article does not cite any sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message merkur industry automobile founded 1985 defunct 1989 headquarters dearborn michigan usa products luxury cars parent ford motor company website www.merkurclub.com unofficial merkur german pronunciation m ku mercury was a short lived automobile brand sold by the lincoln mercury division of ford motor company from 1985 to 1989 . using captive imports produced by the german division of ford of europe merkur was targeted at buyers of european luxury brands . after only five years of sales the merkur division was discontinued by ford making it one of the shortest lived automotive brands . contents 1 use in popular culture 2 background 3 models 3.1 xr4ti 3.2 scorpio 4 contrast to ford of europe 5 discontinuation 6 see also use in popular culture edit a long running joke on the simpsons is that seymour skinner drives a merkur . background edit in the early 1980s for various reasons buyers of traditional american luxury brands such as cadillac chrysler and lincoln began to shift their buying preferences towards european produced cars from audi bmw mercedes benz and volvo . as a response japanese automaker honda launched acura in 1985 with their contemporaries nissan and toyota later developing infiniti and lexus respectively . in its own response ford created the merkur german for mercury franchise for select lincoln mercury dealers in the united states and canada ; approximately 800 lincoln mercury dealers would take on merkur franchises . building on the success of the original mercury capri during the 1970s the most imported car in the united states aside from the volkswagen beetle ford intended to import cars the ford sierra and ford scorpio targeted toward european import buyers a market that lincoln mercury did not have any competitive vehicles ready for sale . when the merkur name was launched in north america advertising and pr materials strongly urged the proper german pronunciation of the brand name . below the merkur badge was a script stating ford werke ag cologne west germany indicating the car s place of manufacture . models edit the merkur model line consisted of two models the three door xr4ti hatchback and the five door scorpio hatchback . north american regulations dictated a number of modifications to the design of the vehicles which meant that ford could not import the german sierra and scorpio produced from the factory and sell them in dealerships . major changes were related to the fitment of 5 mph bumpers lighting and powertrain modifications to meet emissions requirements . xr4ti edit main article merkur xr4ti merkur xr4ti a performance oriented hatchback the xr4ti also nicknamed the xr was a slightly rebodied version of the ford sierra xr4i . to meet north american regulations it traded the 2.8 l v6 from its european namesake for a turbocharged 2.3 l ford lima 2.3 l four cylinder engine shared with the thunderbird turbo coupe the mustang svo and the mercury cougar xr7 . sized nearly identically to the ford mustang the xr4ti was also distinguished by a large biplane rear spoiler . as general motors was using the sierra name for gmc and the cutlass ciera name for oldsmobile merkur chose its alphanumeric branding . due to the xr4ti not using a standard sierra body and powertrain final assembly was completed by specialty manufacturer karmann in rheine west germany . introduced for the 1985 model year the xr4ti remained the sole model in the product line for three years until the 1988 introduction of the scorpio . in early 1989 the xr4ti was discontinued . scorpio edit main article merkur scorpio merkur scorpio unlike the xr4ti the merkur scorpio was targeted towards buyers of european luxury cars . as a ford in germany the scorpio was introduced in 1985 to compete against executive sedans such as the audi 100 mercedes benz w124 and the volvo 740 . in north america the scorpio was introduced by merkur for the 1988 model year as an alternative for the same vehicles in the united states and canada . unusually the scorpio was available only as a five door hatchback a bodystyle also seen only in cars such as the saab 9000 . while the largest car in the ford of europe product line the scorpio was sized slightly smaller than the mercury sable and ford taurus . merkur scorpios included many standard features and most were sold with the optional touring package upgrade . while available with a five speed manual transmission nearly every scorpio was equipped with the four speed overdrive automatic transmission . the original cost of a merkur scorpio could reach nearly us 30 000 when fully optioned . in contrast to the xr4ti the merkur version of the scorpio was built in the ford cologne production facility in west germany alongside its european counterpart ; the major difference between merkur models was the fitment of 5 mph bumpers and the standardization of the 2.9 l v6 which met american emissions regulations and was used in the ford ranger and bronco ii . one of the shortest lived vehicles ever produced by ford motor company the merkur scorpio was discontinued at the end of the 1989 model year marking the end of the merkur brand . contrast to ford of europe edit the sierra was introduced as a replacement for the aging ford cortina ford taunus which was a bold move at the time considering that the cortina taunus was one of ford s best selling cars . despite ford s initial misgivings about the styling sierra went on to be the second best selling car in europe citation needed second only to ford s own escort . european sierras were available in three door hatchback five door hatchback four door sedan and five door station wagon versions and even a pickup truck called the p100 . engines available ranged from a 1.3 litre 60 hp four cylinder to a 160 hp 2.8 litre v6 or a two litre 16 valve turbocharged and intercooled four cylinder as fitted to the sierra cosworth . according to british government test figures fuel efficient models such as the 1.6 economy could do 51 mpg imp 5.5 l 100 km ; 42 mpg us at a steady 56 mph 90 km h and 30 mpg imp 9.4 l 100 km ; 25 mpg us simulated urban driving . at the other end of the spectrum the sierra cosworth did 0 60 mph in 6.2 seconds and went to a top speed of almost 150 mph 240 km h and was still capable of over 20 mpg imp 14 l 100 km ; 17 mpg us if driven gently . the sierra xr range and the cosworth models however are not viewed as sales flops in europe despite individual models selling fewer cars than the xr4ti . like the sierra the scorpio was also introduced to replace another popular model the ford granada . in the uk and ireland the granada name was still used with the scorpio name reserved for the top of the range granada models . the scorpio started as a five door hatchback and it later became available as a four door sedan and a five door wagon . an executive express in the form of the scorpio cosworth was produced powered by a 2.9 litre 24 valve cosworth v6 motor . this featured 16 aluminum alloy wheels similar to the amg mercedes wheels a rear spoiler and additional ground effects . discontinuation edit for ford motor company in north america the merkur project was not considered a success as annual sales never reached even the modest level of 15 000 units at the make s peak ; each authorized dealer was selling only one to two merkur vehicles monthly on average . increasing exchange rates of the deutsche mark led to unstable pricing with the scorpio rivaling the lincoln town car in price while bearing a resemblance to the far more affordable mercury sable sold on the same showroom floor . in the end the largest factor in dropping the merkur line was the impending requirement to fit the xr4ti and the scorpio with either a passive restraint system or airbags to meet north american safety requirements . as their sales no longer justified the expense of the conversion their european counterparts would not receive airbags until they were replaced in 1994 the merkur line was discontinued altogether . the xr4ti was dropped first and the scorpio a few months later in 1989 bringing the marque to an end . the ford contour would be the next attempt from ford in 1994 to sell one of their european models in north america being a modified american built version of the ford mondeo . however ford under alan mulally s one ford plan would gradually introduce european designed ford models built in north america to succeed american designed ford passenger cars starting with the reintroduction of the ford fiesta in 2008 the third generation ford focus in 2012 and culminating in the redesigned ford fusion for 2013 . see also edit merkur vehicles 1980s automobiles wikimedia commons has media related to merkur vehicles . v t e merkur road car timeline 1985 1989 type 1980s 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 compact xr4ti mid size scorpio v t e ford motor company marques current ford lincoln troller discontinued continental edsel mercury merkur meteor monarch fpv former aston martin daimler jaguar lagonda land rover th nk volvo divisions and subsidiaries current automotive components holdings ford of argentina ford brasil troller ford of canada ford of europe ford of britain ford germany ford romania ford india ford motor company of new zealand ford motor company philippines ford motor credit company ford racing ford team rs motorcraft special vehicle team discontinued ford of australia fpv ford of russia ford saf lincoln mercury premier automotive group special vehicle operations former aston martin lagonda cosworth ford aerospace hertz corporation jaguar cars kwik fit land rover new holland agriculture visteon volvo car corporation joint ventures and shareholdings current aston martin lagonda 8 % autoalliance international 50 % autoalliance thailand changan ford mazda 35 % ford lio ho ford otosan 41 % ford sollers 50 % ford vietnam 60 % getrag ford transmissions 50 % jiangling motors 49 % mazda 2.1 % defunct autolatina ford union matford samcor facilities and products engines factories platforms proving grounds transmissions vehicles people designers ford family henry ford founder william clay ford jr. executive chairman mark fields president and ceo list of ceos other big three dodge v. ford motor co. grimshaw v. ford motor co. fordl ndia the ford show history kinetic design new edge pay on production united states council for automotive research founded june 16 1903 headquarters dearborn michigan commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title merkur & oldid 733402481 categories merkur vehiclesford motor companyford of europeford motor company of canada1980s automobilesamerican brandsdefunct brandsdefunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the united statesvehicle manufacturing companies established in 1985vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 19891985 establishments in the united states1989 disestablishments in the united stateshidden categories articles lacking sources from december 2011all articles lacking sourcespages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from may 2008commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutschnederlands polski edit links this page was last modified on 7 august 2016 at 15 31 . text is available under the