Mercury is a defunct division of the American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company. Created in 1938 by Edsel Ford, Mercury served as the medium-price brand of Ford for nearly its entire existence, bridging the price gap between the Ford and Lincoln model lines. Competing against Buick and Oldsmobile from General Motors for decades, the brand also competed against Chrysler's namesake brand.
The Ford Five Hundred is a full-size automobile that was manufactured and marketed by Ford from 2004 to 2007, and debuted as a 2005 model year vehicle. Deriving its nameplate from the ''500" suffix used by Ford on the Custom 500, Fairlane 500 and Galaxie 500 model ranges from the 1950s to 1970s, the Five Hundred was the larger of two model lines intended to replace the Ford Taurus. Within the Ford model line, the Five Hundred was slotted between the Fusion and Crown Victoria.
The Ford Explorer is a range of SUVs manufactured by Ford Motor Company since the 1991 model year. The first four-door SUV produced by Ford, the Explorer was introduced as a replacement for the two-door Bronco II. Within the current Ford light truck range, the Explorer is slotted between the Ford Edge and Ford Expedition. As with the Ford Ranger, the Explorer derives its name from a trim package previously offered on the Ford F-Series pickup trucks.
The Ford Escape is a compact crossover SUV sold by Ford since 2000 over four generations. The first generation was jointly developed with Mazda which also created the Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner as the twin model. Second generations of the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, and Mazda Tribute were released in 2007 for the 2008 model year, but mostly restricted to North America. In other markets, the first generation models were either replaced by updated first generation versions, or replaced by the Mazda CX-7 (2006) and Ford Kuga (2008). Unlike the collaborative approach taken with the previous model, this time the design and engineering was carried out by Ford. Since 2013, the model has been paralleled with the Kuga sold outside North America, making them essentially identical. A hybrid option was again available.
The Mazda Tribute is a compact SUV made by Japanese automaker Mazda from 2000 to 2011. It was jointly developed with Ford Motor Company and based on the front-wheel drive Mazda 626 platform, which was in turn the basis for the similar Ford Escape on the CD2 platform. The Tribute was priced below the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner in Ford's CD2 SUV lineup.
The Ford CD3 platform is a Ford midsize car automobile platform. It was designed by Mazda. The platform is designed for either front, all-wheel drive or Ford's hybrid powertrain.
The Ford D3 platform is an automobile platform assembled by Ford Motor Company. In production between the 2005-2019 model years, the D3 platform is the fifteenth generation of full-size cars produced by Ford in North America. Marking the adoption of unibody chassis construction, a transverse engine configuration, front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and the lack of a V8 engine, the D3 platform is derived from the 1998-2016 Volvo P2 architecture. Since 2008, the related D4 platform has served as a basis for crossover SUVs.
The Ford Panther platform was an automobile platform that was used by Ford Motor Company from the 1979 to 2012 model years. Following the downsizing of the General Motors B-bodies and C-bodies by two years, the Panther platform marked the end of production of sedans unencumbered by downsizing. Originally slated for discontinuation during the early 1980s, the Panther architecture was used for 33 model years, the longest-produced platform in North American automotive history.
The Mercury Mountaineer is a mid-size luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV) that was sold by Mercury from 1996 until 2010. Sharing many of its features with the Ford Explorer, the vehicles were virtually identical in terms of hardware. Externally, they were styled somewhat differently, and the Mountaineer was positioned with a more upscale interior, with the Mountaineer's MSRP coming in at $1,000–$6,000 more than the Explorer. It was last redesigned for the 2006 model year with a new frame, looking very similar to its previous model.
The Mercury Mariner is a compact crossover SUV that was introduced in 2005. It is a sibling of the Mazda Tribute and Ford Escape, although it is more upmarket than the other two. The Mariner is Mercury's first car-based SUV, and is slotted below the Mountaineer in the lineup. When Ford eliminated the Mercury brand, the Mariner ended production in October 2010.
The Mercury Milan is a mid-size car that was marketed by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company. Named after Milan, an Italian city, the Milan was sold across the 2006 to 2011 model years across a single generation. The smaller of two model lines developed to replace the Mercury Sable, indirectly succeeding the Mercury Mystique as the smallest Mercury sedan.
The Lincoln Aviator is a mid-size luxury SUV with three-row seating marketed and sold by the Lincoln brand of Ford Motor Company. One of four SUVs offered by Lincoln, the Aviator is currently in its second generation, slotted between the Lincoln Nautilus and Lincoln Navigator in size.
The Ford Ranger sold in the Americas is a range of pickup trucks manufactured and marketed by Ford in North and South America under the Ranger nameplate. Introduced in early 1982 for the 1983 model year, the Ranger is currently in its fourth generation. Developed as a replacement for the Mazda-sourced Ford Courier, the model line has been sold across the Americas; Ford of Argentina began production of the Ranger for South America in 1998.
The Ford Explorer Sport Trac is a pickup truck that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company for the North American market. The first mid-sized pickup truck produced by Ford, the Sport Trac was marketed from the 2001 to the 2010 model years. Sized between the Ranger and the F-150, the Sport Trac largely competed against crew-cab variants of the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, Dodge Dakota, Nissan Frontier, and Toyota Tacoma.
The Ford Fusion is a mid-size car that was manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company. From the 2006 through 2020 model years, two generations of the Fusion have been produced in gasoline, gas/electric hybrid, and gas/plug-in electric hybrid variants. The Fusion was manufactured at Ford's Hermosillo Stamping and Assembly plant in Sonora, Mexico, alongside its rebadged variant the Lincoln MKZ, and formerly the Mercury Milan, both of which share its CD3 platform.
General Motors and Ford Motor Company cooperated in 2002 to create a new automatic transaxle, designed for transverse engine applications in cars. The companies jointly committed to investing US$720 million in their manufacturing plants to support the new transmission.
Batavia Transmission was a transmission factory owned by Ford Motor Company in Batavia, Ohio. The plant opened on July 24, 1980, and closed in September 2008. The plant produced front-wheel drive transmissions for Ford, Mercury, and Mazda vehicles. The facility is now used as University of Cincinnati Clermont College's UC East Campus.
The Lincoln MKZ, is a four-door, five-passenger mid-size luxury sedan manufactured by Ford and marketed as the Zephyr and as the MKZ by Ford's Lincoln brand – across two generations in both gasoline and hybrid gas/electric models.
The CD4E is a 4-speed automatic transaxle for front-wheel-drive cars from 1994 to 2007. It was manufactured at Ford's Batavia Transmission plant starting in 1994. The CD4E was called the LA4A-EL by Mazda and is also known as the 4F44E internally to Ford.
The Ford Freestyle is a crossover utility vehicle that was sold by Ford from 2005 to 2009. Largely marketed as the successor to the Ford Taurus station wagon, the Freestyle was the CUV counterpart of the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego four-door sedans. Sharing the Ford D3 platform with the Five Hundred and Montego, the Freestyle was produced with both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations and six or seven-passenger seating.
