Mercury name gone from dealerships as of January 1 01/04/2011
Ford Motors has officially withdrawn all Mercury models from the market, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The automaker announced last June that the Mercury marque would be discontinued after continued declining sales. The last Mercury vehicle manufactured for the public was made on October 3, and the brand's name has been removed from all dealerships effective from the beginning of 2011.
"Mercury has been a redundant brand for Ford for at least the last five years, if not longer," Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insight for TrueCar.com, told the source. "For the most part, they were just cosmetically enhanced Fords."
Toprak added that the Mercury was intended to be an intermediate-level brand between baseline Fords and luxury Lincolns, but in recent years consumers opted for other comparable vehicles.
According to the source, Ford sold 84,802 Mercury vehicles through November 2010, representing a 57 percent drop from five years earlier. The marque was reportedly responsible for less than 5 percent of all sales of vehicles manufactured by Ford.