The Mercury Cougar, long considered among the finest muscle cars ever produced. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Last week, it was announced that executives of the Ford Motor Company would be putting forth a proposal to shut down the Mercury brand. It was announced on Wednesday, June 2, that the death of Mercury had become official. Ford will stop producing Mercury brand vehicles at the end of the year, and Ford will be making Ford and Lincoln the top priorities of the company.  Car makers with multiple brands have been trending toward eliminating the underperforming lines, as Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and others have also gone the way of the dinosaurs.

Mercury vanishing like quicksilver

Ford has weathered recent troubles, but the Mercury brand has not been performing well.  According to the New York Times, Mercury as a brand held less than 1 percent of the market share in domestic auto sales and moved less than 93,000 cars in 2009.   Ford does not anticipate that there will be many side effects, because no dealerships sell Mercury vehicles exclusively.  Ford has been raking in the payday cash from Ford and Lincoln sales, so it appears Ford is not worried about ending the Mercury line.  There was a proposal last week to ax Mercury, but now it’s official.

Mercury’s orbit

Mercury was launched as a middle ground between the economical Ford and luxury Lincoln brands back when Ford was losing ground to General Motors after the second World War.  The brand itself was launched by Edsel Ford, only son of Henry Ford, according to CNNMoney.  The brand was actually popular for some time, enjoying successes in the 1960s and 1970s, especially with the Mercury Cougar.  Dealers reportedly are quite all right with the change.

Smaller brands dying off

This is not the first underperforming brand being cast into oblivion by the parent company.  Plymouth, Pontiac and Hummer all went off into that good night when the bottom line wasn’t being met, and Ford divested themselves of Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and is currently trying to get rid of Volvo.

The 2011 Ford Explorer will transform from a truck-like SUV to a smaller, more fuel efficient crossover for suburban driving. Meanwhile, Ford's Mercury brand faces its demise. Flickr photo.

The 2011 Ford Explorer is getting a new lease on life. The Ford Motor Company’s Mercury brand isn’t so lucky. While the 2011 Ford Explorer has been redesigned for shopping malls rather than mountain roads, Mercury cars are circling the drain. In a new era of less-is-more for the auto industry, analysts speculate that Mercury’s shrinking lineup of vehicles will be discontinued altogether. The 2011 Ford Explorer will be scaled down from a rugged SUV to become a more fuel efficient crossover vehicle.

Ford SUV dominance is history

The 2011 Ford Explorer is adapting as an era of Ford SUV dominance in the U.S. auto market comes to an end. CNNMoney.com reports that Ford is changing the 2011 Explorer to better fir the way people have always actually used it — as a grocery wagon — instead of a rig for the rugged off-road adventure fantasies portrayed in the advertising. Ford sales objectives with the 2011 Explorer were to inspire installment loans for Ford vehicles by better meeting owners’ suburban needs with a nod to the fantasies that make them want an Explorer to begin with.

Ford sales of Mercury rapidly decline

Mercury’s version of the current Ford Explorer, the Mountaineer, is scheduled to be discontinued from production next year. Mercury cars have just four models left, and they are all simply imitations of Ford vehicles. The New York Times reports that Ford is expected to tell dealers this fall that it is phasing out Mercury cars. The 71-year-old brand will be down to just two models by next year when the Grand Marquis fades into oblivion with the Mountaineer. Ford sales figures for Mercury cars total only 92,299 sold vehicles in the United States in 2009 — less than 6 percent of Ford’s total sales.

Ford SUV sales figures trend downward

The 2011 Ford Explorer is a response to the growing popularity of more fuel-efficient, softer riding crossovers based on a car platform. Ford sales figures totaled  only 52,000 Explorers last year and 78,400 in 2008. The CNNMoney.com article said the 2011 Ford Explorer has the underpinnings of a Ford Taurus sedan. Ford has used the Taurus platform for the Lincoln MkS sedan and the Ford Flex and Lincoln MkT crossovers. Using the car-based crossover platform costs less money for automakers because the basic engineering can be repeated with different vehicles.

The new Ford Explorer

The 2011 Ford Explorer will get a front-wheel drive, car-based platform like the Flex. But the new Explorer will ride higher off the ground than the Flex and have various suspension and all-wheel-drive settings for snow, sand and mud. Under the hood, Ford will put a turbocharged 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine and a terrain management system jointly developed with Land Rover. Like the current Explorer, the new version will offer optional third-row seating.

Mercury cars on life support

Rumors of Mercury’s demise have circulated for years. On Thursday, Bloomberg News first reported that Ford’s top executives are preparing a proposal to kill Mercury to be presented to directors in July. The Detroit Free Press reports that it would be difficult for Mercury to survive in its current state unless Ford were prepared to throw money at new models for the brand. Ford sold twice as many Ford Fusion midsize cars than the entire Mercury lineup. Automotive experts say that sales volume is barely enough to support an entire brand.

That's no message in a bottle. There's a light bulb ban on, and that's an enemy of green living. Destroy! (Photo: flickr.com)

This reminds me of when Americans were stocking up on firearms as the fear of Obama clawed at their hearts. Unfounded or not, when there’s talk that something people need or like is perhaps going to be taken away, people race to the stores and fill their arms with as many of the offending items as they can carry to the register and out the door. In a similar fashion, if governments begin to crack down on small-scale consumer money lenders, you’ll see a drive for loans before the fall.

But what about the light bulb ban?

According to the New York Times, the European Union (EU) has restricted the sale of incandescent bulbs across Europe in an effort to combat global warming and save energy. Now shops can’t buy or import incandescent frosted glass bulbs; retailers are being allowed to sell out their stock. The United States and Canada expect to follow a similar path by 2012. We’ll see. I’m not sure how much faith I have in America’s ability to do anything quickly, unless it’s Cash for Clunkers (and that was done TOO quickly).

C’mon, America. Australia and Cuba have already done it. Do you want Castro to bask in the harsh glow of fluorescents before hard-working American citizens? Well, perhaps you do… perhaps it will be more effective than the exploding cigar the CIA once considered. In his current weakened condition, perhaps the harsh glare will push him over the edge.

The current move is on to switch incandescent bulbs out for fluorescent (CFL) bulbs or even LED lighting. The former use around 80 percent less energy and do not burn out as quickly, but the lighting is harsh and the individual bulbs are much more expensive (as much as 15 to 20 times more expensive than one incandescent bulb. Sure, they’ll save a family in the long term. But in the short term, when families need all the recession help they can get, spending $15 on a CFL bulb can be prohibitive.

What about the mercury in CFLs?

Environmental mercury is a concern many have over the light bulb ban and switch, which makes the EU light bulb ban a kind of test case for what the U.S. and Canada may experience. CFL bulbs contain mercury (a toxic metal element), and as the EPA direction sheet shows, cleaning up mercury is no simple matter. If a bulb breaks, you have a lot of work to do. Is energy efficiency and reduced problem of incandescent bulbs in landfills worth the chance that excess mercury is entering the atmosphere? Plus, entire industries will be crippled by this changeover. Some will adapt, many won’t. Workforce displacement is definitely a factor in the debate. If they are hired in lower paying jobs and need some help from money lenders, they can click the button to apply here.

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Stephen Russell of ANEC, an EU consumer product safety standards group, said that the allowed limit for mercury in CFL bulbs is too high. Currently five milligrams are allowed per bulb, but EU officials would like to see that reduced to two milligrams.

This says nothing for aesthetics

From photography to reading to interior design, lighting plays an essential role. This light bulb ban creates a definite strain upon EU citizens’ ability to capture images, read and be comfortable in their homes. From my point of view, CFL bulbs are horrible, but perhaps a necessary evil until LED lighting becomes more affordable for the general public. As you can see from the video below, LEDs use around a quarter of the electricity of fluorescents. However, where CFLs may cost around $15 per bulb, the cheapest LED home light bulbs are closer to $100 in America as of this writing.

So the Swedes have come up with a mercury-free CFL option, eh? Leave it to the creators of IKEA to set the tone. But it looks a bit dim… (Photo: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/2751088844_3e4f74549e.jpg)

Some argue that CFLs also don’t stand up to the wear and tear of being turned on and off regularly. In fact, some studies show they expire before some incandescent bulbs under those conditions. In response to this, various EU officials have recommended halogen bulbs. However, environmental groups believe those should have been banned along with incandescent, as they’re similarly wasteful.

The light bulb ban also doesn’t address the mental health issue. There are those who suffer from epilepsy and anxiety who depend upon incandescent lighting for normal function. By comparison, CFL bulbs can cause adverse effects.

Clear incandescent bulbs OK until 2012

EU officials want this to be gradual, so 60-watt clear incandescent bulbs will be available until September 2011, while 40-watt will be around until 2012, says the Times. The United States and Canada have similar plans for gradual phase out. But after that time, if CFLs aren’t an option, LED lighting will have to be more affordable for the average consumer.

Turn on your heart light

Let it shine wherever you go. Yes, I’m talking the Neil Diamond song about E.T. It takes some heart to make the right choice for the environment in this light bulb ban fracas. Sure, incandescent bulbs are more convenient in the short term – and the quality of light is definitely better. But what must happen is that we must press manufacturers of LED lighting to produce it more cheaply. Whatever legislation and research is necessary to make this happen needs to commence or be augmented, because CFL bulbs are not a viable option. People may have mercury fillings in their teeth and justify CFL bulbs on those grounds, but we don’t know what the long-term effects of mercury in teeth will be. I would wager it isn’t exactly harmless. If it means I’ll need to contact money lenders to find money for LED lighting in my home, I’ll consider it. But please, throw the people a bone.

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