I thought Ford's chick brand was Focus?
Must have been the college I went to.
Anyway, I would agree that focusing on a gender for vehicles isn't stupid. However I could see myself in a Mariner Hybrid before an Escape Hybrid. Not because I dislike the Escape, but anyone familiar with the Ford brand and their daughter brands knows that if a Mercury equivelant vehicle is offered it is going to contain more trim, nicer lines, more standard features and some distinctive design items as compared to the Ford product. That is just the way it has been at Ford for a long time.
I'm all for Ford broadening the market for hybrids. I'm kind of excited to see the Fusion/Milan hybrid that is due out for 07. Should be interesting to see what improvements and technologies they are going to choose to use.
I agree with the article that Mercury has had an image problem for many years. As I stated above, folks familiar with Ford know that the Mercury equivelant vehicle is going to have more trim, features, etc., but beyond that not much else differentiated them. I have said for years that Mercury needs to be the performance/style/technology side of Ford.
What if Mercury brougth back the Cougar and based it off from the Mustang (hints of 1968 here). Going against the grain of the green theme here, this reissued Cougar would basically be a luxury coupe version of the Mustang. Built on the Mustang platform, but lengthened a couple of inches (for more back seat room making it a functional sport coupe) and making V-8s standard (oh the shame
) along with lots of bells and whistles. I think it would be a winner.
That is what I mean by making Mercury the performance/style/technology brand at Ford.
Detroit Free Press: Ford's chick brand?
