Should Ford Kill Mercury?

Bloomberg reports via unnamed sources that Ford's leadership is planning on killing Mercury in about four years.

Reasons they should: It's a small brand which probably doesn't make much money; it's a damaged brand which doesn't seem to stand for much. Many of the major automakers only have a couple of U.S. brands, such as Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti, Honda/Acura, VW/Audi, BMW/Mini, Mercedes/Smart.

Reasons they shouldn't: Mercury sold 92,000+ cars last year. That's more than Saab, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Smart, Infiniti, Porsche, Mini, Volvo, Audi, and Lincoln brands. Many Lincoln dealers need the product to stay afloat, unless Lincoln is going to break out somehow into a larger volume brand. Oh, and Mercury has Jill Wagner.