The Short Lived Tale of Merkur

Hello! :D
Similar to the Sterling brand, the Merkur marque of the mid-1980s was an attempt by Ford to introduce European-sized models into the United States in order to directly combat the horde of BMWs, Audis, Hondas and Mercedes' filling up the market, but, like Sterling, would prove to be a massive failure for the company.
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References:
Makes that Didn't Make It (and their respective sources)
Autoweek (and their respective sources)
Classic Ford Mag (and their respective sources)
Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[@andreamassara590]

Eleven minutes, fourty four seconds: this video is even longer than the Merkur's life.

[@tetchuma]

Zing! 🤣

[@Gordanovich02]

On the upside, selling the US market Sierra with a 2.3 litre turbo-4 allowed Ford to homologate that engine for touring car racing in Europe (until the XR Sierras were displaced by the Sierra Cosworth of course).

[@waifubreaks1572]

I think it's the same engine that was in the SVO Mustang, which is the ancestor to the Ecoboost of today.

[@the_cheese]

There was a huge fanfare in the US automotive press when Ford launched the Merkur brand, and I remember that the predominant opinion was "this will be the greatest triumph Ford has had since the Model T" and then them making misstep after misstep in bringing the cars to market. Thanks for another fun, informative video Ruairidh!

[@6193derek]

I don’t remember there having any fanfare in Canada for it. I just remember suddenly seeing this ugly car, and wondering what it was called, then when I saw that it was called a murker xe4ti, I thought, what the hell, stupid name for a car.is that. I never looked any further into it. Clear a failure of the marketing division. GM made the same mistake in Canada by trying to brand engineer Geos and Saturn’s under the name Asüna

[@isher9035]

I think the real problem with the XR4Ti is you already had several other vehicles using the same power train in the Ford family that were more established. Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, Mercury Black Magic Capri, etc. All of those fox platform cars.

[@arnepianocanada]

"Mercury" Capri sold not badly in USA and Canada, aided in part by its tag line: "The sexy European." Merkur XR4Ti - marque & model monikers *both* unappealing! Peripherals matter... Fine work again, Mr. R!

[@RikAindow]

For any Americans wondering why it was called the XR4 or XR4Ti, it's because here in Europe, sporty Ford models were given the XR badge. Eg, the Fiesta had the XR2i, the Escort had the XR3i and I think in Australia, they even had an XR5. Great video as always.

[@indycoone9027]

Thank you for doing a video on this! There's a ton of videos on brand failures and European cars, but not a ton of Americanized attempts by European brands/branches. Just what I needed tonight :)

[@briankay4713]

XR4i is a seriously good looking motor .... sweet smooth and quick Cologne V6 too ...completely different beast to a Cosworth

[@buggerall]

Now imagine putting the 3.0 24V Cosworth engine in it. I remember when that engine was launched the testers absolutely loved it. It was fast and sounded great. Sadly however it was launched in the Scorpio and was way to racy for a car like that. By that time the XR4i had become the XR4x4i and had lost both its dual spoiler and the third window and by that all its sexiness. A shame really. Wonder what ever happened to that great engine.

[@minkymootwo]

My first car was a 2.3l V6 Sierra. It was one of the first ones with the small headlights. I fitted a Cosworth grill, bigger headlights and respayed it black, looked so much better. I loved that old rust bucket.

[@buggerall]

What country are you from? From what I remember the 2.3's were always Ghia's and subsequently dual headlights without a grill.

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

I remember those! 🚗🚗

[@DanafoxyVixen]

If only Ford could have called it a Ford.......

[@jimtaylor294]

or at least just *Mercury* . (would've been ratherfitting too, given the other world'y styling)

[@patrickmartin3322]

@@jimtaylor294 honestly these cars would have given mercury with a reason for existence

[@IAmAnAdowablePanto2190]

​@@jimtaylor294 Or maybe Ford II, Mercury II, or the names that were rejected by Ford in the 50s, to make a new brand in the 50s. Or, they could tell people to pronounce Merkur, “Mer-Ker", and not “Meir-Qier".

[@jimtaylor294]

@@IAmAnAdowablePanto2190 Or; name & pronounce it as *Der Mercury* 😆

[@ChatterboxFM]

The perfect birthday gift! I was hoping you’d cover this odd duck of a brand!

[@tetchuma]

My first “girlfriend” in kindergarten; her mom drove a brand new Scorpio. I thought it was a spaceship. (The US had just allowed composite headlamps, and so the aero-look was still rare in the late ‘80s) I don’t remember what her name was, but I remember every detail of that Scorpio, and the quirkiness of the Merkur logo. My husband (🏳️‍🌈) has since embraced my sixth sense of identifying cars (and sometimes their trims and powertrains) based solely on their headlights/taillights at night.

[@thetinysideoftiny7625]

There was an ad campaign back in the day to teach Americans how to say Merkur. I remember the ad campaign pronunciation as MARE-COOR. I thought the XR4TI and Scorpio were gorgeous, game changers for Ford. I was saddened when the whole thing collapsed just a few years in. Still love both vehicles to this day.

[@auntbarbara5576]

Aunt Barbara is SO happy you did this one!!! 😚

[@tomanderson6335]

Fascinating video (as always) Ruairidh. It's worth noting that Merkur was the 1987 SCCA Trans Am series manufacturers champion, though the title was officially credited to the Lincoln-Mercury Division and, more importantly, the XR4Tis that won the title were, like most Trans Am cars since the early 1980s, just tube-frame silhouette cars shaped like their production counterparts.

[@davidholliday4142]

I owned both a 1974 Capri and a 1989 Merkur XR4Ti. Both were fantastic cars. I would be happy to drive either one today. My current car is a Subaru WRX. Very similar size and feel.

[@hicksalpha]

I remember seeing one of these on robocop, thought it was just a standard Sierra..

[@W.13th]

Hell of an observation

[@buggerall]

Wasn't that the Probe III? I seem to remember they used the 1980 Sierra Prototype. Ford used that on the Stuttgart Motor Show to test the waters for the radically new looks of their Sierra in development at that time. Cold feet, I guess.

[@Kuessemir]

Still have some Merkurs running around here in Rochester. Clearly they are babied and preserved. They sound great though.

[@PaulR1200]

Another well put together factual film. I tip my hat to you good sir. NZCH

[@rich7787]

I thought Merkur was the coolest as a kid, thanks for the video!

[@jarmyvicious]

Salut, Awesome little film....! ....."thank you for the memories...." ; Cheers

[@thetman0068]

I’ve seen the Merkur name pop up in search tabs on things like Autotrader, but I assumed it was some dead car brand from the 20s and 30s. I genuinely had no idea it was a car sold in America in the 80s

[@astrazenica7783]

Sierra looks cool today for some reason

[@fungames24]

I thought it was cool at the time. Now I don't think so. I find the BMW is better able to keep its cool.

[@buggerall]

@@fungames24 The Sierra wasn't a timeless design like the BMW was.

[@JohnUnit]

It's so odd hearing all the british terms and classes like "executive" and "Sports saloon" applied to stuff like Sables and Lesabres

[@obentophaut8693]

Great stuff. Suggestion: I'd be interested in a piece on how the french auto industry tried and failed in the north american market. I think there were a couple of attempts?

[@ReflectedMiles]

The Audi competition was junk for reliability and maintenance, so I never looked twice at that. I really enjoyed the XR4Ti manual, though, especially with some minor mods from the SVO Mustang. It had a much more European-oriented interior that was comparatively quiet with comfortable leather and plenty of room--I never noticed any significant vibration issues at high speeds, either. However, it was driven hard and eventually developed cooling system problems that were perennial--it reminded me of the regular water-pump issues that friends had with the BMW 3-series.

[@IAmAnAdowablePanto2190]

Merkur: Ford's second car brand failure with the Edsel. I always wonder if Merkur survived today, would it be a sports car, or a supercar brand?

[@MandusahRamirez]

Same story with The Ford Fusion. Which should’ve just been The Mondeo in US too since that means “World Car”.. I hope they bring the new Mondeo/Fusion here tho!

[@pcno2832]

Another brand introduction that failed on the U.S. market during this period was GM's Saturn, not to mention GM's attempt to bring in Opel and Chrysler's attempts with Hillman and Simca in the 1960s. Meanwhile, I don't have space to name all of the foreign-controlled brands that have been successful during that time. Part of it was probably the reputation those brands already had overseas, and there was also the fact that the "Big 3" already had too many brand names for their shrinking market shares. Both Merkurs were nice cars, though Ford took too many chances with the name and with the styling. I remember Car and Driver describing the lumbar-support pump bulbs in the Xr4ti (another terrible name) as "obscene looking", lumbar adjustment setups have always been either mechanical or power operated in the U.S. market. Also, if Ford had really wanted to establish a presence with Merkur, they would have eaten the losses until they could arrange a more economical assembly strategy.

[@mgabrysSF]

My family had a Carpi in the early 70s - thing was a maintenance headache producer and was highly prone to rust.

[@rob5944]

Branding is everything and should not be underestimated. That's not to say that they're necessarily better every time, you get what you pay for. Sometimes however, not even then.

[@rabit818]

Should have been called Mercury or Ford, simple.

[@6193derek]

You stretched the image of the Edsel to fit letterbox screen size. In so doing you gave a poor representation of what the car actually looked like

[@Frank-mm2yp]

A MERKUR XR4TI was US sports radio/TV gasbag Jim Rome's first "cool car" back in the mid 1980s. Said it ran great for about the first few thousand miles then promptly fell apart. He "hated " that car- but still talks about it on his show. Go figure?

[@stuartaaron613]

I had a friend who owned an XR4Ti. Nice car, but he had problems getting parts for it.

[@P_RO_]

The Merkur XR4Tiwas simply too European for the US at the time. The 'grille-less' front and the 'bi-plane' spoiler in back were seen as weird. Performance required a 'V' engine, not an inline 4 in our thinking. It had electrical issues which the US had grown weary of in the Chrysler "K" cars. It's market niche was smallish and full of well-refined competition. Had it been US-built with it's build quality intact, came with a torquey V6 from the start, and had more conservative styling I think it would have been the success which was expected of it. Missing it's intended price point didn't help either. Instead, Buick ate it's breakfast for performance seekers, Mercedes and BMW ate it's lunch for those wanting sophisticated engineering, and Acura with Lexus had eaten it's supper with quality levels we'd never seen before. In effect, the XR4Ti was starved for customers here even though it was a world-beater everywhere else as a Sierra. We Americans are still a different breed in what we want (and don't want) from our cars. Sadly the US carmakers have lost sight of that as everyone else learned, and save for certain market niches, the average American car is no more, having been replaced by better ones than our own companies can make for us. The XR4Ti foretold that and had it succeeded would have been hailed as a watershed moment in automotive history.

[@buggerall]

It didn't have that easy of a time in Europe either. Its radical futuristic looks certainly weren't for everyone. Certainly not the old stagnant Ford Taunus / Cortina drivers who wanted a sedan. It had trouble with cross winds making it sort of unstable, courtasy of its aerodynamic shape. Thing was though, it had to compete here with the new Opel Ascona, which had recently become a FWD car and the Volkswagen Passat. I remember a test from the famous Auto, Motor und Sport magazine and it totally ridiculed both of them. The handling was way better because it inherited the over-engineered trailing link suspension from the Granada / Consul used by BMW and Mercedes as well while many of the FWD opponents of its time settled with a torsionbar rear axle or even a life axle. Ford would later prove their point by introducing the Cosworth RS and RS500 that with their BMW M3 counterpart literally had to be torn out of touring car racing by changing the rules because they ended first until thirteenth in every race. Ford later "corrected" the sedan problem by introducing the Ford Orion. An ugly sedan version of the Ford Escort. Don't ask... But it's funny you'd say that. American cars here in Europe were infamous for their sloppy handling and unreliability but mostly for the ridiculous parts prices. Guess tariffs were screwing things up both ways ;-)

[@Lando-kx6so]

The Merkur XR4Ti should've just been called a Mercury Capri & the Scorpio should've been sold as a Mercury as well

[@oxcart4172]

I just want to know how to pronounce Ruairidh!

[@Colaholiker]

I was wondering about the same, but a quick search revealed that his name is a Scottish Gaelic form of the name Rory, so I'd assume a somewhat similar pronunciation. Of course, this is based on my own "investigation", so take it with a grain of salt.

[@oxcart4172]

@@Colaholiker Thanks for that! Appreciate it!

[@theweekthatis]

Roar-ree

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@Colaholiker yeah it’s basically said like Rory - but the first syllable is ru like in “rules”, rather than ro like in “roar”.

[@oxcart4172]

@@theweekthatis Really??

[@Andrewjg_89]

Never heard of Merkur. Didn’t even know that Ford made them.

[@buggerall]

I always called it the the Mercury because I knew that was a Ford Brand. Only now I am corrected...

[@paulstein7369]

We owned both models. 3 of each, 1 new of each. Great cars but parts availability was sparse, dealer knowledge was even worse. A buddy in Washington state handles parts availability.

[@buggerall]

Same thing here in Europe with American cars. A guy down the street had one of those plastic woody wagons. Huge station wagon, cream white with plastic wooden glued on panels Think it was a Ford but I would have to check. He loved it for its ruggedness but parts were a disaster. A thousand guilders for a front fender. For a Taunus it would be more like 250.-...

[@rayjennings3637]

The irony here, is that because of US emissions regs, the Cologne engine had to be replaced, yet here we are in 2021 and America lags far behind Europe, in so many ways, in its approach to the same problem.

[@buggerall]

The 2.9 that was launched in the Scorpio was an emission wonder. Would have done the trick maybe? But the American emission rules always appeared to me as kind of ineffective. Might be wrong though.

[@mjouwbuis]

The Sierra was of course also a replacement for the Taunus.

[@buggerall]

Yup. But the Taunus prolly lacks intercontinental credentials. Always liked the 2.3 S though. They were kind of sexy.

[@runoflife87]

Wait, the inline-4 engine was heavier than V6 one? WTF?

[@smorris12]

Ford have always had an excellent line in boat anchors

[@buggs9950]

@@smorris12 I was once told the only good thing about the old Ford V4 was that it would fit in a dustbin.

[@henryovalles1163]

It wasnt the motor it was the hole carvas a package

[@buggerall]

@@buggs9950 Don't even make me think about it. It would probably continue to make that dreadful noise the tended to make.

[@Christian762]

Not mentioned I think is another reason for the failure in the US: the car is not attractive or distinctive enough. It looks alright I guess, though the bottom cladding looks rather cheap and the red colored one in a lot of the commercials doesn't seem to fit well with the idea of an upscale executive car. It basically looks like any other American or European Ford of the era. You could have slapped a Ford badge on it and sold it as a performance Ford at the time and I doubt anyone would have noticed. While, its German rivals like BMW and Mercedes also had a lot of more plebian and industrial vehicles in Europe they didn't in the US. If you paid the extra cost to get a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc, you got a car that anyone on the street could tell was NOT a Ford or an everyday family sedan. With the Merkur that's not so true. This could have possibly been cured if the Merkur was less expensive than those rivals, but it wasn't, or if it was substantially better than them in the way that the LS400 succeeded in, but it wasn't that either. You ended up with an expensive Ford with a sub-par dealership network and a brand that had no cache at the country club.

[@buggerall]

The European version had red inlays on the bumpers and side skirts that looked a lot better. I was looking at those pictures in the video and they just left them out for some reason. Way to plasticky.

[@stevewalker412]

Good job on this

[@dancalmpeaceful3903]

I remember this guy at work decided for whateverthefuck reasons to actually buy one of these. None of us could ever figure out WHY exactly. He did get it....after much effort from working with the dealer. It was a nice car...but it sure as shit was no Porsche....or anything even worth mentioning. Frankly, the car was a big "yawn" in all of our opinions. On top of it, the woman (at work) he was dating- at the same time he got the Merkur - GAVE back the engagement ring to him - we all laughed. The guy tried to make himself out to be something , he DEFINITELY was NOT. It hurt his ego massively. He was a decent guy frankly.....but I think he just bit off more than he could chew.....and yes, he STILL lived with his parents. Sorry Pete......if you're reading this...but it is a fact. Are you still a ski instructor?......

[@andysedgley]

Why they didn't just call them Fords I have no idea. And the Americans want space with their comfort!

[@brianpauley1151]

How do you pronounce " toupee" ?

[@tng2057]

The trouble was that the Sierra was so unreliable. I read an Autocar UK publication at the time and Sierra / Cortina ranked rock bottom in terms of reliability amongst all cars available in the market at the time. My relatively new company car Sierra broke down on the streets at least twice due to silly electrics issues. Rusting was also serious. Japanese cars outdid them big time.

[@jimtaylor294]

Nope. I'm British, and learned to drive in one. Neighbour of several decades had one throughout too. The Sierra was no less reliable than was typical for Ford in the same era; she was also more interesting to look at than the preceding Cortina, and much more fun to drive than the dull as ditch water Mondeo that came after too. A large chunk of unreliability claims typically stem from driver misuse / failure to follow the instructions re' mantainance (the Triumph Stag being the most obvious victim thereof; with blown head gaskets / snapped fan belts due to being serviced too irregularly / garages performing servicing work incorrectly).

[@buggerall]

@@jimtaylor294 Yeah, I'm kind of surprised about that as well. It was not really that futuristic under the skin. They used the McPherson from the Taunus / Cortina at the front and the rest of the drive train came from the Granada. They did become a bit swearly with cross winds though. A problem more aerodynamic designs had in those days and which wasn't helped by it being an RWD car.

[@jimtaylor294]

@@buggerall Well: "Squirrel'y'ness" on wet roads *is* a thing for RWD Cars of the era like Sierra... but that was more due to lacking a limited slip diff', all round disc brakes and ABS, which of course make a massive difference. At the time Ford Capri and Sierra Cosworth owners - and some Jag' owners too - tended to get around the greasy weasel problem by putting a sack of gravel or cement powder in the boot, which according to most I've conversed with was enough.

[@TheFratHouse69]

What’s a “Coupay”?

[@GlossaME]

There is a fine line between quirky / fun, and ugly. The Sierra was plain ugly, that's why it didn't sell

[@drstevenrey]

As an age old realization I find that European cars have nothing to do in America, equally American cars have no business in Europe. The entire situation with traffic, speeds, roads and surfaces are never ever really compatible. One exception though, the VW Beetle.

[@Brimstoneandfire]

The car was initially a flop here in the UK actually, alienating Cortins owners who turned to the J type Cavalier from Vauxhall instead. Ford ultimately introduced the Orion, a four door saloon/booted version of the Escort to win these customers back. Sales didn’t really take off until the 1987 facelift. This added small mouldings to rear most side windows to improve stability in cross winds at highway speeds (the initial car had good drag component but was no good in cross winds).

[@BungleBare]

From 1987 there was also the Sierra Sapphire (later, just Sapphire) - the four door (or sedan, if you prefer) variant of the Sierra, which also had a small grille between the headlights, as opposed to the smooth metalwork of the Sierra itself. This also was designed to appeal to more traditional former Cortina owners, and complement the Orion in Ford’s late ‘80s European range.

[@Brimstoneandfire]

@@BungleBare the Sapphire was a real beauty in the right trim. GLX and up (nice wheel trims that looked like alloys and two tone paint) on the early facelift was great. I preferred those actually to the run out models…!

[@buggerall]

@@Brimstoneandfire True. However, try to imagine that car with the pre-facelifted 1983 front. I'm going to get a bucket... The Orion was no looker either though. But the boot was enormous. BTW, I remember another reasons to release the Sierra sedan was to make it stiffer.

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

I remember thinking that the piece of crap Taurus was being replaced by this incredible Scorpio German Ford, boy was I wrong! I never understood why GM and Ford cars sold in Germany were so much better than what we had. I guess that’s what real competition does?

[@Dexter037S4]

Ah, Merkur. Y'know, if they put a V8 in the Sierra it probably could've sold even better, I mean there were V8 Sierras in Trans Am for crying out loud! But alas.

[@buggerall]

We had a Cosworth 3.0 24V with 200 hp here in Europe which would have been perfect as well but they reserved it for the Scorpio. Alas...

[@romanpaladino]

South Africa had V8 Sierras

[@TheHylianBatman]

I hate it when car names are just letters and number. Give it a model name, for God's sake! What a strange idea. Always something else to consider.

[@IAmAnAdowablePanto2190]

Mercedes-Benz does that all the time. So does Lexus, Infiniti, Genesis, Acura (names their car models letters only), Mazda, BMW, Audi, Cadillac (used to name their cars cool names, but now it's just letters), Scion, Polestar, and Hummer.

[@mustsilm]

You cant just rename a car and compete with BMW&Merc. The quality was not the same.

[@RPKGameVids]

I love the Sierra, but Merkur is Horrible name IMO, and I don't like the gap at the front, it looks like a fishes mouth which makes the car look a little ugly at the front.

[@rjscott6116]

The xr4ti looks like a giant Ford escort, without a grill. That's a very unattractive look for an executive sedan. Add to that another sedan that looks like a hatchback Ford taurus, but priced like a Audi (everyone wants a high priced German sedan that people will mistake for a mass market Ford... J/k).

[@hammondpickle]

So much brown. And not even the good type of brown.

[@emfraza7953]

Wait, you think the Buick Grand National was an attempt to take sales away from European sports sedans, er, "saloons"? Pull up a chair, pop open a Budweiser and don a NASCAR cap my very confused friend...

[@EleanorPeterson]

10:50 - No, no, noooooo, it wasn't the Edsel's name that alienated customers. Pious, puritan Merkins might like to have claimed that to avoid outrage and blushes as they queued up for church every Sunday, but we all know what the real problem was. It's very much like the new Rivian EV's embarrassing headlight design. Still not sure what I'm talking about? Ask a gynaecologist about 'dilation' and 'gaping orifices'. 🤭

[@stuew6]

I'm high school teacher had BMW M3 1986.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I was wondering how to pronounce this, and when you said it was basically said as Mercury without the -y, it just pissed me off >.> c’mon Ford of America why are you so bad at names

[@kaitlyn__L]

And the logo is basically the Lincoln logo but stuck in an oval instead of a rectangle… presumably to match the badge shape in the bodywork like Sterling had done with their logo? That’s pissing me off too! Not to mention the plan to PHASE OUT Mercury in favour of Merkur? Why not just have sold them as sporty Mercuries to begin with? Christ on a cracker.

[@jetsgardner5490]

Coo-pay? Saloon? Give me a break. This video was aimed at the American market?

[@fob1xxl]

Some of the most unattractive automobiles ever designed !

[@paulfromperth5713]

Ford Sierra…one of the ugliest cars ever. 🤮

[@miketaylor3559]

In the UK we called this the Ford clitirous because every cu@#ts got one lol

[@ZacLowing]

Underpowered and dumb looking

[@freepieanchipsgarage]

Great video, although Karmann built it in Rheine alongside the European Escort Cabriolet.

[@BitchinSpectre]

sweet cars, bad market placement(pricing), bad marketing.