| New Mercury Small Car to be Launched by Ford in 2011 |
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15/02/2010 14:47 (825 Day 19:42 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- Ford Motor Co will launch a new small car for its Mercury brand in early 2011 on the same platform as the Ford Focus, Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields said on Sunday.
Top News reports that the new small Mercury is one of the 10 vehicles Ford is planning to unveil as a part of its global small car program that also includes the soon-to-come 2012 Ford Focus, and would also be an addition to the range of mid-level premium brand which has been long devoid of any new releases.
The launch also underscores the No. 2 U.S. automaker's support for the brand despite uncertainty in some analysts' views over whether Ford will keep the brand in the long term, according to Reuters. Fields unveiled the plan during a meeting with U.S. dealers at the annual National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando, Florida.
"The trend toward more fuel-efficient vehicles is very important, the trend toward (small) cars in general is coming back. We are responding to that," Fields told reporters after the meeting with dealers, the same source reports.
Ford also told dealers they can start ordering the new Fiesta small car on Monday, Feb. 15. The Fiesta will hit showrooms this summer, according to Auto Week. More than 60 percent of dealers have indicated they will order high trim levels of the car, said Ken Czubay, Ford's vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service. Ford has started training dealers to sell and service the Fiesta and Focus. It will also train them on selling and servicing the redesigned Super Duty truck to be launched midyear, dealers say. That truck will offer a new 6.7-liter diesel engine that dealers say is critical to Ford's quality reputation.
"Ford realizes it has to do a better job with diesels," said Bob Tasca Jr., owner of Tasca Automotive Group in Cranston, R.I., and chairman of the Ford-Lincoln-Mercury National Dealer Council. Past Ford diesels have had quality problems, the same source reports.
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