Ford of Europe may design next all-new Mercury
Ford has promised that the Mercury brand will live on in a way that sets the marque apart from it's Blue Oval-badged siblings. Many Autoblog readers have commented that Ford should utilize its European models to meet this end, and all indications are that you were right on. Ford has said that the next all-new Mercury would come in 2010, and Ford of Europe CEO John Fleming told Automotive News that the vehicle will "likely" be designed and engineered in Europe. The reason for Mr. Fleming's confidence comes from the fact that the new vehicle will be based on the Ford Focus platform, and that vehicle architecture will, for the foreseeable future, be developed overseas.
Ford of Europe currently builds the C-Max, the three-, four-, and five-door Focus and the Kuga off the C-platform, meaning any one of those variants could one day wear a Mercury waterfall grille. While it would essentially still be a rebadged Ford, this new Merc will be a slightly reworked version of a vehicle that won't otherwise be sold stateside, so it will be new to us. That sounds a lot better than the Mercurys we have today.
[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
tanooki2003 4:36PM (10/14/2008)
Now this is surprising. Ford is actually getting advice from us bloggers with good ideas.
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tanooki2003 4:43PM (10/14/2008)
This is also good because frankly rebadging the same car that Ford makes with a nip and tuck here is rather dull at the lease.
This should give Mercury a much more desirable status than where it stands right now.
styleguy 4:47PM (10/14/2008)
You're actually shocked? A rebadged euro has been in the cards since ford announced that mercury will live. If Ford is intending to make money off this brand, then the best idea is to use a model already amazing.
We had nothing to do with this...but if it were the case, then Ford I want a Euro Focus, Ka, Kuga, Mondeo in Mercury form!
tanooki2003 4:55PM (10/14/2008)
I wasn't being serious with my remark that we had something to do with it. it was actually supposed to be a rhetorical remark, like Ford really listens to us. Then again i might not be too far off base since several car enthusiasts and their cousin's uncle is saying that this is the only way for Mercury to survive. Maybe they might have finally gotten the hint that a Mercury badged Taurus, Escape, Explorer...etc is not really the way anymore.
Landy 1:13AM (10/15/2008)
The bad news is: Ford US is claiming the lead development of the next Mondeo! Get one now before they spoil it!
Randy 1:20PM (10/15/2008)
Either way, it's a good thing!
Also, about Ford not listening to "us". That might not be entirely true! A friend of mine (N.W.) is friends or has some sort of business with another guy that harvests data from Blogs and sells it to big companies so they can get our words of wisdom on their products!
It's kinda funny because he took a ten year old technology that anyone can buy for $29.99, repackaged it and make it "scrape web data" and pull it into a database". It's funny because it's so easy to do and companies are buying this data for big bucks!
Come to think of it. I should start my own version! Be back in 10 minutes! :) LOL jk
chrisdavis 4:46PM (10/14/2008)
Wait. Won't the next US Focus use the same platform, thus being engineered in Europe too?
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compy386 4:46PM (10/14/2008)
Hopefully the Mercuries will be more aggressively tuned. Americans that prefer softer rides can get Fords. Make Mercury into a sporty but economical and environmentally friendly.
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Torrent 4:48PM (10/14/2008)
NEXT GEN MONDEO WITH A MERCURY BADGE
all I'm asking.......
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John92LX 5:10PM (10/14/2008)
Only problem with that is that the Mondeo is built over there, and the current exchange rate would mean it would be priced $10K+ above the current Milan. It might be a better car, but it isnt worth $10K more. I think the Kuga is the best idea, replace the Mariner with that.
Torrent 5:41PM (10/14/2008)
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff22/Hakem1125/MercuryKuga.jpg?t=1224020415
Best quick 'shop I could come up with.
jgp 8:38PM (10/14/2008)
1) Exchange have nothing to do with car prices. Nothing.
2) The Mondeo costs just as much as the European-market Audi A4. It's a premium car regardless of exchange rates.
jamie 4:49PM (10/14/2008)
I don't think it is entirely a case of Ford listening to auto bloggers.
Mazda just announced that they will not build a second plant in the US. Mazda was considering to utilize a shut down Ford plant or building a new one to produce fuel efficient mid-size cars in 2010. But the economic downturn forced them to scrap the project. Ford's plan to sell part of its 33% stake in Mazda was another reason.
That only left Europe as a resource to revitalize the ailing Mercury brand. But isn't that where the new Ford cars are coming from also? ie. Focus? Sounds like more rebadging to me.
I like the idea of Euro-Mercurys. Now if we could only get Lincolns on the par of Bentley, everything would just be ducky.
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Andrew L 4:53PM (10/14/2008)
Its about friggen time!
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EXP Jawa 4:54PM (10/14/2008)
New XR4Ti anyone?
The idea could actually work if they actually make an effort to market it and let customers know that a valid product exists at the LM dealer. And if they avoid using a name that most people can't pronounce, they might even pull it off...
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jamie 4:55PM (10/14/2008)
Ooooh! Just had another thought. What if Ford is really planning to use Volvo to revitalize Mercury? And then use Ford of Europe to improve Ford of America? That might work.
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John92LX 5:12PM (10/14/2008)
Ford is NOT planning on selling its 33% stake, its simply an option thats on the table. When these rumors get posted, people assume that they are facts before anything is set in stone.
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jamie 10:22PM (10/15/2008)
UPDATE 1-Ford asks Denso to buy part of Mazda stake-Nikkei
TOKYO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has asked Japanese auto parts supplier Denso Corp (6902.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to buy part of its stake in Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.
Denso, the world's largest listed auto parts maker and a core supplier of Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) group, is likely to consider the request because it wants to expand business with business with Mazda, the Nikkei said.
The number of shares that Denso would buy and the price has not yet been negotiated, but Denso was likely to acquire less than 1 percent of Mazda's stock from Ford, the paper said.
Mazda's market value is around 380 billion yen ($3.8 billion) and the purchase of a 1 percent stake would cost about 3.8 billion yen.
Ford and Mazda both declined to comment on the report.
A Denso spokeswoman said no decision warranting disclosure had been made.
Ford has a 33.4 percent stake in Mazda. A person familiar with the matter said over the weekend that Ford was considering selling some of its stake in Mazda as it struggles with weakening sales and a global credit crunch.
The Nikkei reported that Ford had approached between 20 and 30 prospective buyers for its shares in Mazda.
Trading houses Sumitomo Corp (8053.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Itochu Corp (8001.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have expressed interest, the newspaper said.
Mazda may also buy back some of its own shares, it said.
Mazda's shares were down 4.6 percent at 272 yen, outperforming a 9.8 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average .N225. Denso shares were 8.9 percent lower at 1,818 yen.
P.V. 5:27PM (10/14/2008)
THANK YOU FORD!
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Brn 8:42AM (10/15/2008)
Great, but people still won't buy it. When automakers follow the advice of commenter in blogs, it rarely works out.