Merkur Scorpio: Краткая история европейского флагмана Lincoln Mercury

Car model

The Merkur Scorpio is a mid size luxury car that was marketed by the Lincoln Mercury division of Ford for the 1988 and 1989 model years through its Merkur sub brand. Slotted above the Merkur XR4Ti in the model line, the Scorpio served as the flagship of Merkur. A captive import from Ford of Europe, selected Lincoln Mercury dealers marketed the Scorpio in the United States and Canada. A near direct counterpart of the Ford Scorpio Mk I (Ford Granada Mk III in the United Kingdom), the Merkur Scorpio was developed to give Lincoln Mercury a competitor against European executive cars sold in North America, including the Audi 100, BMW 5 series, Mercedes Benz 190E, Saab 9000, Sterling 827, and Volvo 740/760. Following the 1989 model year, Ford ended imports of the Scorpio, closing down the Merkur brand. Lasting only for two model years, the Merkur Scorpio is among the shortest lived Ford Motor Company nameplates in modern history. Along with unstable pricing due to fluctuating exchange rates and insufficient sales figures, the model line would have required a costly redesign to remain in compliance with upcoming American safety regulations. The Scorpio was manufactured in Cologne, West Germany by Ford of Germany (Cologne Body & Assembly). In total, 22,010 examples were imported.

While offered as a five door hatchback, the Merkur Scorpio was similar in appearance to the Mercury Sable. In comparison to the first generation (1986 1991) Mercury Sable, the Scorpio was 4.5 inches shorter in length (2 inches shorter than the Ford Taurus), 1.3 inches narrower, and 2.7 inches longer in wheelbase; the two models were nearly identical in height. Styled as a fastback, the Merkur Scorpio provided Lincoln Mercury an opportunity to market a premium alternative to its traditional Lincoln Continental and Lincoln Town Car sedans with (far) better road manners.

The Merkur Scorpio shares its rear wheel drive Ford DE 1 chassis with its Ford namesake, configured as a long wheelbase version of the Ford Sierra (extended from 102.7 inches to 108.7 inches). In contrast to American designed rear wheel drive Ford chassis (i. e. Fox, Panther), the DE 1 platform was fitted with four wheel independent suspension. In one of the first vehicles sold in North America, the Merkur Scorpio was equipped with standard anti lock brakes (ABS) and four wheel disc brakes. In contrast to the Sable (or the Lincoln Continental or Town Car), the Scorpio was offered with power reclining rear seats and a tilt telescope steering column.

At its launch, the Merkur Scorpio was sold with a base price of $23,390 (23390.0 in 1987 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years). Options included automatic transmission, power moonroof and Touring Package. Most North American Scorpios were sold with automatic transmission and the Touring Package which raised the sticker price to $26,405 (26405.0 in 1987 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years). Although smaller in size, the Scorpio rivaled the Lincoln Town Car in price. ), Merkur fell victim to unstable exchange rates between the dollar and German mark, leading to increases in price. As passive safety regulations were to be adopted in 1990, the Scorpio was required to adopt automatic seatbelts or airbag(s). The Ford Scorpio was developed with neither feature and passive safety compliance proved too expensive to justify the conversion cost of redeveloping the slow selling model line for North American sale. Following the discontinuation of the Merkur Scorpio, Ford of Europe expanded the Granada/Scorpio range by introducing a sedan model at the beginning of 1990 and a wagon model two years later. The Scorpio MkI was produced until 1994.