Ford should rid itself of both Mercury and Volvo, at least in the opinion of Jerry York, a representative of Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. Whether through sale, most like likely for Volvo, or simply letting it die, most likely for Mercury, he believes Ford has no good reason to hold unto the brands.
The selling of Volvo would no doubt generate some useful revenue for Ford, and in actually should not be too hard of a sell within the marketplace, it is after all a recognized brand, a leader in the development in safety technologies, and has new product in the pipeline.
Mercury on the other hand, has become nothing more than badge, one that is simply pasted onto general Ford products with little more than a grill change to create “uniqueness.” Ultimately the lack of unique product, or autonomy in general (with models so heavily based on other’s platforms, Ford would likely cease the availability of it platforms to a rival), the likely scenario for Mercury is simply letting it fade into oblivion.
Our take? It does beg the question however, who will develop Ford’s platforms? Much of the current Ford lineup has had it’s platform undertaken by Mazda and Volvo, not to mention the trickle down of safety technologies from the Swedish brand.
As for Mercury, Ford could always try making it the equivalent of Saturn, though its failed Merkur experiment of the 80′s would probably create hesitation.
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