Ford executives made this announcement during the National Automobile Dealers Association convention, adding that the compact Mercury will enter the market next year. The upcoming Mercury is part of a future 10 vehicle line-up based on Ford’s small car platform. The architecture has made its debut on the new Ford Focus already.
"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," Mark Fields, Ford President of the Americas was quoted as saying by Reuters. "Our strategy is pretty simple: have a broad-based lineup.", he added, describing the company’s future plans.
In 2009, Mercury’s U.S. sales saw a 23 percent decrease (2 percent higher than the market’s 21 percent decrease), only managing to reach a figure of 92,299 vehicles. The Ford brand’s 2009 U.S. sales also fell 14 percent as compared to those of the previous year.
Ford will introduce a completely new product to the U.S. market this year as part of its global strategy. We are talking about the sub-compact Fiesta, which has already been on sale in Europe since last year. The car has been presented to the U.S. customers at the L.A. Auto Show, in December 2009. Consequently, the company introduced an online reservation system for the car. The carmaker has announced that it has already received over 6,000 applications for the Fiesta, with California being the leading source for it.
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