Merkur

Merkur

The Merkur brand was introduced by Ford as a separate franchise from its other brands and it was only offered to Lincoln Mercury dealers. When it was launched in North America it was Ford’s attempt at selling a European car in the North American market. All of the promotional materials stated the car should be called by the German pronunciation which was “mare-coor”.

Ford could not just import the cars and sell them because the US government had mandated safety regulations that said Ford had to modify the design. There were only two models sold under the Merkur brand. Merkurs are considered to be a very rare car on US roads today and are considered one of the rarest 1980’s automobiles.

Popular performance modifications to the XR4Ti were; larger turbo chargers, larger intercoolers and heavy duty T5 transmission from a Mustang or Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. This made is easy for US owners to find mechanical parts for the engine. Both styles of the Merkur were easy to maintain and to modify.

The Merkur brand was a franchise of the Ford Company. There were two models sold under this brand in North America; the Merkur XR4Ti and the Merkur Scorpio. Both models were well known for being almost identical to each other in appearance and options. They all had standard features including Automatic Climate Control and there was an optional Touring package upgrade which was included in nearly every Scorpio.

The decision to stop selling the cars in the US was due to the fact that the US government required the addition of a passive restraint system or air bags for US models. The XR4Ti was dropped first and the Scorpio a few months later in 1989.
In Europe markets the Merkur vehicles were popular. The Sierra was introduced as a replacement for the Ford Taunus. The Sierra went on to become the second bestselling car in Europe at that time. The Scorpio was introduced to replace the Ford Granada. Both models did well in the European markets.