Mr. M. 'pressed' about Lincoln-Mercury - Amy Wilson, AutomotiveNews

[ausrutherford]

There is potential for Mercury, but I don't see Lincoln being high enough and Ford seems to have moved a little upmarket themselves lately (Taurus) so Mercury seems to be getting pushed out. And I don't follow Mercury too closely, but is there anything actually in the pipeline? Any concepts? Anything caught by spy photographers? Ford could do the Ford Mercury Lincoln thing, the way GM is doing Chevy, Buick, Cadillac but Lincoln is no Cadillac anymore. I know everyone keeps saying Mercury will get small Euro cars...but when? They also said Saturn was going to as well.

Lincoln will continue to go upmarket to make room.

[YellowZx5]

FML dealerships? Hilarious!

They will all be F-L dealers soon enough. They say it's better to burn out than to fade away. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn all burned out...Mercury will soon just fade away...

I do not think Ford will let Mercury fade away, because how will they compete with only 2 brands?? Volvo is up for sale and Mazda is not completely theirs. Bringing Mercury into the small car segment with maybe a Sable as the largest and the Mariner as the largest SUV would be perfect. I would just bring the Sable in as a European model and not have it mirror the Taurus.

[2b2]

Ford CEO Mulally Supports Mercury. Sort of - Insideline/AutoObserver

Published Jan 26, 2010

WASHINGTON — Ford's Mercury brand hasn't shown anything new since Elvis wore fatigues, and at the Washington auto show today, CEO Alan Mulally was asked if the company's Mercury brand has a future. It is a question that comes up a lot lately.

Mulally seemingly backed Mercury full-go, but was careful to qualify his support. Not once, but twice.

"The plan right now is (to develop) Ford, Lincoln and Mercury," Mulally answered.

He said Ford is working to more effectively position Mercury with smaller vehicles that occupy the void between the mainstream Ford brand and Lincoln, which directly targets the luxury-premium market. "That's our plan — to continuously improve the Mercury and Lincoln brands," Mulally said.

But after a little more discussion, Mulally felt compelled to reiterate: "That's the plan right now."

Inside Line says: No, Mulally didn't draw imaginary quotation marks in the air when he said "right now," but his careful persistence in emphasizing the qualifier palpably left room for Ford — and Mulally — to change course any time about Mercury, which more than a few analysts and skeptics continue to insist should be done. — Bill Visnic, Senior Editor, Edmunds' AutoObserver

[ausrutherford]

This can go under: "to much reading inbetween the lines"

[2b2]

found a somewhat general Future(Euro)Plans article
but posting it here because imho it shows that Lincoln-Mercury is not without a place
in a global One Ford

New Focus won't fail as a world car like the Mondeo did, Ford's Europe boss Fleming says...

...U.S. brand will not move upscale in European markets after Volvo sale

Automotive News Europe -- January 28, 2010 06:01 CET

Ford Motor Co.'s new Focus, which was designed in Europe for the United States and global markets, will not be a failure like the automaker's previous attempt at a world car, the Mondeo, Ford of Europe CEO John Fleming said. Fleming also said Ford brand will not launch premium cars in Europe after it sells Volvo. The U.S. automaker will also seek to boost European capacity use to 100 percent this year despite a tough market, said Fleming, who spoke with Michael Knauer, a reporter at Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.

Ford's first world car, the Mondeo in 1993, wasn't really a success. What has Ford done differently in its second attempt?

Previously, we didn't build true world cars. There was one model for Europe and one for North America. That was it. The new Focus, by contrast, is nearly identical for all markets worldwide. In this way, we were able to remove a great deal of complexity. That gives us more products at lower costs, and, what's more, even more quickly.

Someday, could a Focus or Fiesta from the U.S. or Mexico come to Europe?

If you are asking whether cars manufactured in Europe could also be sold in America, or, conversely, cars manufactured in America, in Europe: Yes, definitely, that is possible. I don't see any danger in that.

We have to always position ourselves to operate profitably on a sustained basis. In doing so, we have to take aspects such as exchange rates, shipping costs and customs duties into consideration.

For this reason, there won't be any changes in the manufacturing locations in most cases.

Ford will sell Volvo to the Chinese automaker Geely. Is Ford losing an important competence center for vehicle safety as a result?

Even after a sale, Ford will have complete access to the rights and patents resting with Volvo. But we have worked with Volvo for so many years in the area of vehicle safety that we aren't coming away empty-handed, if Volvo is no longer part of the Ford group.

Until now, Volvo has represented the premium line of the Ford group in Europe. Will there be models above the Mondeo in the future to fill this gap?

In Europe, we have never pushed the goal of becoming a premium brand. We think that we'll be able to keep growing without advancing into the premium area.

What level of sales do you expect for Ford of Europe this year?

For the industry in Europe, we are assuming sales of 13.5 million to 14.5 million vehicles this year after 15.7 million last year. Due to the expiration of government incentive programs, 2010 will certainly be a difficult year.

But we are convinced that Ford will be among the winners in the European market long term. We want to further increase our market share, which rose by 0.5 percent to 9.1 percent in 2009.

What was the level of utilization for Ford's European factories in 2009 and what level do you expect this year?

In the first half of 2009, we operated at more than 100 percent of capacity. In the second half of the year, we fell to 70 to 75 percent. In 2010, we will strive to get back to 100 percent.

Will you possibly have to cut jobs?

I expect that the market will noticeably recover in 2011 so that we can continue to employ all our employees. Currently, I won't venture a prediction on how likely that is. What I can say is, we will actively take steps to adjust capacity to demand.

[ausrutherford]

Mondeo wasnt because NA cheaped it out.

[2b2]

here's a GREAT interview of Mr. M. by John McElroy from the D.C.Autoshow

AutolineDetroit (video #3, first 15 minutes)

and
Special Thanks to "Frank" from WestHaven, Conn.,
who posted a chatroom question about MERCURY
which
Mr. M. answered in a much more positive way than I've seen before


a Lot of other topics were quickly covered including:
- DIESELS (sounds to me like we can start saving up)
- the F-100-or-Ranger (almost ditto^ )
- Mustang - loose paraphrase: As long as there's a Ford, there'll be The Mustang
- Fusion coupe &or wagon? ...FML WILL offer more variants on ALL platforms
- Lincoln WILL Reach Higher into the Luxury market


these last two ^ seemed to have special meaning for Mercury's future - imho!
and sort of 'led' to Mr. M. saying there will be a "sweet spot" for smaller, upscale, DISTINCT Mercurys
(and as I always say,
the SMALL MERC THEOREM is TEMPORARY!!!)

[Logans Run]

A good indication of Mercury's future will be their design theme.

If the new small car looks like a Focus with a current Mercury grill, then I am going to bet that Mercury will fade away.

If the front is given the current Mercury design theme, I'd say there is a 50/50 chance of Mercury ceasing to exist.

If the front end is redesigned with a significant evolution of the current Mercury theme, or a bold new theme, then I will bet on it's long term survival

[saintl1]

i am really hoping for a bold new look for Mercury, i wont to move away from waterfall grill since its similar to Lincoln, My old cougar has a small mesh grill and it was distinct from any other product.

[cire_1wb]

The one stand alone Lincoln/Mercury dealership in my area has been merged with a Ford dealership. Having said that, both dealerships are owned by the same company. I don't know if this is some indication that Ford really does plan on merging Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln into one dealership network or if the company who owns the dealerships decided that it was more economical to sell all three brands under one roof (the Ford dealership was on the other side of town from the Lincoln/Mercury dealership). I really fear for Mercury's future if it is the former, especially if FoMoCo gives the brand yet another slightly modified U.S. Ford brand clone based on the new Focus sedan or 5-door. With all three brands under one roof, Mercury's slightly modified U.S. Ford brand clones are going to look awfully redundant. It will be very easy to phase Mercury out under a one dealer network configuration if the brand only sells rebadged U.S. Ford clone products.