instead of a tire-smoking Steve McGarrett, they tried to sell the 1970 Mercury Monterey Coupe with a W.C. Fields impressionist (35 years after Fields' peak popularity)




And it got worse. The 70s hit and so did the fuel crisis. Practicality rarely makes for an exciting sell, even when one of the vehicles is a "sexy European":



As horsepower evaporated, so did the blue oval's willingness to do more than the minimum required to turn Fords into Mercurys.  By mid-decade, the Cougar was an LTD II with a different grille and the ad agency knew that it would take the sex appeal of a not-yet famous Farrah Fawcett to move them out of showrooms.



And that's been the path since. Jill Wagner makes young men's hearts beat faster...

 

But not enough to actually buy the product. The Mercury customer continues to be a Grand Marquis buyer with an average age of 70 (which means half of them are older). And given what Grand Marquis have been for the last 35 years, that's no surprise at all:



As someone with significant Mercurys in his personal history...a 1956 Montclair and 1970 Monterey Custom Coupe (my parents), a 1969 Cougar XR-7 Convertible (my uncle's) and a 1974 Capri 2800 V6 (mine), I'm sad.  But this, probably more than Plymouth, Oldsmobile and Pontiac, is inevitable. There's almost nothing left to resuscitate.

Post Title → Mercury, Dead At 71?

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Mercury Mariner Premier Review

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Somewhat lost in the hype over the Ford Escape Hybrid is how good a vehicle that is even without the super-green powertrain.

Its fraternal twin, the Mercury Mariner Premier came to TireKicker Villa for a week's stay recently and made its case for the traditional good life.

You see, the Escape Hybrid I tested last summer was a base model with just one option...Ford and Microsoft's SYNC audio system.

The Premier came loaded...nearly six grand worth of options including heated mirrors and seats, 17 inch painted aluminum wheels, moonroof, a mini-overhead console with map light, the rear cargo convenience package, a navigation and audiophile music system, dual zone climate control and a reverse sensing system.

The moonroof gets a "Moon & Tune" discount (that's what they call it on the window sticker) of $395, so with $725 in delivery charges, the Mariner bottom-lined at $29,670...a stone's throw from the as-tested price of the Escape Hybrid.

Ah, you say....but you're giving up all that fuel economy. Well, yes and no.

Hybrids are designed to deliver the biggest improvements in fuel economy in the city, where the electric engine can often take over completely in low-speed driving (or crawling, as commuters on L.A.'s 405 freeway might know it).

Often, hybrids' EPA estimates are the reverse of normal cars...higher in city than on the highway. That's the case for the Ford Escape Hybrid...34 city/30 highway.

At 20 city, the loaded Mariner (even with the four-cylinder engine our tester had) uses a lot more fuel.

But what if you do mostly highway (or uncongested city freeway) driving? Well, then things get interesting...because the Mariner's EPA estimate is 28...only two mpg less than the Hybrid (which, by the way, you can get in the Mariner as well).

If your driving tips the scales toward highway, then a loaded Mariner with a gasoline four, selling for a grand or so less than a base Escape Hybrid with SYNC (though the tax credit pretty much makes it a wash) might make as much or more sense. Less complexity...less uncertainty about what the bill might be when the battery pack fails after the warranty runs out.

Your call. They're both very good small SUVs.

Post Title → Mercury Mariner Premier Review

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