La fin de Mercury!

[Zukatah]

Enfin, après des années d'agonie!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... y5U&pos=14" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Alain31]

Aucune surprise car lorsque Ford a lancé sa nouvelle Taurus en début d'année, elle n'était pas accompagnée de son clône Mercury, la Sable, le modèle-phare de la marque. Or, sans modèle-phare, point de salut! Le dernier nouveau modèle aura été la Milan, le clône de la Fusion.

[kicknhard]

Je vais m'ennuyer du Mariner en location quand je vais aux states

[blackeyes]

Il n'y avait aucune raison de garder cette marque, ce ne sont que des clones des Ford. Mais faut avouer que certain de leurs body étaient plus beau que les Ford.

[lafe005]

j'ai toujours adoré les Mercury des années 60-70... (côté style)

[Salsa]

Allan Jackson va devoir changer sa chanson


I'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road!

[simon132]

c'est une bonne nouvelle pour ford s'ils veulent un jour se faire respecter!

[lafe005]

meme que Mercury avait son Héro.!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQnO2h-A ... r_embedded

[Samurai]

meme que Mercury avait son Héro.!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQnO2h-A ... r_embedded

Que de souvenirs!! Quand j'étais ti-cul, c'était un must de se planter devant la tivi et d'écouter les merveilleuses aventures de Mike Mercury!! Oh! Que c'est loin! Pis en noir et gris!

Pour revenir dans le sujet sur la mise à mort de Mercury. Un communiqué très laconique de Ford.

http://www.ford.com/news" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[twincam]

ça me fais penser à quelquechose!!!

Dans combien d'années on va voir se re-multiplier les marques ches GM ?

C'est bien beau de devoir ratoinaliser mais je me demande si GM va pas revenir avec des clones de ses modèles lorsqu'ils vont réouvrir de nouvelles concessions...ou bien si cette mentalité est bel et bien terminée pour GM

[STONE_COLD]

Les ventes des Mercury sont rendues marginales aux States. Bon débarras.

J'ai lu dans un article que Lincoln va aussi passer au tordeur prochainement. La marque ne va pas disparaître, mais les nouveaux modèles lancés dernièrement ne fonctionnent pas.

[Alain31]

Les ventes des Mercury sont rendues marginales aux States. Bon débarras.

J'ai lu dans un article que Lincoln va aussi passer au tordeur prochainement. La marque ne va pas disparaître, mais les nouveaux modèles lancés dernièrement ne fonctionnent pas.

Ford va revoir la gamme au complet pendant les 5 prochaines années. La gamme aura 7 modèles totalement nouveaux.

[Salsa]

Ford's next challenge: Rev up Lincoln
Jamie LaReau
Automotive News -- June 7, 2010 - 12:01 am ET


DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. must do with Lincoln what it has done with the Ford brand -- infuse it with new energy and sparkling product -- if it is to offset the loss of Mercury sales when that 71-year-old brand dies.


Though Lincoln has a freshened lineup and stronger styling than in the past, it is still an also-ran among luxury brands in the United States. Ford clearly will need more volume from Lincoln to appease Mercury dealers -- especially those who currently have Lincoln-Mercury stores.

"We have to make a very compelling case to our dealers very quickly," says Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, in an interview.

Ford's decision last week to kill Mercury allows the automaker to focus its resources on the Ford and Lincoln brands. But, initially, at least, closing Mercury means Ford Motor has to give up the 92,299 sales Mercury reported last year. And the challenge to take Lincoln upscale requires consistency and discipline in product and marketing.

Mercury sales represent about 50 percent of most Lincoln-Mercury stores' volume. Ford leaders know filling that gap will be a challenge.

Ford likely will retain two-thirds of its Mercury customers through the Ford brand, predicts Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, Calif. That's because of the heavy cross-shopping Mercury customers already do with Ford products.

Likewise, Anwyl says, Ford could be poised for great success with Lincoln if it treats it as it has the Ford brand.

"Where Lincoln is today is where Ford was a few years ago," he says. "The staff that is working on Mercury will now shift to Lincoln. To me, that gets to the heart of the matter."

Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally has gotten "a distracted organization to focus with intensity on Ford as a brand," Anwyl says. "Now he's saying, 'Let's see if we can do the same for Lincoln.'"

Ford has work to do. According to Edmunds.com data, the percentage of U.S. consumers who would consider buying a Lincoln fell over the past year, from 1.3 percent in May 2009 to 0.9 percent last month. Through May, Lexus sold 90,098 vehicles in the United States, and Cadillac sold 52,997. But Lincoln sold just 37,444.

Ford says Lincoln's retail share of the U.S. luxury market has grown from 4.5 percent in 2005 to 6.3 percent through the first quarter. It also says favorable opinion of the brand and purchase consideration are at their highest level in five years; it did not provide numbers.



Product improvement

Money invested in a single brand -- both for product and marketing -- is more likely to yield "game changers" than spreading that same money across two brands, says Lincoln Merrihew, managing director of automotive at Compete Inc., a consumer research firm in Boston.

"Game changers have the best chance of driving sales for the company and the dealers," he says.

Merrihew advocates that Ford do a "Lincoln-only product" that grabs attention and serves as a halo, as the Lexus LFA sports coupe did.

"It doesn't have to be a money maker," Merrihew says. "Just be something very distinctive."

Ford's Fields says future Lincolns will stand out with advanced technology such as active noise cancellation, unique powertrains, adaptive suspensions and glass retractable roofs that Ford products do not get. Ford will spread the EcoBoost engine, a turbocharged direct-inject engine, across the entire Lincoln lineup, including the Navigator SUV.

Ford plans on expanding the Lincoln lineup with seven all-new or "significantly refreshed" vehicles in the next four years. Those include a product on the same size platform as the Ford Focus compact car. That might mean a small crossover based on the European Kuga for Lincoln. Ford declined to specify the vehicle. Lincoln could also get a U.S. version of the Mondeo sedan currently sold overseas.



Sticking to the plan

Lincoln's product lineup needs improvement, says Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics Inc. in suburban Detroit.

"If they want to be a serious competitor with Lexus and Cadillac, they cannot do it successfully with mildly reworked Fords," he says.

Ford management should form a 10- to 15-year product strategy and marketing plan for Lincoln and stick to it, Hall says.

"They are surrounded by insurmountable challenges: get the product better; improve the marketing; be consistent," he says. "They can't be changing Lincoln's tag line each year."

Hall adds: "That'll be difficult for the traditional Ford organization to do, and it'll take Mulally and [global marketing chief] Jim Farley to hold their feet to the fire and say don't change the plan."



You can reach Jamie LaReau at jlareau@crain.com.

[blackeyes]

Finallement, ca va pas si bien que ca chez Ford, quelques bons vendeurs, pour le reste pas fort.

[twincam]

Finallement, ca va pas si bien que ca chez Ford, quelques bons vendeurs, pour le reste pas fort.

...ben comme tous les manufacturiers. Chaque marque a ses "étoiles" et ses "figurants" tout dépend des catégories.

Ce que j'ai retenu de cet article c'est que Ford va devoir dépoussièrer la marque Lincoln afin de lui insuffler une nouvelle "attitude" car dans les concessions américaine ou ils vendent des Mercury et Lincoln ces dernières vont perdres au moins 50% de leur chiffre d'affaires.

Ce que je peux voir c'est qu'il va y avoir des concessions qui vont se fusionner ou bien fermer. Jusqu'à date c'est seulement GM et Chrysler qui ont coupés dans le gras quant aux points de vente. Donc Ford va devoir également réduire et/ou fusionner des concessions aux États-Unis