I have just found this on the net, its in Spanish so ill try to find something similar but in English, rumour has it that Ford wants to sell Volvo and get rid of Mercury...

http://es.autoblog.com/2008/04/25/rumor-ford-podria-vender-volvo-y-cerrar-mercury/

English

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/09/03/mercury-ever-closer-to-getting-the-axe/

I keep searching though.

Excerpt from a Advertising Age magazine article 27 July 2007:

Is there any correlation between the rapidly eroding fortunes of the Big Three auto companies and their consistently terrible advertising?

Most car advertising is pretty pedestrian, but the U.S. makers generate some of the worst examples.

The latest case in point: Buick's ungrammatical ad slogan for its new SUV, "Drive Beautiful." It's the fifth new slogan since 2001 for Buick, the last being "Beyond Precision." (Shouldn't that be "Beyond Imprecision?") The agency lost the account, but if they'd kept it, I bet their next slogan would have been "Beyond Beautiful."

I've always thought that a slogan should help differentiate your product from the competition. The greatest slogan of all time, Morton Salt's "When it rains, it pours," does a superb job of asserting its very real product benefit.

But what in the name of God does "Drive Beautiful" mean? Does it mean you're beautiful when you drive the car or that the car is beautiful or both? How does it engender meaningful confidence in the car itself? Buick's famed slogan, "When better cars are built, Buick will build them," reeks of self-assurance and relevance.

Maybe what's missing most in Detroit advertising is trustworthiness-a feeling that you can depend on the product and its maker. Good brands give you a sense of dependability, of reliance, of knowing what you're going to get.

I agree that it is likely, taxiguy, and I will be around to see that take place. Demand will be less for traditional cars then. Oil will need to be drilled from the deepest reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico, and the added cost of its recovery will be passed to the wealthy few that can still drive personal autos.

Right now, I count myself among those who do not appreciate the "Art & Science" styling of Cadillac, nor would we agree with the exact type of self-expression that the brand currently inspires. There was a time when Cadillac cars were very beautiful and coveted by all who bore witness. That can happen again if the focus is put back into quality, may be in a few hand-built examples a la Maybach and Bugatti. I would like to see Cadillac take back its throne as "The Standard of the World," however, Buick has conveniently forgotten is promise to build "Better Cars."

Cadillac could make a model similar to the Lucerne, for people who want something cheaper and more modest than a CTS, STS, or DTS while still being big and semi-luxury. This would absorb Buick's "old-people" market segment if Buick were to go away, which I predict it will (eventually)

They have Daihatsu too (but I guess that these are not sold in USA, since they use that make for small cars)

I mean now that gas prices are higher etc.
For sure several years ago it was incompatible...

Buick=old person semi-luxury!
America is aging, increasing the market for Buick Lucerne and Toyota Avalon.

The reason for doing this is simple. GM has too many divisions. Toyota gets by with just three (Toyota, Lexus, Scion), and it just surpassed GM in total vehicle production for the first quarter of 2008. They don't need a "semi-luxury" division and a Saturn-type divison (it's so pointless I don't even have a phrase for what type of division it is). Don't even get me started with GMC. They have no original car of their own, they're all just re-badged Chevys with a different grill. All they need is a normal, no-frills, cheap car divison:(Chevrolet). A luxury car division:(Cadillac). And a young-people/performance division:(possibly Pontiac I guess). That covers pretty much all the bases. Just look at the example set by Toyota and you'll see that the answer to GM's problems is obvious.

Are you kidding? The few times American automakers have tried to make a "luxury" small car they have been huge failures. Cadillac Cimmaron. Must I say more?

Maybe Mercury should think outside of the "semi-luxury" box. Maybe they should also bring in some upscale performance like they were way back. I know the Euro Focus comes in high performance versions. I'm not sure about the Mondeo. They used to sell a performance version here: Contour SVT. Also I'm sure to compete with Holden there are performance versions of the Falcon. I think Mercury still does have relevancy in the Ford lineup but the company isn't willing to try anything outside of the status quo.



I have to disagree there. Each GM division now more or less has their own identity. Pontiac is getting legitimate performance models again (with the exception of the G5 and non-GXP Torrents). Saturn is now the Euro-style division (positioned under Saab) and is also the replacement for Oldsmobile. Buick is becoming more of a conservative luxury division which makes it different from Cadillac because it's aiming for younger buyers (with the exception of the DTS). With GMC I do agree as it shares nothing that isn't available as a Chevy or Cadillac (except for the Sierra Denali). Overall though GM is nowhere near the badge-engineered company they used to be.