Ford grounds Mercury

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	This week in Car Tech Wayne Cunningham CNET.com Ford grounds Mercury In the last year we saw GM ax Saturn and Pontiac, and this week Ford put Mercury into the cold, cold ground. Ford's positive spin on the news was that it would invest more money in Lincoln. In Mercury's current condition, we won't miss it, as all the vehicles were rebadged Ford models. Badge engineering has definitely lost favor, and there was only minor differentiation between Ford and Mercury cars. Along with producing even better Lincoln models, we would like to see Ford apply some of the money and focus left over from Mercury to a new dedicated sports car.  Ford kills Mercury brand, world feigns surprise Most popular products TomTom XL 340 S  Check prices Garmin Nuvi 205W  Check prices Garmin Nuvi 265WT  Check prices Garmin Nuvi 1690  Check prices Garmin Nuvi 255W  Check prices Car Tech's Mercury retrospective 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid As a tech car, the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid hits all the right notes, providing comfortable and economical driving while offering an incredible array of convenience for the driver and passengers with its cabin tech. Read more  Check prices 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid Ford's cabin tech sets the 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid far ahead of the competition, with extremely convenient features, and the hybrid system allows for gas-free driving at low speeds in this small and practical SUV. Read more  Check prices 2008 Mercury Sable Premier Don't expect to enjoy the driving experience in the 2008 Mercury Sable, but it will support your phone and MP3 player, and deliver car-shaking bass, if that's what you're in to. Read more  Check prices Car Tech Live podcast Audi may be the first car with an app store Brian Cooley Audi may be the first car with its own app store, Mercury dies so Lincoln can live, Chevy Volt and other electric cars are tricky for first responders, Motorola launches safe-driving Android apps, and will the real James Bond Aston Martin please start up? Read more Comment of the week A boy and his Cougar Posted by danielszabo1981 When I was 18, I bought a 2000 Cougar new off the lot. I thought it was the coolest-looking sub-$17k car I'd ever seen (still do). The car was most definitely a cut above the rest in style and design; it had an aggressive...nay, sophisticatedly aggressive feel to it (inside and out), and it never failed to turn heads. As I grew older, the looks remained awesome to my eye, but I began to realize that the driving experience fell far short of satisfactory. While it made financial sense to discontinue the model, I can't help but think that if Ford could re-engineer the vehicle to provide a better driving experience, it would make a much better showing than it did 10 years ago. But then again, I could be wrong.  Read more  In other news... 1. Pedal-powered Porsche is world's lightest, slowest 2. Chevy, OnStar sponsor EV rescue classes 3. Audi 'travolution' syncs cars to traffic lights, saves fuel 4. Motorola brings hands-free driving campaign to cities 5. Researchers hope to build autonomous 'Batmobile' More Car Tech resources  Car Tech forums  Green car buying guide  Car Tech videos  Car Tech podcast  All new car reviews  Past car shows
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