Merkur (car brand)

Mercury
owner	Ford Motor Company
Introductory year	1984
Products	Automobiles
Markets	North America

Merkur was the name of an automobile brand managed by the Ford Group from 1984 to 1990 that offered German Ford models in North America. The Merkur vehicles were sold through the Mercury dealers.

The following were sold:

• the Merkur XR4Ti (1984–1989)
• the Mercury Scorpio (1987–1990)

Merkur XR4Ti

Merkur XR4Ti (1987–1989)

This vehicle was a version of the three-door Ford Sierra (called Coupé by Ford), introduced in late summer 1984 , equipped with a 2.3 liter four-cylinder turbo engine that Ford USA had developed and also in other vehicles. for example the Ford Mustang . The short-stroke engine with manifold injection produced 130 kW in the Merkur with five-speed manual transmission (this engine version corresponded to the machine used in the Mustang high-performance SVO version), in the XR4Ti with three-speed automatic it was throttled to 108 kW.

From mid-1987, the XR4Ti received a simple instead of the previously used double rear spoiler and bumpers in body color.

The prices ranged from US $ 16,361 to 19,065, the standard consumption to 12.4 or 9.8 liters / 100 km (city / extra-urban).

From autumn 1984 to mid-1987 37,590 Merkur XR4Ti were sold, between mid-1987 and late 1989 sales of all Merkur models totaled 24,026 units, about half of which were accounted for by the XR4Ti. The XR4Ti was built by the Karmann company in Rheine .

Mercury Scorpio

Mercury Scorpio (1987–1990)

In May 1987 Merkur introduced the US $ 24,048 expensive Scorpio as an additional model, which was based on the five-door Ford Scorpio . The Scorpio had the 2.9-liter V6, which was also available in Europe and had an output of 107 kW (146 hp), and was comfortably equipped with air conditioning and electric seat adjustment. A five-speed manual transmission was also available, as was a four-speed automatic.

Merkur sold a total of 24,026 cars (including the XR4Ti) from mid-1987 to the end of 1989, and a further 2,622 Scorpio's were added in 1990.

The sale of the Merkur models suffered from the strongly fluctuating exchange rates. In addition, with the Mercury Sable , the Mercury dealers offered a model that was significantly cheaper than the imported Scorpio with the same size and body style. The “Merkur” brand was therefore given up in the summer of 1990 without replacement.

swell

• Covello, Mike: Standard Catalog of Imported Cars 1946-2002 . Krause Publications, Iola 2002. ISBN 0-87341-605-8 , p. 557.