Marauder Gone In 04?

[james_hart6]

Motor Trend magazine, April 2003 edition, page 40:

"Mercury's mission to revive the American musclecar has been aborted. Slow sales have doomed the Marauder, and it'll be wiped from Mercury's product palate after model-year '04...

The Marauder's 302 horsepower and 318 lb-ft of torque...doesn't feel sufficiently quicker than the Crown Vic Sport...

...also abondoned are plans to equip the Marauder with a version of the '03 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra's blown 4.6 liter...

- Gary Blakely (Motor Trend Magazine)"


There's a few paragraphs left out, but the gist of the article is here.

Jim

(edited for typos)

[B-26]

Everyone has an opinion even magazines. The last I heard Mercury dealers were raving about lot traffic generated by the marauder. All they have to do is fix the car to be what is was supposed to be in the first place. Easy Fix!

[RF Overlord]

Originally posted by james_hart6

Slow sales have doomed the Marauder,

The Marauder's 302 horsepower and 318 lb-ft of torque...doesn't feel sufficiently quicker than the Crown Vic Sport...



So Mercury puts in a motor that's too small, and does NO advertising, then cancels it because it didn't sell...

Can you spell "Self-Fulfilling Prophesy"? :shake:

[TAF]

maybe SVT will get their act together on providing something between the Cobra and the Lightning and do it right in 4-6 years when we will all be ready...I'm just glad I got mine.

[Marauderman]

Hey Todd-going over 400--you must have a quick way to keep up with all the threads--if so --fill me in----

But back on the thread news---don't look for the MM to be gone soon guys---I've bought alot of new cars ..and never--and I say again NEVER--had so many inquiries, surveys...calls about how I felt about a single car ever before...so..someone is listening and listening hard.....I believe this...so lets have some fun and like Todd said....in about 4-6 years or whenever.....all those surveys will produce what we will probably will already have...and we'll have it for less than the going Dealer price at that time......imagine what we can do over that time span.....can you imagine....like Sarge has said--it can become endless
(least I though he said that---sounds good anyway)...well sounds like something he'd say if not....

[jgc61sr2002]

Articals and stories are what sells magazines, without them they would be out of business. Even if the story is true I believe the MM has brought additional traffic through Mercury dealers showrooms. The MM is probably responsible for the sale of other Lincoln and Mercury cars. John

[TAF]

Frankly, I think WE HERE are the only ones that don't think this car was a "flop". L/M dealers can't stand 'em sitting on their lots, Mr. Smoker and Steve Babcock are non-existent, their appearance at the most recent autoshows were like an afterthought, etc.

I LOVE my car. Only you and I know why...and maybe it's just better that way. I still go back to words from one of our "own"...who put it in better words than I've seen from anyone at Ford Lincoln/Mercury...


The Essence of Marauder

After being on this site for a little while I have been trying to get in my mind and into words what our big beast is all about. This may not be everyones thoughts on this but I believe alot of us fit into this category. It's not really the time it takes to get to 60mph or 1/4 mile, even though we are cognizant of that time. It's not about busting a ricer, frontie or anything with wheels even if it thrills our heart to do so. It's not about chirping tires or the smell of burning rubber even though most of us could easily be convicted of these incidents. It is about having a car that makes you want to drive for 12 hours instead of flying and arriving fresh as a daisy because it is like sitting in your living room. It's about getting 5 suitcases in the trunk and the whole family in the front, knowing you have put your family in a big safe ride and you still be looking good. It's about leather, climate control, buckets, floor shifter, booming stereo, tach, gauges and electric everything. It's all about what us stubborn old cantankerous guys remember as Grand Touring. Having a ride that is fast, comfortable, intimidating, roomy, trimmed but modest, sporty but functional and for a fairly reasonalble price. I'm heading out on a 10 hour drive for Florida this coming week, we were going to fly but looking forward to hopping in the bad boy with my babe for the last 26 years and going in style, I will be GRAND TOURING!

Thanks Willie...

[RF Overlord]

I was JUST gonna say that...

[TAF]

this site USED to be looked at by folks from L/M. I know because I swapped a few PMs during those times with them, and they haven't visited here in months...

Sorry RF...trying to get a few in before my vacation.

[Diocles]

I wonder how much time and effort ($) Ford/Mercury will really put in the MM,CV, &GM line. How much longer will they produce the current generation of cars? Unfortunately I don't see them spending too much money for retooling or improvements if the car line has a handful of years left in production.

[jgc61sr2002]

Tod Well said. John:coolman:

[Beadhead]

If the sales reports posted on this forum are anywhere near correct, the MM is DOOMED! In FMC's current financial straits, it aint gonna build nuttin that don't have a good ROI. Bottom line speaks, folks. Ours may be very rare beasts, indeed.

[CRUZTAKER]

Hey!........

WE GOT OURS, OHHH YEA! :up:

[bugsys03]

if they quit makin em i gotta get me another one to put in the garage so i can drive one til i die.

[WolfeBros]

No surprize here and damn glad I got mine.
I too buy alot of cars and I don't know when I got more bang for the buck than I have with this one. I love driving it and its been years since a car has moved me enough to want to work on and mod it. Also I have gotten more looks and positive comments on this car in two months than I can remember over the past 10 years with any other car.

Add to that this board and the friends I have made here because of this car......its priceless. Fellows I say it again.......I am damn glad WE all got this car. :up:

[vaderv]

We are what we are. The car is what she is. Thank goodness we have ours. If you think about it we are riding this chariot in a brand new century. Believe it or not this car, according to rumours I'm hearing may have saved Merc. The "car guys" are said to used her as ammo to prove the a little exitement(read Ponies) would attract a segment of the market that Merc hadnt had in awhile. She did. Get her while ya can and drive with a smile like a 16 year old again...

[Dave Compson]

I got a complememnt today in the parking lot of the grocery store. Two people parked near me, then waited for me to leave the store and grill me about the MM. One was driving a 88 mustang gt conv., and the other, was a CV sport (new) i passed this site info onto them. (thanks for the cards, slowpoke) And then showed them the car. They were both impressed, and had not seen one in person. I havent had that kind of attention (because of my car) ever! The only time i get that kind of attention from the public about the car i am driving, is my work CV!

I really dont care if FLM kills the platform, i have mine! Ill never part with it!

[Logan]

Marauder may very well die after '04, at least in it's current incarnation. Rumors currently have the Grand Marquis meeting it's end in 04/05 as well, being replaced by an entirely new platform.

[LincMercLover]

Originally posted by vaderv
Get her while ya can and drive with a smile like a 16 year old again...

Ahh yes... To be 16 again... I remember those days. Seems SO far away... :D

[RCSignals]

So far it is all rumour. Until I see an actual quote from Mercury in one of those stories I can only go by what Mercury has said previously, that the Marauder would be kept around until 2006 or 2007.
they also stated that the CV/GM line is due for redesign in about 2006, and the platform would be around until about 2009

[Macon Marauder]

Hard for me to believe Ford would have spent all that money on the chasssi/suspension redesign for '03 just to kill the platform in '04-'05.

I would expect the next step to be new or tweaked sheet metal. Hasn't the body been the same since '98?

Whether or not the Marauder survives is anyone's guess. But wouldn't it make sense for them to wait until the first year's sales numbers are in before deciding?

Then again, maybe not. Lincoln Blackwood, anyone?

[SergntMac]

While it's easy to predict doom, it is just as easy for me to look for the bright side. Imagine what will happen once the snow's gone and the temps warm up, and for what ever reason, the '03 MMs turns into a sell-out...all gone. Do you believe LM is still going to drop a line of cars that sells out? I don't think so.

[03 Merc]

SergntMac,

I suspect the "sell-out" has already occured...at corporate level...

[WolfeBros]

I seriously doubt that the Panther platform will disappear in 04, 05.
The CV,GM and TC still sell well in a reasonable economy. The CVPI is really the only player in their market unless Ford decides to pull the plug on that because of BS media hype. That would be a terrible blow to all the LE agencies. The low sales numbers on the MM could write that final chapter unless they seriously pick up the pace. Sales figures to date have been pitiful to say the least. But then again.....so has the effort to sell any of them. IMHO :rolleyes:

[merc]

Ok, now you have to wonder if the demand for this vehicle will rise after its death in 2004. The Super Charged Impala SS in 2004 will likely be the raining King once again with its high performance 240 hp V-6 motor, or the GTO. I hope you don’t believe that stack of dong. L/M why can’t you put a 5.4-liter motor in this car and blow away the sales forecast for the vehicle. It’s doesn’t take much to figure out how to resurrect this car from the grave.:argue:

[LincMercLover]

Remember, Mercury was do to die awhile back... Yet there are two new product lines for 04. Same with Olds... I kind of doubt they could terminate a platform that's been around for so long. IF they did throw it away, what would Ford have in the line of BIG four doors? Nadda... Ford couldn't and wouldn't do that.

[Long Live #3]

If you got the April 2003 issue of Motor Trend, you probably herd that that Mercury will drop the Marauder as of 2004.

[MAD-3R]

Until it is confermed by Ford/Mercury, It's opinion of a magazine, and we all know about opinions...

[Menace]

I hope they stop making them tomorrow! :banana2: :rasta:

[Long Live #3]

"They're not usually true" I know.

[jefferson-mo]

Well unfortunately I heard it about 2 weeks ago from the 'Western Region Product Manager' from Ford......she's a pretty reliable source but I hesitated to say anything before..........I figure I'll just wait


Heck I already got mine soooooooooooooo:burnout:

[prchrman]

ouch

[Logan]

Time will tell, for now, enjoy your Marauders... :)

[jgc61sr2002]

Like any product supply and demand. If there is no demand FMC will stop production. With the warmer weather coming there is generally a greater demand for new cars. John

[2003Marauder]

I would like to offer another view of why the MM is not selling.

Dealer profit motive.

If a dealer can make more money by putting you in a GM or a Lincoln then that's what they will do. I agree that the MM may have generated a lot of traffic at the Mercury Dealers but then I think it would be easy to switch many to a lower priced GM, with more profit for the dealer and the salesperson, or for a few bucks more put them into a base Lincoln. Bottom line is most don't care what you want. They want to sell you the vehicle with the best gross profit for them. If you did not have your mind 110% sold on the MM then most dealers will try and put you in another vehicle. If spouse is also not 110% sold same thing, the deal will fall through and another vehicle besides MM will be sold.

[LincMercLover]

Let's pay attention to what topics are active already...

[vaderv]

:rolleyes: give a guy a little title and jeesh

[MAD-3R]

I think He his refering to the fact that there are two threads running at the same time about the same thing.

[LincMercLover]

^Correcto mundo.^

Not meaning to sounds curt, but come on... They practically had the same title!

[CRUZTAKER]

I wondered why I kept getting lost.........?

Fix it MOD MAN, we're counting on you to keep things in line around here. Push some magic merge buttons that we don't have.........uh, maybe not, then I'll probably spend even longer to find this thread.

[RCSignals]

If you are referring to the "end of the Panther platform" thread, the two aren't exactly the same. I see no problem

[SergntMac]

Originally I posted this in the other thread, but caught myself before it was too late. Now I mean to post this here.

I think we got a few posters that get a kick out of pulling our d**ks, in fact, I know it. I ain't pointing any finger here, but the proof is in the posts, here, and in other threads. Don't feed the trolls, k?

We're doing a serious amount of hand wringing in this thread, without being very logical about the business side of all this. If LM sold 2910 MMs in 2/3rd of a year, and another 96 in the first 15 days of January, I can see 5000 MMs sold by it's 1 year birthday. Is that enough for LM to sustain it's tooling and assembly line costs and preparation? I think so.

Would be a no brainer, business wise, to continue building the MM for another few years. Yes, it's a "niche" car, but it's doing well for that. Sales are down on all cars, across the board, but LM won't save any money by untooling the production line away from the MM. I think 5000 cars per year is quite enough to sustain LM and keep the MM around a while longer, because one sales technique we're not thinking about, is the "planned extinction" pitch. You tell me.

What usually happens when any manfacturer says "we're running out," or, "last chance." Yep, a run for the shelf stock. I recall a toliet paper run out a few years back, after some serious forest fires out west. Word was a threat to toliet paper supplies. People ran to stock up like crazy, and actually caused their own shortage by raiding and hoarding shelves nationwide. Production was not threatened, but the law of supply and demand kicked our butts. Got to imagine that maybe someone at LM whispered to a co-worker "hey, tell 'em it's their last chance, see what happens."

Maybe the panther platform has a die date, maybe not. But, until then, as long as LM and FMC continue to sell the many cars as it builds based on the panther, it's not financially sound to close shop.

This gast tank stuff is our greatest threat. FMC will suffer some sales losses from this idiot "panic attack" that's spreading like a common cold in any 4th grade class, but if it can hold on to say maybe 50% of its former 80% of the public safety market, the panther platform will survive. Therefore, so will LM and our niche MM.

5000 MMs a year for five years, would be good sales numbers, and without anything to glue us to LM after the MM demise, we stroll over to the General or Chrysler, and buy our HP there. Do any of you believe that LM wants to lose 5000 customers a year to the competition? No, they do not, which was their rationale for creating the Mountaineer to begin with. Everyone was leaving Cougars and Town Cars behind for an Explorer, until 1997. LM came out with the first V8/AWD and kicked some butt. The Mountaineer, and it's siblings Avaitor and Navigator, are doing quite well for the SUV minded, why give up on the niche performance market by killing the MM? See? It's just not logical to the business equasion. All it will take is 5000 cars a year, and I can clearly see that happening by 1 Jun. '03.

Now, let's knock off the BS, before one of us eats a slug over uninformed speculation, and in some cases, pure BS.

Everyone repeat after me..."I got mine." Very good, now drop it, and go for a nice drive in yours.

Whoops, I'm out of nickles...gotta run.

[james_hart6]

Originally posted by SergntMac
Originally I posted this in the other thread, but caught myself before it was too late. Now I mean to post this here.

I think we got a few posters that get a kick out of pulling our d**ks, in fact, I know it. I ain't pointing any finger here, but the proof is in the posts, here, and in other threads. Don't feed the trolls, k?

Sarge, I posted this thread 'cause I figured folks would be interested in the Motor Trend article. Not to pull anyone's...ummm...chain. No attempt to start a rucus - just a post 'cause not everyone gets Motor Trend.

As for you "knowing it" - know what? I read the deal in MT mag, and posted it for others to read. That's it. No ulterior motives, nothin'.

Geez. I didn't pull the article out of National Inquirer - and I didn't voice my opinion at all, I just posted the confounded quote. I personally hope that the Marauder does well, both in new sales and in used sales; I own one and would like to recoup some of my money after I'm done enjoying the beast.

Sorry if I've offended you, and I should've posted it in the other thread (dropped the ball there!).

But the quote came from a more-than-legitimate news source and might be of interest to others.

Jim

[tetsu]

I hate to say it, but if the line dies, our cars will have that much
more cachet. I have mine and intend to USE IT COMPLETELY UP
before I replace it.

I like the Panther platform alot, but nothing is forever in cars.

Hopefully the next platform will rock on. If not, there are alot
of great cars that are only going to get cheaper.

I feel bad for the people who said, "I think I'll wait for the blown ones
in 04-05."

Johnny

[CRUZTAKER]

Originally posted by tetsu
Hopefully the next platform will rock on. If not, there are alot
of great cars that are only going to get cheaper.
Johnny

tetsu:

Isn't that how alot of us found our MM's......seriously.;)

[TAF]

I was on an email "wait-list" for a year and a half for my MM. Helped me get a good deal even though I took delivery last June.

[Beadhead]

Couldn't agree more, Johnny. There doesn't seem to be much of a market for full size performance cars like the MM right now -- seems everyone wants a hulking, overpriced SUV instead. Even if the MM doesn't survive the Panther reskin, FMC or others will surely build a substitute, once full size cars are popular again. Till then, WE GOT OURS.

[SergntMac]

Originally posted by james_hart6
Sarge, I posted this thread 'cause I figured folks would be interested in the Motor Trend article. Not to pull anyone's...ummm...chain. No attempt to start a rucus - just a post 'cause not everyone gets Motor Trend. As for you "knowing it" - know what? I read the deal in MT mag, and posted it for others to read. That's it. No ulterior motives, nothin'.
Geez. I didn't pull the article out of National Inquirer - and I didn't voice my opinion at all, I just posted the confounded quote. I personally hope that the Marauder does well, both in new sales and in used sales; I own one and would like to recoup some of my money after I'm done enjoying the beast. Sorry if I've offended you, and I should've posted it in the other thread (dropped the ball there!). But the quote came from a more-than-legitimate news source and might be of interest to others.
Jim

Jim, you did not offend me, and you surely do not have to justify your intent, to me or anyone else. Neither did I mean to single you out on this, not in the least. However, this (and other threads) are full of "one post wonders" who create multiple threads on a single topic, and I wanted to point that out.

Just this morning, comes a new screen name from nowhere, with a "hey, I heard the Marauder is dead in '04, how do you guys feel about that?" on top of the three other likewise threads already under way. We're burning up resources with this nonsense, and driving in circles, over what? We should be aware of this round robin and avoid feeding into that when we can.

Also, I'm tired of this sense of doom in all the related threads, seems some feed on that too, and others are just poking fun at us owners. What's the point in all of that? Whether it be the end of the Panther, exploding gas tanks, or, Denso plugs, topics get worn out after a while, let's move on to some fun stuff. When was the last time you read a funny here, Jim? Ever think of posting one?

Now, I'm not flaming you on this either, Jim, but I see little, if any, difference between Motor Trend and the National Enquirer. Both are entertainment mags selling their stories to the public, and making a lot of their money from advertising. The quality of their information is about the same, some authored stories, some research, some exploration into new agendas, some rumor, and so on. Both are in business to sell magazines, and both have done stories on UFOs and aliens from other galaxies. Only difference between them, is the glossy pages and color quality, and their location in the magazine racks. The quality of the ink, is just the quality of the ink. Besides, the only legit publication I ever read, is MAD..IMHO.

[RF Overlord]

Thank you, Sarge...as usual, you said what I wanted to say, only more eloquently...

Again not flaming Jim, or anyone in particular, another post asking for ¼-mile times just popped up a few minutes ago, right on the same page as an existing post, asking the same thing...come on, guys, READ a little before just blindly posting stuff...use the search button, or at least look back a few pages before wading in...Logan has to pay for server space for our little hobby, so let's not run him up against the limit TOO soon, eh?

[Billatpro]

Damn, now I'm confused! not that it's that tuff to do! I posted a reply in the "other" thread that I should have posted here, I think?

Mac, who is pulling your........? well, wearing a skirt makes that a lot easier to do! :D

[JohnnyB]

Don't believe everything you read in MT magazine. But, if the MM goes it goes... so what. They will never put a bigger engine or SC in the car at this point and the geniuses at Mercury will probably let it flop. Salesmen at the dealers don't know how to sell the car because all they can talk about are Sables and Town Cars. However, the introduction of the MM did get all of us into the LM dealership so I guess it worked out somewhat.

[merc406]

Come on! This Marauder's not even been out a year. The present economy and all other things concedered that have happened, ( Like NO Advertizing!!! ) it's done ok... " RIP " is a bit premature even for Ford to do.

[looking97233]

Here ya go Sarge a funny for you.

I think the Marauder will live on, as the DOHC in the panther will live on ala next years PI.

[screamdennis]

:) thats a great picture