Originally Posted by
Prius
The thing is that they have moved Ford upmarket to the part where they are overlapping. If you load up a Ford today, you pretty much have a mercury minus the badges. Back in the eighties, it was easy to tell where Ford stopped and Mercury began, but nowit is not like that way. Just like I said, it is pretty much like Plymouth and Oldsmobile, they used to be great, but now they just let it widdle away to the point where all they are selling is just badge engineered Fords. THey haven't had a real appealing model since the Marauder, and even that one didn't sell all that great, since they cut it after only two years on the market. And wohever said that Ford should get a version of it, they have. After they killed the Marauder, they added a "LX Sport" model to the Crown Victoria line, which is like the MArauder except for some cosmetic changes, and it gave slightly lower output, as its engine was Naturally Aspirated while the Marauder was supercharged.
As far as Lincoln and Buick go, they won't be getting cut anytime soon. GM just poured a lot of money into new models for Buick, including the Lucerne, Lacrosse, Terraza (which flopped), and the upcoming Enclave. I don't think that GM is going to cut them after they have poured so much money into them. But, I heard that Buick is doing worse then Mercury. But still, GM won't axe them after pouring so much money into them. As for Saturn, which they recently poured a lot of money into also, is doing very well. Sales are just rising and rising for them.
For Lincoln, they too won't be getting the axe. Just like GM did for Buick, Ford just poured a ton of money into rejuvinating Lincoln's lineup. IMO they still fail to surpass Cadillac or their european rivals, they just seem to be there, not really gathering a market niche or anything, just kinda there, uncompetitive. But again, I don't think Ford is going to cut them after pouring so much money into them.