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Mercury Vehicles in Development in 2010/2011


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The unveiling of the Explorer got me to thinking about the Mercury Mountaineer, and by extension, the Mercury brand. 

Many people in this group seem to have insider knowledge of Ford's R&D and product planning. Therefore, I'm wondering... What Mercury vehicles were in development around the time the brand was canned in 2010/2011? 

I remember reading articles back around the time of the brand's cancellation that the then-upcoming Ford Focus was to be rebadged and sold as the Mercury Tracer (link below). Was there a Mountaineer (2011 Explorer) in the works? A Sable (2010 Taurus)? A Mariner (2013 Escape)? Other new models that the public never found out about? 

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The rumor is that the Tracer became a Lincoln and was ultimately cancelled...fortunately!  At the time small sedans were the thing.  It's amazing how dramatically things have changed.  I remember at the time that Mercury was defunded internally around 2008, well before Ford was finalizing their new 2010+ products so I don't think the Tracer was ever green-lit.  

These spy-photos are the early Lincoln mules being hauled off to the recyclers.  

https://www.leftlanenews.com/lincoln/spied-lincolns-focus-based-compact-sedan/

The only Mercury product that was green-lit and ultimately cancelled was a version of the Ford Taurus X in 2008.  Ironically Ford decided to drop the Sable weeks after they launched it in 2008.

http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/mercury-crossover-spy.jpg

 

Edited by Assimilator
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Mercury lost its reason to exist with the death of the Grand Marquis. No one cared about Milan, Mountaineer, Mariner, Sable, etc., and most of the people who cared about Grand Marquis were dead or in the nursing home by 2011. I have a 2010 Grand Marquis myself but I was born 20 years too late. 

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I remember well, that in 2011, my plans were to trade in my 2006 Ford Fusion SE and step into a Mercury Milan with the eventual reward of moving up to Lincoln later on....well, FoMoCo ended Mercury so I bought a 2012 Ford Fusion SEL instead....of course my plans were on track since I later traded it in on a low mileage CPO 2011 Lincoln MKX Elite and now enjoy a 2017 Lincoln MKC Reserve....next up?? Unknown as I await my local Ford store to get the new Ranger in, that is, unless I can make a great deal on that low mileage CPO Continental Black Label....

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On 1/11/2019 at 12:00 AM, Assimilator said:

The rumor is that the Tracer became a Lincoln and was ultimately cancelled...fortunately!  At the time small sedans were the thing.  It's amazing how dramatically things have changed.  I remember at the time that Mercury was defunded internally around 2008, well before Ford was finalizing their new 2010+ products so I don't think the Tracer was ever green-lit.  

These spy-photos are the early Lincoln mules being hauled off to the recyclers.  

https://www.leftlanenews.com/lincoln/spied-lincolns-focus-based-compact-sedan/

The only Mercury product that was green-lit and ultimately cancelled was a version of the Ford Taurus X in 2008.  Ironically Ford decided to drop the Sable weeks after they launched it in 2008.

http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/mercury-crossover-spy.jpg

I remember hearing rumors about that Focus-based Lincoln sedan. They were obviously toying around with the idea for a few years prior (hence the Lincoln C concept). It's probably better that the car never saw the light of day.

Edited by DequindreToo
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On 1/11/2019 at 7:14 PM, ehaase said:

Mercury lost its reason to exist with the death of the Grand Marquis. No one cared about Milan, Mountaineer, Mariner, Sable, etc., and most of the people who cared about Grand Marquis were dead or in the nursing home by 2011. I have a 2010 Grand Marquis myself but I was born 20 years too late. 

Those last generation of Mercury vehicles didn't even offer much over their Ford counterparts. They had different grilles and offered beige interiors. It was a sad end to the brand.

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1 hour ago, DequindreToo said:

I remember hearing rumors about that Focus-based Lincoln sedan. They were obviously toying around with the idea for a few years prior (hence the Lincoln C concept). It's probably better that the car never saw the light of day.

Mulally was so obsessed with econoboxes during that time, completely ignoring the fact that increased fuel efficiency for trucks and utilities was right around the corner. Imagine where Lincoln would be today if those pointless MK- cars never happened and the Navigator received proper attention. Plus, Lincoln could have had a new Aviator years ago if they hadn't wasted time and money on the MKT. 

Those had to be the worst years in the history of product planning at Ford.

Edited by The Handler
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12 hours ago, The Handler said:

Mulally was so obsessed with econoboxes during that time, completely ignoring the fact that increased fuel efficiency for trucks and utilities was right around the corner. Imagine where Lincoln would be today if those pointless MK- cars never happened and the Navigator received proper attention. Plus, Lincoln could have had a new Aviator years ago if they hadn't wasted time and money on the MKT. 

Those had to be the worst years in the history of product planning at Ford.

Given the economic circumstances at that time, econoboxes probably seemed like a good idea. The problem is that Mulally completely ignored Lincoln during his tenure, probably to get those econoboxes to market. Mark Fields was the one that spearheaded many of the products that we see at Lincoln today. 

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Lincoln is in the condition it's in today because of Fields, no doubt about that.  I'm not sure it was a smart business decision considering that they are not going to come anywhere close to the targeted global sales volume by 2020, but I'm certainly glad it's still here. Luxury was a major tentpole in Field's vision for Ford and unfortunately that's not indicated in Hackett's Ford. 

CD6 was developed largely for the benefit of Lincoln, but volume was scaled back quite a bit when they cancelled the other products that were envisioned under its initial development (Mustang and Lincoln Sedans), although CD6 was largely green-lit for Aviator and Explorer and was developed for those products only which was part of the delay.  At this point I would say it's almost impossible to use CD6 for anything other than utilities.  I do hope they find more products to put it under however.  

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