Jan

Report: Mercury planning C-segment vehicle for 2012

Filed under: Sedan, Hatchback, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Rumormill

Lincoln Concept C – Click above for high-res image gallery

According to Automobile Magazine, Ford is putting Mercury on its list. Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves. Specifically, the list in question contains the names of 10 vehicles the Blue Oval plans to build off its global compact car platform. Mercury will supposedly be getting one of the new C-segment vehicles based on the architecture used for the recently unveiled 2012 Ford Focus, which also shares its guts with the Ford C-Max and Grand C-Max MPVs.

Says Lincoln-Mercury spokesman Mark Schirmer, “Certainly, one [variant of the global compact car architecture] will be a Mercury… It’ll give us something to put into showrooms, and help energize the Mercury brand.” We’re glad to hear that, as the Mercury brand is in some serious need of rejuvenation.

Best guesses for what form the new compact Mercury for 2012 might take range from a slightly upmarket version of the Ford Focus (we certainly hope it’d be more than just a shoddy badge-job) or something along the lines of the Lincoln Concept C from the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. If it’s going to be one or the other, we cast our official vote for the latter. We’ll see.

Gallery: Lincoln Concept C