Chick Car?

[Edgey]

In a conversation with a friend/colleague, the topic of new cars came up. I told her that I'm interested in the Milan. She exclaimed "Isn't that a chick car?!". Ouch! I knew Mercury was targeting women, but now Mercury is associated as a brand entirely for women. So what do you do if you're a man? I have some serious second thoughts about putting Mercury on my list if everybody thinks its a chick car.

Edited October 17, 2006 by Edgey

[Watchdevil]

In a conversation with a friend/colleague, the topic of new cars came up. I told her that I'm interested in the Milan. She exclaimed "Isn't that a chick car?!". Ouch! I knew Mercury was targeting women, but now Mercury is associated as a brand entirely for women. So what do you do if you're a man? I have some serious second thoughts about putting Mercury on my list if everybody thinks its a chick car.

 

It's insulting to think that as men, we are made to feel imasculated just because we might find a few of the finer qualities, some tasteful fashion and design appealing in ways that basic Fords won't deliver. There is nothing I would like to see more than a nice new Cougar which can encompass some luxury qualities not found in the Mustang. In the 70's no one genderized who should buy all the best selling mid-sized personal luxury coupes clad with vinyl, chrome and crushed velour. Not every man wants to drive a honking big, rugged and grotesquely designed truck or an asphalt burning sports car. Marketers should not determine what is gender appropriate for any of us to own. Seems they are creating an all new homophobia by specifically targeting women. If Mercury makes a desireable product then I wouldn't be insecure owning one nor should any of you other men. Good taste is a sign of intelligence and care for you own well being. It says that you appreciate sophistication... But for God's sake it doesn't say you're gay...

 

I guess the rate things are going Mercury better tool up an Eliminator package for all it's models just to appeal to men who are insecure about their masculinity...

 

If you ask me, all Ford wants to do is target older people who buy cars as barely adequate appliances totally leaving all of us abandoned who have a passion for performance, refinement and sophistication looking elsewhere if a Mustang or truck just won't fill our needs. Mercury just seems to be all about appearances and targeting specific buyers with trimmed up Fords. Lincoln is just clinging to a vestige of heritage lost because they won't get serious about providing vehicles that excel in certain areas and aspects that make them world class regal and worthy of the Lincoln heritage. What are they really giving us for the price they are charging?... More gussied up Fords?...

[RichardJensen]

She exclaimed "Isn't that a chick car?!".

Score one for the Mecury marketing folks.

 

If you were married, you could always fob off responsibility on the wife. As in, "<grunt> Yeah! I wanted a F-450, but <pfffft> the wife wanted a Meeeelaawn" Not that such a thing would be conducive to happy domestic relations, but it would let you get the Milan.

 

Frankly, Ford is just bringing Mercury out of the closet. It's scored better with women for decades. Finally, Ford's being open about it. It will probably work, too.

[630land]

All one has to do is say "No it's not". And buy what you like and not worry what the 'cool kids' say or think.

[robertlane]

This issue came up in class recently. The instructor even brought in 1967-1969 Mercury ads, which state that Mercury is the "Man's Car." It has gone from a man's car to a woman's car.

Edited October 17, 2006 by robertlane

[Roadrunner]

Well heck Marlboro cigarettes went from being "Mild as May" to being from the manly "Marlboro Country" -- meaning that images do change.

 

I say keep Mercury as a woman's car, because I see the Milan as effeminate in style. (Mind you, I used to love the Milan's conservative front end, so go figure). The Mercury trucks won't be seen as effeminate, just the cars. I think it works out fine.

[Edgey]

Score one for the Mecury marketing folks.

 

If you were married, you could always fob off responsibility on the wife. As in, "<grunt> Yeah! I wanted a F-450, but <pfffft> the wife wanted a Meeeelaawn" Not that such a thing would be conducive to happy domestic relations, but it would let you get the Milan.

 

Frankly, Ford is just bringing Mercury out of the closet. It's scored better with women for decades. Finally, Ford's being open about it. It will probably work, too.

 

The wife doesn't like Mercury so I'd have a hard time pulling that one off. Personally, I think the Milan looks better than her CTS. I've thought of the MKZ, but I just can't get comfortable with that retro dashboard.

Edited October 17, 2006 by Edgey

[xr7g428]

When Mercury used "The Mans Car" advertising they discovered that more women were buying Mercury's. They dropped the slogan. What they failed to realize is that women will buy a macho car, and men will not buy a "chick" car. This has been demonstrated so many times. When VW put a bud vase in the New Beetle they pretty well killed the car.

 

Targeting women as customers is okay, but outright pandering to women is foolish.

 

What happens is the "average buyer" syndrome. Marketing research always serves to point to the middle. If we were studying height, we might find the average buyer is 5' 6" tall. The temptation is to make the car for 5' 6" drivers. Unfortunately, a deeper look at the data would tell us that we had two groups, 5' 3" women and 5'9" men. By trying to make the car for the average buyer, it actually gets built for tall women and short men.

 

Women do not see cars as gender specific. They do care about features that make the car pleasurable to drive, and to own. Power folding seats, and power closing doors on mini vans, are all features that women appreciate. The rear hatch mounted rear seat back release in the Edge is a great feature for women, and for any one that doesn't want to have to run around the vehicle folding up the seats in preparation for loading. Style is an important element but too much attention to style becomes fashion, and fashion is fickle.

[RichardJensen]

The wife doesn't like Mercury so I'd have a hard time pulling that one off.

She wouldn't have to, she'd just be the excuse for you to indulge in your own preferences.

 

And xr7g428, the idea that women will buy a 'man's car' only stretches so far. Female buyers have kept the Mustang going, and not the F-bodies, which were always a little more testosterone soaked.

[tommyturbo]

well I can take this a step further and from discussions I come across some cars are even considered "gay"

 

For example men who drive new beetles, are usually considered to be gay.

 

I find my favorite car, the 80's dodge daytona shelby z was marketed to women, per factory literature and info I have, does that bother me, no. I have allways loved the styling and shape, and performance the car offers.

 

I think everyone gravitates towards what they like. Maybe women gravitate more to mercurys than men...maybe people who are gay gravitate to beetles more, why worry about it.

[silvrsvt]

well I can take this a step further and from discussions I come across some cars are even considered "gay"

 

For example men who drive new beetles, are usually considered to be gay.

 

The new Mini was directly marketed towards gays.

[JM]

The wife doesn't like Mercury so I'd have a hard time pulling that one off. Personally, I think the Milan looks better than her CTS. I've thought of the MKZ, but I just can't get comfortable with that retro dashboard.

I came upon this while car shopping a while back, when I asked the salesperson who is buying the most STS's he said WOMEN, and women were buying the majority of CTS's as well. I say, who cares! Who drives the majority of the Escalades out there? Soccer Moms. But when you think of an Escalade you automatically think about rappers, big wheels, and bling. So does that mean soccer moms are buying Escalades because they relate to rappers? No.

[robertlane]

And on the other end of the spectrum, we have Dodge - which seems to be targeted toward men.

 

As long as Mercury keeps Jill in their commercials, I am happy :happy feet:

 

latest jill commercial link

[StevenJ]

All I know is that Elena Ford should be fired! I feel the Milan is necessary as is a smaller SUV like the Mariner and even the Moutaineer. But what about a high tech Mercury Cougar with a 290 hp Lima 3.5l 24v V6 runnin on premium with IRS? How about a new Grand Marquis with the new 300 hp Mustang GT motor and ZF6 speed auto with a new interior and properly freshened front and rear styling? How about a Marauder package? Why target the brand towards minorities? Mercury should always be about up scale business people, aka. middle managers who aspire to own Merc S class Or BMW 760s but can't afford one. That's why they should have large coupes like a powerful and very advanced Mercury Cougar with RWD, IRS, IFS, high out put DOHC V6 and DOHC V8 or a larger RWD sedan like a new Grand Marquis and a Marauder package.

 

It would be like an Americanized Mercedes with far better quality and without all the tiny touches like voice navigation and such. Leave that stuff for Lincoln. What about the MN12 cars? THey sold in HUGE numbers and what did they do? Get rid of them with a lousy expensive two seat roadster and a sport sedan that was under advertised and they made the engine bay too small to fit their Modular V8s! Talk about stupid! Why can't Ford quit pussy footing around with Mercury? They had a good thing going with the Marauder. It is too bad they never put in the effort into it to make it complete and then over priced it by $5,000. Look at the 300C! Yes it fails as a volume car on the lower end but on the higher end it has done fairly well. I know a lot of the lower end V6 models are plying up but that is for other reasons other than "It is RWD". Ever sit in an LX car? You'll understand when you do. They have a terrible interior.

Edited October 18, 2006 by StevenJ

[ANTAUS]

I think some people are getting a bit bent out of shape. Just because a brand is geared towards a specific sect, it's not a good/bad thing is the opposite attracts it. Wasn't/Isn't the Mustang V6 known as the secretariets car?

 

If anything, targeting something towards a consumer that you think is the least to be attracted to it, might be better in the long run...it allows the person to work much more in attaining their goal.

[RichardJensen]

Why target the brand towards minorities?

Because no one else is.

 

Look, Ford could do just about anything with Mercury. They could make it the 'Euro car' division, they could remake it as the 'Man's car', they could move it upscale to entry-level luxury, etc.

 

The problem is: All of those approaches are exceptionally expensive. People will tell you that it would be 'easy' to Federalize the EU spec cars, people talk about creating Cougars as though it were a quick six month project, people talk about Mercury getting its own platforms and unique product, as though Ford has PD talent sitting on its thumbs, waiting for the go ahead to design a specialty one-off car for Mercury which will not sell in sufficient volume to recover its costs. But the cost isn't confined to PD. The greater cost is spending billions to re-educate buyers. To try and get people who would never have considered Mercury to look at it.

 

Now look at what Ford sees when they examine Mercury buyers vs. Ford buyers:

 

Hispanic buyers

Mercury: 19%

Ford: 8%

All buyers: 14%

 

African American buyers

Mercury: 11%

Ford: 4%

All buyers: 8%

 

Asian/other

Mercury: 4%

Ford: 2%

All buyers: 4%

 

Female

Mercury: 52%

Ford: 34%

All buyers: 45%

 

This is what you call 'low hanging fruit'. Ford can quite easily exploit the advantages that Mercury alread has, over the market as a whole, and over Ford division products.

 

As I mentioned earlier, Ford could do ANYTHING with Mercury, they could make a line of $100k sedans and coupes even. However, the key question is what investment has the least risk. Ford has somehow, through a couple of decades of neglect, stumbled into a readymade niche for Mercury.

 

I would venture to guess that the statistics for Saturn are similarly skewed towards women and minorities when compared with Chevrolet.

 

But GM is not a customer oriented company. Therefore, instead of looking at who Saturn customers are, GM has decided that they need an 'import fighter', and that, by gum, is what Saturn is going to be.

Edited October 18, 2006 by RichardJensen

[fllcobra]

I think the reason Mercury is trying to woo women is this group tends to favor imports cars. Marketing specifically to women is a bit of a gamble for the same reason aforementioned New Beetle flopped. Men won't buy them. But it is not all bad news because unlike the New Beetle men have an alternative to the Milan, the Fusion and the MKZ.

 

I think it would be better to market Mercury to the professionals regardless of gender.

[Watchdevil]

Well there was a Milan in teh parking lot at work... I liked the charcoal brown paint and radial finned wheels... Got a good glimpse of the front end at certain angles and it looks nice... The car as a whole has a substantial nicely chisled look... And it looks American... The Montego and 500 leave me emotionless... execpt to say I always have to second look to make sure they are not a VW...

[StevenJ]

Rich that is BS, I am not talking about a total remodiling of the line. Just a slight change in image. Just redo the Grand Marquis on its own platform and borrow the Mustang and just snazzy it up a bit with IRS and a Duratech 35 V6. Maybe in a year or two after that, add a sedan variant. Just something and these two ideas wouldn't cost all that much in development.

Edited October 18, 2006 by StevenJ

[RichardJensen]

Rich that is BS

Durn right it is.

 

It's advertising.

 

In addition to the tens of millions it would cost to launch the products you suggest, it would take hundreds of millions to change buyer perception of the brand.

[Edgey]

I notice the latest (annoying) Mercury commercial features a male admirer. I think the real purpose of the commercial is to enhance the sex appeal of the car to women. If anything, the male admirer comes off a little dense since he's preoccupied with the car and not the lady. Consequently, his admiration of Mercury paints the Mercury male consumer as a little naive reletive to the stronger female consumer.

 

In any case, Mercury generally comes off as a more individualistic choice than the standard Ford fair. Ford brand design is also very inconsistent and not very sophisticated so I've always been attracted to Lincoln/Mercury. The Mercury selection hasn't been this solid since I could remember, but it does concern me that certain cars not being added, especially the Edge which is a car I would like to see Mercurized (I'm not a fan of the razor grille). Mercury is an excellent way of taping into buyers bored by the mass-market options but don't want to spend a substantial premium to get something a little different.

 

I don't see how a Mercury Cougar works for Mercury, the Mustang is hard to repackage as anything other than a Mustang in disguise. That's one reason why Ford is not going to adapt the Mustang for Lincoln. Mercury would be better off with a version of the Fusion coupe, assuming one is coming together for the future. I think more people are in love with the idea of bringing a Cougar back than they are in actually purchasing one. The Cougar has more brand equity with enthusiasts than with the Mercury customer.

Edited October 18, 2006 by Edgey

[RichardJensen]

Ford brand design is also very inconsistent

Wait a year.

 

Although, I must say the grilles on the SUVs are all over the map.

[Edgey]

Wait a year.

 

Although, I must say the grilles on the SUVs are all over the map.

 

I don't like the razor grille, I've decided it's just too predictable and inflexible to be interesting from year to year. I would really like to see Ford move in a different direction. Consistent design need not mean that every car has to look identical, it just has to have a recognizable design language. Ford has the habit of designing cars to look the same at the expense of design innovation and freshness.

[RichardJensen]

I don't like the razor grille, I've decided it's just too predictable and inflexible to be interesting from year to year. I would really like to see Ford move in a different direction. Consistent design need not mean that every car has to look identical, it just has to have a recognizable design language. Ford has the habit of designing cars to look the same at the expense of design innovation and freshness.

Someone has stuck the chrome side trim from a '55 Ford to this Thunderbird making it much easier to prove my point

 

 

 

 

Notice that from the 50s to the early 90s Ford carried design cues across its lineup. Rather than stifle 'innovation and freshness', this allowed customers to easily identify Ford products.

[Watchdevil]

Someone has stuck the chrome side trim from a '55 Ford to this Thunderbird making it much easier to prove my point

 

The 55 Tbird actually used a few pieces here and there from the standard Fords. Most noticably they used the standard Ford's headlamp and taillamp bezels.... The V-check chromeoin the Tbird was pre-production planned along with the Fairlane chrome headlamp bezels but not used as standard equipment during production

. I think it later showed up as a dealer accessory instead.

 

Anyway thanks for the cool pics... Old Fords make me feel good... I dont feel that way about new ones... I even liked the 1985 LTD 5.0 LX Sport... Then the Taurus came along and killed the potential for that being a four-door companion to a Mustang, and now we are stuck with no V8 sports sedan. Thats what I loved about the Fox generation Fords... You could hot rod any of those cars to perform like a Mustang...

 

And another thing... I can never say enough how much I miss my Tbirds...

 

I don't like the razor grille, I've decided it's just too predictable and inflexible to be interesting from year to year. I would really like to see Ford move in a different direction. Consistent design need not mean that every car has to look identical, it just has to have a recognizable design language. Ford has the habit of designing cars to look the same at the expense of design innovation and freshness.

 

I'm already sick of it... its time to move on...