Ford is preparing the ground work for putting an end to the Mercury brand.
According to the report, Ford executives will be presenting a proposal to the company's directors in July to shut down Mercury. The brand is already being starved of models, with two of its current four-vehicle lineup being discontinued next year.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally has been focusing on rebuilding the company's core blue oval (Ford) brand since his tenure began back in 2006 and has sold-off previous assets including Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin. Mulally's leadership is widely credited for helping Ford avoid the bankruptcy fate of the two other Big 3 Detroit automakers - GM and Chrysler.
But Mulally hasn't confirmed the decision, telling reporters in Washington, D.C. earlier this week that the company had no change in its "position about Ford or Lincoln or Mercury."
Sales of the Mercury brand have plummeted 74 percent over the last decade. Last year the brand sold just 92,299 units. Mercury sales peaked way back in 1978 at 579,498 vehicles. Analysts say that Ford has deprived Mercury of models and marketing resources because it never wanted to spend too much money on the brand.
""The brand has been starved for product. It's no secret that the company just wants to polish the Ford oval and rebuild Lincoln," Springfield, Pennsylvania Lincoln-Mercury dealer Stephen Amabile said in the story.
The Mercury brand was created by Edsel Ford, the son of founder Henry Ford, back in 1939. The brand was meant to fill the gap between Ford models and luxury marque Lincoln.
