The History of Mercury

Mercury is an American car brand used by Ford from 1938 to 2011. It was invented by Edsel Ford to fill the price niche between Ford and Lincoln products. The idea was an instant success, and by 1950 the millionth Mercury had been sold, despite a hiatus from 1942-1945. From 1945 to 1954 and from 1959 to 2011, the brand was part of the Lincoln-Mercury division.

Until the early 1960s, Mercury's catalog consisted of full-size, mid-priced models developed on Ford and Lincoln platforms. There was nothing outstanding about them, except some stylistic tricks (such as the Breezeway's reverse tilt down rear window) and useless gadgets that suited American tastes. Then came compact (Comet), mid-size (Montego, Cyclone) and sports (Cougar) cars; some were successful in NASCAR, NHRA and Trans-Am races. Mercury sales remained strong during the fuel crisis, peaking in 1978, but began to decline in the following years, mainly due to unification with Ford. Since Mercury had always been represented only in the North American market, it became increasingly difficult for it to Because Mercury was always limited to the North American market, it became increasingly difficult for it to compete with foreign automakers. In 2008, production volumes reached a historic low, and after three years Ford abandoned the redundant brand.

In 2003, the Grand Marquis sedan was lastly restyled, and it got a high-performance version Mercury Marauder, equipped with 4.6-liter Modular V8 DOHC engine with output of 302 hp. Because of low sales it was canceled in 2004. Besides these vehicles, smaller front-wheel drive full-size sedans Montego/Sable (2005-2009, twin Ford Taurus), minivan Mercury Monterey (2003-2007, twin Ford Windstar), full-size SUV Mercury Mountaineer (2002-2010, twin Ford Explorer), crossover Mercury Mariner (2005-2011, twin Ford Escape) and mid-size sedan Mercury Milan (2006-2011, twin Ford Fusion) were produced under the Mercury brand. All of them featured a waterfall grille with the Mercury emblem. The Mercury Mariner and Mercury Milan had hybrid versions, which came with a four-cylinder Duratec series gasoline engine, an electric motor, and a continuously variable CVT transmission.

The economic crisis of 2008-2009, the years-long policy of duplicating models and the Mercury advertising launched in 2008 as a women's car has led to a decline in sales from 360000 units in 2000 to 95000 units in 2010. Further existence of the brand did not make sense, as it had only 1% of the U.S. car market. At the end of 2010, Ford announced that it was liquidating the Lincoln-Mercury division and spinning off Lincoln into an independent subsidiary. The last Mercury rolled off the assembly line in St. Thomas, Canada, on January 4, 2011. Do not forget to use Mercury VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.