Mercury gets the ax

[Rightupinthere]

Winged Messager Shot Down

I get it, but the big boys really screwed up their brand management in product offering. I today's climate I would take the Mercury brand and "go to indicated." Meaning, make the production base smaller with true cutting edge design. Consider it the concept car line.
Oh, well. I'm not a Detroit Blue Blood with an ivy league degree so what would I know?

[Tech83]

I had to do a quick search..... I though you were talking about Mercury - the boat engine people. I was getting ready to go into shock Of course, I have been away from the boating scene since grad school.

linky

[Lord_Byron]

I was getting ready to walk downtown and see what they had done to the Mercury Statue.



Before you ask, Tech83, the building in the back is called the "Times Square Building" and it is truly a classic art-deco building. Cornerstone was laid the day the market crashed in '29.

[Flipper]

Freddie Mercury has been dead for years....

[VDub26Falcon]

It is kind of sad to see this continually happen with well-known products. First you had the Pontiac brand go from GM and now this line that has been around for over 70 years. Unfortunately, when you just take a Ford and switch a few things around and stick the Mercury tag on it, people are going to go for the nearly-the-same-but-WAY-cheaper version offered by Ford. It's not rocket science. It's car science.

[Redwingtom]

At first I thought it was about the planet being relegated to dwarf status like Pluto

[Tech83]

Before you ask, Tech83, the building in the back is called the "Times Square Building" and it is truly a classic art-deco building. Cornerstone was laid the day the market crashed in '29.

Mmm.... Its overall design parti seems very interesting... however, I try to stay away from phallic references in my work. I prefer more feminine references in my work.



I also appreciated Frank Lloyd Wright's work - such as the stacked mattress reference at Fallingwater.



But then again.... Wright liked his buildings to be like his women.... horizontal.

[PGY Tiercel]

But then again.... Wright liked his buildings to be like his women.... horizontal.

So you saying Wright was rather unimaginative?

[Tech83]

But then again.... Wright liked his buildings to be like his women.... horizontal.

So you saying Wright was rather unimaginative?

Certain biographers may say that.....

[NWLB]

I think it is a good move. It will push a few people up to Lincoln, and the rest likely just by Fords. Brands for the sake of brands just isn't the way to go these days.

[1987alum]

Nathan:

Agreed. At one point, the GM brands all stood for something, then in the name of streamlining and efficiency, the all became homogeneous. Same with Ford, Lincoln, Mercury.

I like RUIT's idea of a more "boutique" automaker, and maybe that's what we'll start to see.

One possibility is THIS PROJECT (linky).

But I could see Micro-manufacturing becoming a new avenue. I'm intrigued to see what the next wave of entrepreneurs are going to come up with.

[NWLB]

I knew the history of how the brands became rebadging of the same basic car. I could see Mercury coming back as a youth brand perhaps. What I think would mark the real loss, would be if they fail to incorporate some of the styling options into the Ford line. In the times I did look at Mercury, I didn't like the silly logo. But I love the interiors. I liked the colors. In fact I considered that brand to be more on-target than Ford was. This was some time ago though.

Ford manages to have an endless variety of packages and configurations for the truck lines. I think the Ford brand could do well with people being able to tailor their cars with greater options. Not having to trample on Mercury is a bonus. Might even be easier to up-sell buyers that way, than trying to bump-up buyers to another brand.

[Rightupinthere]

Ford manages to have an endless variety of packages and configurations for the truck lines. I think the Ford brand could do well with people being able to tailor their cars with greater options.

Dreadfully inefficient for autos. Trucks require specialization or you will not get much traction into the market.

I see a future of base cars coming off the assembly line with dealers adding much of the customization. More efficient for the manufacturer with a great deal of profit opportunity for the dealers.

[NWLB]

Sounds akin to what I hear on the radio ads for GM trucks and the WiFi system. It is on the corp. Ads, but a dealer issue.

So is there any sign of the auto companies or seperate from them, the dealers ramping up the means to customize after they get cars? It would seem to be in the interest of parts makers too.

[Rightupinthere]

Sounds akin to what I hear on the radio ads for GM trucks and the WiFi system. It is on the corp. Ads, but a dealer issue.

So is there any sign of the auto companies or seperate from them, the dealers ramping up the means to customize after they get cars? It would seem to be in the interest of parts makers too.

Dealers have been expanding their capacity to customize for years be it out-sourced or in house. It would only makes sense for the manufacturers to capitalize on what is becoming a dealers core competency, and pass the servicing aspect of customization to the dealers. Win-win. The only downside is requiring dealers to have a greater inventory which may make some of those skinflint principals shirk.

But then, who am I? I don't have the "pedigree" to know anything about running a major corporation.