September is a month of warm weather, shorter days, school, and this year, the death of Mercury. According to a new report from Automotive News, Mercury will be shut down in September, before all the big holidays. The website is stating that it has three dealers that have confirmed this to be true.
The ancient Grand Marquis will be going on Sept 30th, the Mountaineer on October 1st, the Milan on Oct 2nd, and the Mariner on Oct 3rd. After that, the 71-year-old brand will be gone for good.
Ford has yet to release any dates on the Mercury shutdown since it was announced on June 2. Dealers submitted their final orders last month and those should take around 30 days to process. There are around 1,712 dealerships that carry at least one other brand, so it looks like many of the dealerships will survive.
Ford has offered dealers with Mercury a cash settlement, but they won’t get their money until they sell all the remaining models on the lot. So, if you’re looking for a good deal, Mercury might have some.
Goodbye Mercury, it was nice knowing you. Let’s face, though, this was bound to happen. Even Jill Wagner couldn’t save the once great brand. Mercury’s sales have plummeted in recent years and the brand only accounts for 0.8 percent of Ford’s overall market share.
In a press conference this afternoon with Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the America’s and Derrick Kuzak, group vice president of product development, the automaker officially announced the end of Mercury.
With the progress that Ford has been making over the past few years, no brand-specific models were given to Mercury. Instead, Mercury was forced to sell, what basically was a Ford with a different badge. The cars that did sell were mostly through discounts offered to retirees, friends, or family.
Mercury’s dealer network is in the process of being informed about the decision and owners are being told that they can still get there cars serviced at any Ford dealer.
Yet, despite the loss of a great company, Ford isn’t feeling blue. Ford is using the demise of Mercury to refocus and beef up Lincoln. The beef up will include the 2011 MKZ Hybrid and the refreshed 2011 MKX. On top of that, Ford will give Lincoln seven all-new or slightly refreshed models, including the brands first even C-segment vehicle.
Lincoln will also be getting the EcoBoost motors across the entire lineup, including the next generation Navigator. Ford is clearly showing that they are committed to the Lincoln brand.
Press release after the jump.
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Ford is calling an unexpected press conference today at 3pm EST and in instances like this, you can expect the news to be ground-breaking. Reports coming out of the Blue Oval is that the press conference will be all about "brand and product strategy", which is pretty much confirming what’s been reported over the past few days regarding the fate of one of its brands, Mercury.
Unless Ford announces that they’ve developed a car that can travel in space - we’re not holding our breath on that one - you can expect that this press conference will be all about the demise of the Mercury brand.
Stay tuned for more details.
Struggling to recoup the lost glory it enjoyed back in the 70’s, Mercury has become a prime candidate to be the next auto brand to be axed, according to reports from Bloomberg citing two unnamed sources that are familiar with Ford - Mercury’s parent company - and its plans.
When asked, Ford refused to give any indication on whether the reports of Mercury’s demise were more than just birds talking. According to Ford spokesman, Mark Truby, "Our plans regarding Mercury have not changed. Like any good business, we constantly assess our business portfolio. If things change, we will let you know."
Despite the diplomatic response, some folks within the company have said that Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman, as well as members of the Ford family, have expressed their desire to see Mercury fall by the wayside and join GM’s Pontiac, Saturn, and Hummer brands in the growing list of axed car brands.
The move to kill off Mercury comes as no surprise to a lot of people, especially since the brand, which was golden back in the late seventies, has not made any significant impact in Ford’s global sales over the years, highlighted - or is it lowlighted? - by a paltry 1.9% sales volume of all Ford vehicles all over the world for the first quarter of 2010.
As the internet rolls into our cars Ford has decided that safety should follow. Ford announced that it is now offering protection against hackers and viruses with its onslaught of security features which will come standard with any Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicle equipped with SYNC technology. SYNC made its debut in 2008 and gave drivers the capability of hands-free phone operation, media player control, emergency assistance, diagnostic and information services, and traffic reports and directions. The next generation of SYNC technology will also include an in-car WiFi system powered by the car owner’s USB mobile broadband modem. It’s no wonder that with all of these advancements in your car’s connectivity that Ford opted to roll out the safety red carpet and introduce the following safety features:
SYNC Firewall
SYNC Phone Pairing Protection
Encrypted Jukebox
"Home" Protection
Engine Immobilizer
Securicode keyless entry
“Customers are likely to get ‘all the good things as well as the bad things’ that come with Internet connectivity,” said Jim Buczkowski, director of Global Electrical and Electronics Systems Engineering (EESE) for Ford Motor Company. “It’s important that we take those lessons learned from the Internet and bring them to the car.”
Check out the full story after the jump for more details.
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