The Bungling Of The Mercury Brand

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

Guess I don't get it. For as long as I can remember, Mercury has always filled the slot between Ford and Lincoln. The Mariner's always been an optioned-out Explorer, so what's the big deal? This whole thing is just more spin on a marketing promo.

BTW, I'm going to see all the hoopla next weekend.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

Joe,

Imagine being handed the keys to the Mercury division. The boss tells you to think sophisticated design, very stylish and niche markets". Now with those marching orders in your head would you go off and build a Mariner?

Of course you wouldn't, no one would. There isn't one bold move in building a Mariner. It's a lost-in-the-crowd vehicle, and it's the sort of hum drum vehicles Mercury has been putting out for years. And it's that type of vehicle and continued thinking that will send the brand into extinction.

Where are you going and what are you planning on seeing?

Patrick

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Well, as I believe we agree, that's the first problem. That's not the direction that Mercury should be going in.

That's exactly my point. The current version of the Mariner is the same as it's always been - the article is just spin with no beef. I guess we're saying the same thing with different words.

The South Florida International Auto Show, of course. :)

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 03:23:04 GMT, Joe wrote something wonderfully witty:

Isn't the Mountaineer the gussied up Explorer and the Mariner based off the Ford Escape?

ZombyWoof wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

ZW, you're absolutley right. My bad. The Mariner is a fancy Escape.

Now that you mention it, what's the point of another Escape when Mazda has its own version? So now there are three Escapes...

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:23:27 GMT, Joe wrote something wonderfully witty:

Its always good to have multiple Escapes. :)