Here are some numbers that you may want to keep in mind today as Ford has just announced that it will kill the Mercury brand at the end of the year.
71—that's the number of years Mercury has been in business.
1,712—that the number of Mercury dealers in the U.S., but keep in mind that they also all sell other Ford products.
0.8—that's the percentage of overall Ford sales that Mercury represents.
2.2—that's the percentage of overall sales growth for Ford this year.
In other words, Ford overall sales grew more this year than the entire Mercury brand…at least in terms of Mercury sales.
"We decided we're going to focus our efforts and resources on continuing
to grow the Ford brand and accelerate Lincoln," said Mark Fields, Ford's
president of the Americas, in a press conference in Dearborn, Michigan today.
He also added that no jobs will lost when Ford stops producing Mercury cars at the end of the year.
Winding down Mercury will allow Ford to focus more attention on its other luxury Brand Lincoln, according to Alan Mulally, Ford president and CEO.
“Profitably growing Lincoln in North America is an important part of our One Ford plan,” said Mulally, “Our Ford brand is gaining momentum and winning customers around the world. Now, we are going to use the same laser focus to further strengthen Lincoln and deliver even more products luxury customers really want and value.”
Mercury was started by Henry Ford's son Edsel in 1939 as a way to fill the gap between Ford cars and the Luxury cars produced by Lincoln.
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