T
Tony Harding
Didn't make the cut (this isn't news, BTW).
Didn't make the cut (this isn't news, BTW).
T
Tony Harding
If he still has a dealership, he might be ecstatic.
K
krw
If he still has a dealership, he might be ecstatic.
How so? It's going to be rough existing on only Lincolns. The market is
quite small and ageing fast.
T
Tony Harding
Still has a business (job), unlike all the people who lost their
dealerships.
Other posters have commented that Lincoln seems to be migrating downward
in their MSRPs, which could expand their potential sales into former
Mercury owners, who would see a Lincoln nameplate on their car as a step
up in quality & status.
K
krw
IF it's still a business without 80% of it. Yes, if I owned a GM dealership
that was stolen out from under me by PotUS, as one close to here was, I'd be
some pissed.
Maybe, but Mercury was really just another Ford. That was a good thing. I
don't remember a Lincoln that I ever wanted to buy. Still don't.
J
Joe Pfeiffer
[email protected] said:
Depends on whether my conjecture regarding retargeting Lincoln is
accurate, and how successful it is. I've certainly seen a lot more
Lincoln badges over the last few years than I've seen in decades, and
they been on cars I would have expected to have been labelled as
Mercurys. The MKZ, for instance, is exactly the sort of thing that used
to be a Mercury: a Ford Fusion with slight sheetmetal changes (in
fairness, it's also sold as a Mercury Milan).
Y
Yousuf Khan
If anything, he saved GM from total collapse. However, I doubt that he
had anything to do with getting them to get rid of redundant brands.
GM's internal management probably came up with that themselves, as they
had to get rid of excess dealers.
They already had experience in getting rid of brands from the Oldsmobile
days.
Yousuf Khan
Y
Yousuf Khan
Ford will most likely replace the Mercuries with Fords.
Yousuf Khan
K
krw
Huh? Almost all Mercurys *were* Fords with deferent trim (sometimes not even
that). LM dealers cannot sell Ford models.
Y
Yousuf Khan
That's what I'm saying. If Mercury disappears as a brand, then Ford the
corporation will likely give the former Mercury brand dealers, Ford
brands to sell instead.
Yousuf Khan
K
krw
Not going to happen. Ford dealers would sue their asses off. Franchise
agreements are cast in stone.
J
Joe Pfeiffer
[email protected] said:
Based on what's happened with Chrysler, not so rigid. I believe all
their remaining dealers (after the Great Purge and the elimination of
Plymouth) are now full line.
B
Bill Davidsen
I hear that Ford wants to close 500 dealerships. I would suspect they areYousuf said:
Mercury dealers.
Noted in passing: Lincoln is now selling a little crossover which has the Taurus
SHO "EccoBoost" engine, V6+2 turbo.And very cheap lease rates. I would take one
of those, more useful form factor than sedan, and cheaper price.
Yes, the engine is slightly detuned, it should still be a nice vehicle for
people with a busy lifestyle.
R
Rick Jones
In comp.sys.intel Yousuf Khan said:
And dilute the business of the existing Ford-brand dealers??? If
there were enough business for the Mercury dealers/brand to be
healthy, it seems rather unlikely Ford would eliminate the brand.
I think of all this brand consolidation by the U.S. auto makers as
being akin to reverse stock splits seeking to keep the share price
above $1 to avoid de-listing. You don't go to that trouble to just
dilute what remains.
rick jones
Y
Yousuf Khan
It's already happened up here in Canada. The dealers will fall in-line
if they still want their dealerships.
Yousuf Khan
K
krw
Different issue. Ford isn't bankrupt.
K
krw
They can remove Mercury, but adding a Ford dealership to an area that is
already covered with an existing franchise agreement isn't going to happen, at
least here.
K
krw
Mercury dealerships are also Lincoln dealerships. Yes, Ford has wanted to
close many of them for decades. One I know of sell one car a year. Several
sell single digits a month. That isn't very profitable for Ford.
J
Joe Pfeiffer
[email protected] said:
Good point -- but I haven't heard that having all the dealers go
full-line was made possible by the bankruptcy (and I am something of a
mopar-holic, so I would have expected to).
K
krw
A bankruptcy judge can alter or even nullify contracts. I know some mopar
dealers who were *very* protective of their turf. One went so far as to sue
(and won) Chrysler over their "regional advertising hold back". Their
contract, from a prior epoch, had no such terms yet Chrysler was attempting to
add it in. Other, newer, dealerships did have regional advertising terms in
their contracts. After the dust settled, the older dealership then had a few
hundred dollar advantage on every cars sold; big money in that business. Of
course that was long before the big one hit. They're probably out of
business, even though they were the largest in the area.