Ford to "Pontiac" Mercury

[Dorian Gray]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/bs_nm/us_ford_mercury

Yeah, Mercury is going bye bye. There's a slight mistake in the article, because it says Ford will be down to two brands like Toyota (after it also sells Volvo). But Toyota has three brands - Toyota, Lexus and Scion.

Anyway, Mercury isn't as much of a shock as Pontiac, or wouldn't be, except... wasn't Ford supposed to be the healthy American car company?

 

[Howie Felterbush]

Being the "healthy American car company" is like being the "finest concert pianist in Galveston".

 

[quixotecoyote]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/bs_nm/us_ford_mercury

Yeah, Mercury is going bye bye. There's a slight mistake in the article, because it says Ford will be down to two brands like Toyota (after it also sells Volvo). But Toyota has three brands - Toyota, Lexus and Scion.

Anyway, Mercury isn't as much of a shock as Pontiac, or wouldn't be, except... wasn't Ford supposed to be the healthy American car company?

I think part of being a healthy company is dropping non-profitable activities and focusing on profitable ones. I don't think this tells us anything about the health of the company without further context.

 

[Delvo]

How soon is the Pontiac thing supposed to actually happen? The website is still displaying new vehicles under that name. Will Ford also take that long doing this?

 

[Howie Felterbush]

I thought that was like two years ago.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Anyway, Mercury isn't as much of a shock as Pontiac, or wouldn't be, except... wasn't Ford supposed to be the healthy American car company?

Why is selling the same vehicles under a different name the sign of a healthy company?

 

[LTC8K6]

Why is selling the same vehicles under a different name the sign of a healthy company?

I don't know if it's healthy or not, but it's pretty common world wide to do so, and has been for a long time.

 

[Dorian Gray]

Some were the same, but not all. The Tracer was the Mazda 323, and the Sable was the Taurus. That's all I've heard about.

 

[HistoryGal]

Some were the same, but not all. The Tracer was the Mazda 323, and the Sable was the Taurus. That's all I've heard about.

I have a 1989 Mercury Tracer, which is, indeed, a Mazda 323 engine and drive train with an American built body. I drove the car until 5 years ago, and I'm in the process of selling it to my upstairs neighbor.

That car never gave me a minute's trouble in the 16 years I drove it, and it still gets 21 mpg on the streets.

Of course, my current car is a Saturn, so I feel like I've done the automotive equivalent of buying 8 track tapes and a Betamax.

 

[coalesce]

Some were the same, but not all. The Tracer was the Mazda 323, and the Sable was the Taurus. That's all I've heard about.

Ford and Mazda have had this relationship for a while, since at least the late 1980s when Ford had 25% ownership of Mazda. The Ford Escape and the Mazda Tribute are essentially the same SUV, as are the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Mazda 3 sedans.

Another example of this is the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe.

Michael (proud owner of a 2007 Fusion with 100K trouble-free miles)

 

[Dunstan]

It was pretty clear that the writing was on the wall for Mercury when their advertising campaigns began using the slogan "you've got to put Mercury on your list." Meaning, I assume, the list of cars you're considering. When a formerly successful brand is reduced to begging people just to consider its product....

 

[TragicMonkey]

My mom had a Mercury Sable. I asked her which name she thought was more fitted for it, the deadly poison or the vicious rodent? Both. It was definitely both.

 

[Dorian Gray]

I don't get the Matrix/Vibe thing. Why cooperate with your competitor like that? Unless Toyota knew something.... no, they would never keep something secret.

 

[coalesce]

I don't get the Matrix/Vibe thing. Why cooperate with your competitor like that? Unless Toyota knew something.... no, they would never keep something secret.

Maybe it was cheaper to cooperate on one model rather than develop a whole new model on their own.

Michael

 

[Damien Evans]

Ford and Mazda have had this relationship for a while, since at least the late 1980s when Ford had 25% ownership of Mazda. The Ford Escape and the Mazda Tribute are essentially the same SUV, as are the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Mazda 3 sedans.

Another example of this is the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe.

Michael (proud owner of a 2007 Fusion with 100K trouble-free miles)

Yeah, I have a 1999 Ford Laser, which is a rebadged 323.