End of the Road: Remembering Ford’s Fallen Mercury Brand

As Ford recovered from the financial crisis of the late 2000s, many difficult decisions had to be made, and one of them was the discontinuation of the company’s longtime Mercury brand after more than 70 years of production. 

Conceived by Edsel Ford in the 1930s, Mercury was created to give the company a medium-priced vehicle line to compete with the likes of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Dodge. The brand was named for the winged messenger of the Roman gods, the god of dependability, eloquence, skill, and speed.

“Right from the beginning, Mercury was a vehicle designed for a specific niche,” said Ross H. Roberts, former Ford vice president and Lincoln-Mercury Division general manager in a 1988 press release marking the brand’s 50th anniversary. “Long before ‘market segment’ was a part of any carmakers’ vocabulary, Mercury was aimed at customers who wanted a little more than a Ford and a little less than a Lincoln.”

Mercury’s rising 

The brand peaked in 1953 behind its first truly new products since its launch in 1939, as Mercury earned 5% total market share, after having marked its one-millionth vehicle produced in 1950. By the time the decision was made to end production, though, Mercury accounted for just 0.8 percentage points of Ford’s overall 16% U.S. market share. 

The new brand launched in 1938 with the Mercury 8, selling more than 65,000 of the V8-powered cars. Sales and production slowed before coming to a halt due to World War II, but Mercury thrived in the 1950s, including with the release of the innovative Turnpike Cruiser, which included the industry's first roof-level fresh-air intake and a keyboard panel that controlled various functions of the car.   

The Comet, a low-priced compact, sold more than 100,000 units in its first six months after being introduced in 1960, as Mercury began offering the most models, series, and trim levels in its history. The Cougar, Mercury's version of the Ford Mustang, came along in 1967 as “America’s first luxury/sports car at a popular price.” It was named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year. A European-built Mercury Capri was introduced in 1970, while the Capri II came in the mid-1970s, being named Super Coupe of the Year by Car and Driver readers. The fuel-efficient and compact Mercury Zephyr brought unibody construction and the Fox platform to the brand’s lineup in 1978. 

Mercury’s most popular model of all time, the Grand Marquis, came around the same time. The car became Mercury’s longest running and best-selling nameplate, selling 2.7 million units between its 1975 introduction and the brand’s dissolution in 2010. Another well-known Mercury nameplate came a decade later with the Sable, the sister vehicle to the famed front-wheel-drive Ford Taurus, which introduced a new level of aerodynamics with its rounded wedge shape in 1986.

Mercury known for muscle

The “M” in Mercury stood for “muscle” in the 1960s, as the first Marauders and Comet Cyclones debuted in 1963-64. The brand would also have a strong presence in motorsports, resetting more than 20 NASCAR speed records beginning in the 1950s and finding success in a variety of racing series in the decades that followed. That on-track performance gave the brand street cred with young racers who saw Mercury cars as inexpensive and easily modified options for their own racing pursuits. The reputation was reflected on-screen, as actor James Dean drove a 1950 Mercury in “Rebel Without a Cause.” 

The Mercury brand was also a launching pad for innovative features such as the industry-first fixed sunroof/moonroof with a transparent PLEXIGLAS top available on the 1954 Mercury Sun Valley. Other advances include a powered chassis lubrication system, tandem windshield wipers, and power variable ratio rack-and-pinion steering.   

The end of the line

More than a decade after discontinuing Mercury in Canada, Ford announced in June of 2010 that it would end production of all Mercury brand vehicles in the fourth quarter of that year to focus on the Ford and Lincoln brands. The company attributed the move to the strength of the Ford brand, which brought in many would-be Mercury customers, and the fact that the majority of Mercury’s sales were made to fleet buyers and customers making their purchase through employee-related discount programs. The final Mercury vehicle ever produced was, fittingly, a Grand Marquis, on Jan. 4, 2011. 

While the decision to pull the plug on Mercury was not an easy one, the move helped Ford focus on strengthening the core of the business in the Ford and Lincoln vehicle lines, prioritizing long-term success, and ensuring we continue to deliver for our customers today. 

Love Ford history? Access http://fordarchivesonline.com with your CDSID to search your favorite topics. Or visit http://fordheritagevault.com, where no CDSID is needed, to browse and download product history.