Is Mulally The Mercury MURDERER?

[2b2]

WHY? Mr."M", WHY?
Finally venting my frustration after the NYC-autoshow-NO-Show:

Originally Posted by MERCURYSABLE08

We're very fortunate that Mercury is still alive, but unfortunately I can't say Mercury is really well.

Mercury is suffering from product starvation & if Ford doesn't do something fast Mercury I'm afraid it may be too late & I say that because the average buyer/car shopper may just past Mercury over since they haven't heard of any new product or seen a Mercury commercial in just about forever. And probably a good portion of the public doesn't even know Mercury exist anymore. And Ford can't ( >BLAME< ) anyone but themselves for it...

imho we MercuryFans really Need, MUST, make a verbal distinction from now on:

Mercury IS NOT Dead! Dying!! etc!!!

If "worse keeps coming to worst", we MUST start using the word MURDERED!

Between the
- Milan-&-Mariner,
- all the web-forum hub-bub -- so much of it positive,
- Mercury's CONSISTENTLY Astronomic dependability ratings,
- & *Jill*;
there is NO WAY that Mercury will DIE all-by-itself!!!

True, it's Overly LEAN (due to the Fomoco-Imposed starvation diet),
but
despite F's best/worst efforts, sales HAVE NOT "evaporated" - just been ArTiFiCiAlLy suppressed...

I'm SICK of it !

IF Fomoco really wants to make the BIGGEST MISTAKE they possibly could,
there's not much I/we can do... BUT
CALL THEM ON IT:

MURDERERS
MURDERERS
MURDERERS

think I'm finding my 'voice'
...tho all my NYC-Autoshow-NO-SHOW notes are on my in-storage computer
&
Let me take my gloves off & get 'personal' for a moment:

Dear Mr.M,

What do you want your last initial to stand for?
M = Mulally?
or
"M for MURDER"?

[Taglane]

Why don't you tell us how you really feel?

I like Mercury, but like saturn, They aren't getting enough marketing. I've seen the '10 MKZ and Fusion ads at least 10 times each, while I saw the '10 Milan ad once while watching Fallon last week.

[Bravada]

Just email him and ask why would he give the Smart Forfour a whale baleen and proclaim it a Lincoln.

[civilzues]

I can never understand what you post...

[BlackGTP]

My thinking is that there really isn't much of a place anymore for the in between brands - meaning not luxury (Cadillac) and not entry level (Chevy). With entry level being so good, such as the Malibu, the next step is really to a true luxury car. What can be done to make a Malibu more upscale other than a nicer grade of materials in the interior? It's not worth having an entire division devoted to nicer materials.... That is what Mercury is trying to fill and no one sees the point. Probably another reason Volvo is struggling - it is another in between brand. My father-in-law has a '08 V70. As far as engine, transmission, handling are concerned the Malibu is just as good, if not better. Other than interior materials and his being a wagon there isn't much of a reason to pay the $10,000+ premium for the Volvo.

[emh]

What really is the purpose of Mercury anyway? The mainstream brands are moving more upmarket and luxury brands are moving down. There really isn't much space left for an intermediate brand like Mercury (or Buick if not for the Chinese market) within a full-line manufacturer. My guess it Mercury will live on as long as they can survive with slightly modified Fords, but would never justify unique products.

EDIT: BlackGTP, you said the same thing while I was typing my post...

[igor]

Yes, Mercury is a dead man walking.

Igor

[Simon says]

Hey 2b2,

Like good old William S. once wrote . . . "Too much ado about nothing".

I am also disappointed that there were no new Mercurys (or Fords or Lincolns for that matter) at NYIAS. BUT, there was a Mercury area and let me tell you there were people looking at the few cars that were there, especially the two hybrids. That made a sharp contrast with Pontiac for example, which had more than twice the space and every single car they produce (including the G5 and a G3 I had no idea existed) and none of the visitors.

Ford is still cost cutting, you could see that in the show. Lincoln didn't bother to include the Town Car in their press material booklet for example but they had two MKTs for you to play with. Ford only had one Mustang (a Shelby GT500) but they had two Tauri (a Limited and an SHO) and the cutaway. Their presence was reduced and strong.

I can't blame Mullaly or Ford for prioritizing their core brands Ford and Lincoln. That is where the volume is. Mercury as been given a new lease in life but now is going through a semi-comatose period, in which incidentally they have two of the best vehicles they have ever had, until Ford has the time and resources to tun it into this premium small car brand they have been talking about.

All I can tell you is, be patient my friend, be patient. . . . and also prepared, just in case.

Sorry, I haven't replied to you PM, but I wanted to give you a thorough answer and haven't got the time.

[BlackGTP]

Originally Posted by emh

What really is the purpose of Mercury anyway? The mainstream brands are moving more upmarket and luxury brands are moving down. There really isn't much space left for an intermediate brand like Mercury (or Buick if not for the Chinese market) within a full-line manufacturer. My guess it Mercury will live on as long as they can survive with slightly modified Fords, but would never justify unique products.

EDIT: BlackGTP, you said the same thing while I was typing my post...

Yeah - I saw your post and thought it was mine!

[1931Chevy]

I still think Mercury will survive but it will stay with the current skeleton lineup until thinks get better. For the time being I prefer that they spend heavily on the Ford and Lincoln brands because this two need to be ready for when the market gets better, and Mercury can still be fixed but that will occur when the market stabilizes so lets just have some hope because Mercury as some speculators have been saying was going to be dead before oldsmobile and look

Mercury still alive
Olds dead
soon Saturn,Hummer,Pontiac and maybe the whole Chrysler corp will be gone so I still think the Sign of the Cat brand will be here for many more years

[Exploder]

I always thought Mercury is supposed to compete with Buick and Chrysler. What's so confusing about that?

[Taglane]

Originally Posted by Exploder

I always thought Mercury is supposed to compete with Buick and Chrysler. What's so confusing about that?

I thought it was top of the line Hondas and Toyotas. And that Lincoln competed with Buick.

[GMfan1111]

WOW 2b2 first off that's one heck of a rant secondly it's very accurate. While I'd stop short of calling mulally a murderer. Mercury is basically on life support right now. the redesigned Milan is a decent rebadge but rampant rebadging is mercury's problem. personally the new Milan is the only good new vehicle the brand has in a sea of uninspiring models (mariner, mountaineer etc) what's needed is a model that is unique to mercury just like how the mustang is ford exclusive like a small compact car

[ScottyFLM]

market share for ford is not as great as it use to be, so why spend money on three brands, condense it down, up the trim packages for the Fords, got to cut the extra fat to become lean and strong. Unfortunately Mercury has actually been dead since 2002. Sad that they were top of the market just 14 years ago, but they've sat on them for so long that it's too late. No coming back, would cost too much money to fix it. I hate to see them go, my first car was a Mercury. You just got to do what needs to be done to survive.

[page2171]

I am a fan of Mercury, Pontiac, and GMC. I was a fan of Oldsmobile. Maybe I should become a Toyota fan.