Dealers report new Mercury compact will exhume Tracer name


If you're a big fan of Mercury... okay, there probably aren't many Mercury fans, but it looks like Ford is hoping to change that by 2011 – or at least stop certain franchisees from crumbling. On Sunday, we told you that Ford President Mark Fields told dealers at the company's annual meeting that an all-new Focus-sized offering was heading over to the product-starved Mercury marque, and now we have fresh rumors of said vehicle's name.

Now, Automotive News quotes two dealer sources as saying that the next Mercury will carry the Tracer name – a marque that's been lost to the ether for some time. But that apparently isn't stopping Ford. At any rate, we're sure the nation's Lincoln–Mercury dealers will be happy to have a new Jill Wagner-pitched offering on their showroom floors, no matter what the name may be. Let's just hope that the powers that be don't dig up the Trio trim level while they're at it.

In other Ford news, the Blue Oval began accepting orders for its subcompact Fiesta yesterday. A reported 60 percent of dealers said that they would order high trim vehicles when they become available. Ford has started a training program to help dealer salespeople sell the newest and most eagerly awaited Ford model to grace dealer forecourts in some time.

[Source: Automotive News – subs. req.]

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