Ford Motor Co executives could ask the automaker's board of directors as early as July to approve the eventual elimination of its Mercury brand, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. and other members of the family that holds voting control over the automaker support the decision to eliminate Mercury, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the plan. Ford, which expects to be solidly profitable in 2010, expects to complete the sale of its Volvo car brand to China's Geely in the third quarter, and the elimination of Mercury would leave it with the Ford brand and the Lincoln luxury brand. “Our plans for Mercury have not changed. Like any good business, we constantly assess our portfolio. If things change, we will let you know,” Ford spokesman Mark Truby said in response to the report. Ford previously had said it expected Lincoln to be more high volume and Mercury to have fewer niche models. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally emphasized the automaker's namesake brand as he revived the only major US automaker to avoid bankruptcy. The timing of Mercury's demise depends on how fast executives can convince the brand's dealers, who also sell Lincoln models, to close or merge with Ford showrooms, they said. “Mercury is a forgotten brand,” said John Wolkonowicz, an auto analyst with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Many Americans probably already think it has been discontinued. Mercury was too similar to Ford from the very beginning.” Mulally also is unloading Ford's European luxury brands, after the automaker failed to achieve a goal to have them generate one-third of automotive profits. Ford in March agreed to sell Volvo to China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. It sold off Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin in the last three years. Mercury would join Pontiac, Saturn, Oldsmobile and Plymouth among the departed Detroit brands of the 21st century. Sales will end within four years, one of the people estimated. General Motors Co., as part of its US-backed reorganization last year, sold or closed four of its eight brands sold domestically. Edsel Ford, son of founder Henry Ford, established Mercury during the Great Depression as a mid-priced alternative to mainstream Ford and upscale Lincoln. Edsel's great grand- daughter, Elena Ford, now the automaker's director of global marketing, initially opposed discontinuing Mercury, which she was in charge of promoting prior to 2002, the people said. Doing away with Mercury is supported by Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and other members of the founding family, who have 40 percent voting control of the automaker through a special class of stock, the people said. With Mercury accounting for 1.9 percent of Ford's global sales in the first quarter, the family has decided ending it is best for the business, the people said. Mercury sales peaked in 1978 at 579,498, when it had the slogan “At the Sign of the Cat.” Deliveries fell 84 percent to 92,299 last year. As the US auto market recovers, Mercury's sales are up 23 percent this year through April, less than Ford Motor's overall gain of 33 percent, according to researcher Autodata Corp. of New Jersey.
