Ford Motor Co. told dealers Wednesday it was ending the Mercury brand. Taylor, a member of Ford’s dealer council, said he received the news in a conference call.
“It’s not a surprise,” Taylor said. “It has been in the rumor mill.”
In April, Taylor announced he had acquired what was the Lincoln Mercury of Dayton franchise, 1575 Ohio 725, from Ford. On May 1, he began selling Lincolns and Mercurys at his West National Road dealership, which has just over 200 employees.
Dayton has no standalone Mercury-Lincoln dealers, although some larger cities, such as Cincinnati, have them, Taylor said. Those would be most affected by Ford’s decision, he believes.
Taylor saw Mercury as simply a mid-priced “duplication” of models sold with the Ford nameplate.
He also said Ford’s compensation for doing away with Mercury will repay his investment in acquiring the local dealership.
Taylor has said he invested about $500,000 into his dealership for new signs and frontings, to give customers what he called a “luxury car experience.” He said Ford assured dealers that new Lincoln models will be made available, but he had no details about those plans.
Talk of Mercury’s death has been heard for years. Similarly, General Motors killed its Pontiac brand last year and Chrysler shelved Plymouth nearly a decade ago.
“Mercury did nothing for us,” Taylor said. “We sells those exact same products with a different logo.”
The business operating on Lincoln-Mercury of Dayton’s lot became Luxury Cars of Dayton.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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