Ford Iosis Max Concept
The 2012 Mercury Merit will be a version of the 2012 Ford Focus sedan. The Ford Iosis Max Concept, shown here, hints at the design of upcoming Ford small cars. See more pictures of small cars.

Consumer Guide's Impressions of the 2012 Mercury Merit

The name is just a guess, but Mercury is definitely getting a version of the next Ford Focus. Merit looks like a winner. The problem will be getting buyers to notice it.

What We Know About the 2012 Mercury Merit

Ford Motor Company keeps doing all the right things for these troubled times. Though the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker doesn't expect to make money again until 2011 (it was to be 2009), it has not needed government handouts or bankruptcy protection, at least so far, which has boosted consumer confidence in the company to the benefit of recent sales. Ford is also managing its money well, say many financial analysts.

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Most important, perhaps, Dearborn has a full new-model pipeline and will be refilling it more often. As trade weekly Automotive News recently reported, "Ford plans to replace or refresh 70 to 90 percent of its lineup by [sales] volume in each of its three largest business regions: North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific and Africa. By 2014, 'We'll have gone through one complete cycle' of redesigned vehicles, [Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth] said, 'and will be halfway through the next cycle.'" Despite the big bucks involved, Ford "is on pace to cut structural costs by 'somewhere close to $15 billion' by the end of 2009 compared with 2005, Booth said."

So why is Ford still pouring money into moribund Mercury? To our way of thinking, it's unwise in this economy to persist with a brand that's been mismanaged for so long as to be virtually irrelevant to most buyers. We see parallels with once-mighty Pontiac, departing after a token 2010 model run, and with Oldsmobile and Plymouth, euthanized at the turn of the century. OK, the Lincoln-Mercury sales channel probably can't live on Lincolns alone, but eliminating Mercury and merging Lincoln and Ford dealers would help conserve cash at a crucial time. Besides, General Motors and Chrysler are closing stores, albeit at government gunpoint.

For whatever reason, though, Ford seems to think Mercury still has a role to play, even if a much smaller one. Indeed, plans call for trimming the brand to just three model lines by 2012. According to Automotive News, the Ford Explorer-based Mountaineer midsize SUV is due to die next year and won't be replaced; the ancient Grand Marquis large sedan finally goes to its grave in 2011. That will leave Mercury with just the Mariner compact SUV, expected to be redesigned for 2012 along with sibling Ford Escape; the Ford Fusion-clone Milan midsize sedan, updated for 2010; and what we're calling the Mercury Merit, the confirmed sister version of the next-generation Ford Focus compact car. The last two reportedly bow in early calendar 2011 as 2012 models.

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