Is Mercury Ready for Canadian Consumption Again?
Canadian Auto Press
Ford hasn’t marketed its Mercury division in Canada for more than a decade, having left our country in 1999. Yes, while the Grand Marquis, a Mercury-branded version of its fleet-only blue oval Crown Victoria that ironically is still produced in Ford’s St. Thomas, Ontario plant, was available to consumers up until 2008, it was sold under the Ford banner north of the 49th.
2009 Lincoln Concept C
The problem was that other than the second to last model sold here, the Ford of Europe-designed Mercury Cougar with its unique angular design that still looks sharp today, the rest of Mercury’s lineup was little more than slightly revised versions of Ford models. This issue persists today, although since greater visual separation between Ford and Mercury brands is now evident there’s a fairly good argument that cars like the Mercury Milan, a classier Ford Fusion, and the Mariner, an upscale Ford Escape, would do well in our market. The only other vehicle offered, other than the aforementioned Grand Marquis, is the Explorer-based Mountaineer, and hybrid versions of its Mariner and Milan.
An upcoming C-segment model based on the upcoming European-designed 2012 Ford Focus, which also shares its architecture with Ford’s C-Max and Grand C-Max MPVs as well as Mazda’s 3 and 5, might be perfect to reintroduce Mercury to Canadians and help to grow the brand in Mexico where it maintains a one-model offering, the Mariner being the only vehicle for sale (check www.mercury.com.mx to see for yourself).
The news comes via Automobile Magazine, which placed an unspecified Mercury model on its list of 10 vehicles Ford plans to produce off of its C-segment platform.
“Certainly, one [variant of the global C-segment architecture] will be a Mercury… It’ll give us something to put into showrooms, and help energize the Mercury brand,” Lincoln-Mercury spokesman Mark Schirmer told the popular magazine.
It’s been more than a decade since Mercury sold a compact car, which is a major deficiency in any lineup attempting to be competitive in a market plagued by fuel economy issues and environmental concerns. Previously Mercury offered a revised version of Mazda’s 323, dubbed Tracer (1988-1999), and before that a cloned Ford Escort, named Lynx (1981-1987). Mercury’s first true compact was the Bobcat (1975-1980), based on Ford’s much-maligned Pinto.
Moving forward, the upcoming Mercury compact could be any one of a variety of possible body styles. Ford showed a C-segment Lincoln dubbed Concept C at last year’s Detroit auto show, which was more of a tall two-box multi-purpose vehicle than a traditional hatchback or sedan, while the Focus will be offered in hatchback and sedan forms, at first, with other body configurations likely to follow.
