Ford and Mercury. Why the difference?

[Clinotus]

Anyone out there know why there is a Mercury brand? Same cars, same engines, same colors. Different badges and grilles. I dont think Mercury is any cheaper....

 

[Platypus]

mercury is higher end

 

[geno]

There's other companies who do / have done the same. Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth has been doing this for years, GM has been doing it for a long time as well...

 

[NelsonMuntz]

All of the big three American automakers do this to a certain extent. Some more blatantly than others. Usually with the different brand names there are different levels of features available in the base models. For instance the Chrysler Town and Country has more features in the base model than say a Dodge Caravan. I think the Mercury Sable has a few more standard features than the Ford Taurus or something like that.