Detroit Auto Show: Mercury Vision: Remarks by Chris Theodore

    DETROIT, Jan. 6, 2003; The debut of the Mercury
Messenger marks the beginning of the rejuvenation of the Mercury brand.
Mercury will add four new products to its lineup over the next four years
including: a minivan, a small SUV and two cars.
    Mercury has unveiled a sketch of its 2004 Monterey minivan, but has not
announced details of the next-generation Mercury models.  Monterey will round
out a Mercury lineup that includes the Grand Marquis, Marauder and Sable
sedans and the Mountaineer SUV.
    "With the Mercury Messenger, we turned the design team loose to express
their aspirational vision for Mercury," says Chris Theodore, vice president of
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury Product Development.  "This gorgeous coupe was the
outcome of that expression."
    "We are not announcing plans to build Messenger, per se.  But we are
saying we will build upon cues from its design in every one of our next-
generation Mercurys going forward.
    "The new Monterey, which debuts this summer, will bear a strong family
resemblance to today's Mountaineer.  The next-generation Mercurys will feature
design cues developed on the Messenger including a distinctive Mercury front-
end theme, which will be phased into existing products as they receive future
design upgrades."
    Theodore says the key to Mercury's future is leveraging the resources of
Ford Product Development in creating new vehicle architectures and platforms
and then creating unique Mercury designs, laden with special features inside
and out.
    "This industry has come a long way in terms of our ability to reuse
components and architectures and achieve unique products," Theodore says.
"Our Mercury cycle-plan was developed to take full advantage of advanced
engineering and flexible manufacturing techniques to deliver great products
and a solid business model.
    "These next-generation Mercury products will complement today's lineup and
lead us into the future.  They're unique products that deliver smart,
contemporary design, more unique features, individuality and value to Mercury
customers, just as Edsel Ford intended when he first envisioned the Mercury in
1939."