Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields and other executives met with Lincoln Mercury dealers on Sunday behind closed doors at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando and confirmed that a new compact Mercury car will be launched in early 2011, based on the same platform as the Ford Focus. Two dealers who attended the meeting say the car will be called the Mercury Tracer and should be revealed for the first time at this December’s 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Mercury brand automobiles are seen at a Ford dealership in Broomfield, Colorado in this July 2008 file photo.
The latest Mercury is just one of the 10 vehicles Ford is planning for its global small car architecture which also predicates the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus, and would stretch the lineup of the mid-level brand long deprived of new products. The next Focus could be a huge leap for Ford as it is more stylish that the current model, but the Mercury version is likely to be even more upscale. The launch of the new mercury highlights America’s second largest automaker’s support for the brand despite analysts’ skepticism over whether Ford will keep the brand for good.
2012 Ford Focus at 2010 Detroit Auto Show
In 2009, U.S. sales for the Mercury brand dropped by 23 percent to 92,299 vehicles, while the overall market was down 21 percent. The company’s flagship Ford brand sold a total of 1.44 million units in the U.S. in 2009, down by 14 percent from 2008. Ford U.S. sales chief Ken Czubay also told dealers they can start ordering the new Ford Fiesta small car on Monday, months ahead of its launch this summer. Czubay added that more than 60 percent of dealers have indicated they will order high trim levels of the car, and that more than 6,000 clients have made reservations for the Fiesta through Ford’s online order system. The Ford Fiesta, capable of 40 miles per gallon on the highway and 30 mpg in city driving, brings Ford back to a subcompact segment it abandoned and underscores the company’s bold assertion that it can drive back to profitability with a new vehicle lineup. Ford has been riding a wave of glowing publicity as the U.S. auto maker not living on taxpayer dollars. In fact, the company is the only large U.S. automaker not to reorganize under a government-funded bankruptcy in 2009. It has predicted a profitable 2010 after posting its first full-year profit since 2005 last year. While the long-term benefits remain uncertain as the company is weighed down by billions in debt its U.S. rivals don’t have, Ford’s strategy is reaping benefits now.
