The Downfall of Mercury [Infographic]

We weren't shocked last week when Ford announced that production of Mercury vehicles would end by the latter part of this year. We were relieved. Most of us on the Autoblog team aren't old enough to remember a time when Mercury was a respected brand with a unique identity. It's been nothing more than a line-up of rebadged Ford models since 2002 when the Villager minivan and Cougar coupe, neither of which had a Ford-branded counterpart, ended production.

And so, when we heard that Ford was pulling the plug on Mercury, we gave our infographic designers the task of capturing the brand's downfall in one fell swoop. Turned out to be a pretty easy task. Check out The Downfall of Mercury infographic after the jump.

[Source: Auto Insurance Quotes for Autoblog.com]