Stop making Marauders?

[Mook4949]

Why did they stop making MM’s


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[Bigdogjim]

Lot of reasons low sales, lack of colors, a change in Mercury's top management.

Not enough HP, the list goes on!

[crispy23c]

My opinion- dealers were charging mark-up over the full retail of the car. This hurt sales after year one. There was a planned 3-year run and year 2 was only a little over 3k cars, and I think that lagging sales in year 2 stopped the parade. Too bad, year 3 had a planned offering of a white one :(

[crownvic97]

In a nutshell, nobody wanted them.

[Pat]

The Ford Family owners decided the future of the company was in smaller FWD fuel efficient platforms.

The performance model would be limited to the Mustang.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Joe Walsh]

Simple....not enough sold in 2003 and 2004.
Look at how many Impala SSs sold vs Marauders.

[Catfish]

Price + Supply > Demand.

[sailsmen]

They still make them, they just now have arms;

[lji372]

Why did they stop making MM’s


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because everyone wanted one :2thumbs:

[RubberCtyRauder]

They didn't sell, poor marketing, overpriced..Target price was to be $29,995 but some influential TX dealers talked the head honcho into charging $5k more.

[ChiTownMaraud3r]

The old hag running Mercury didn't want it.

[sailsmen]

The purpose was to get some younger than Old Old traffic in the show room.

[tbone]

If you advertise it, they will come.

See Coca Cola, Apple, Budweiser, etc.

[the fat bastid]

They didn't sell, poor marketing, overpriced..Target price was to be $29,995 but some influential TX dealers talked the head honcho into charging $5k more.

Yeah. Now that it was at 35k it was directly competing against bmw 3s, etc. A fight it couldn't win. Mine sat on the lot of 8 months and I got it for 27,500 brand new. That felt right to me.

[stevengerard]

If you advertise it, they will come.

See Coca Cola, Apple, Budweiser, etc.


I'd like to have your first car - love that color

[hotford]

I think the over priced marauder was just that over priced with lack of performance was its demise........Now if they just dropped in a 03-04 cobra motor with that price tag or even a little more the car sales would have gone wild, just like the last year of the Grand nationals.

[stevengerard]

By mid 04 they were planning on supercharging the MM, IIRC from Steve it was more that Elena Ford was changing the direction of Mercury, poor sales of course didn't help, but with the SC, sales may have increased and as was mentioned it was supposed to be a 3 year run to begin with.

[kirk]

More money than is should have been
Less power than it should have had
Didn't let enough people know about it (advertising)

Add in Ms Ford and the writing was on the wall

I, for one, never expected it to last long, because if you look at Mercury's history they have never had a special high performance model that lasted very long. They've had some great cars, but never for very long.

[tbone]

I'd like to have your first car - love that color

I sold it in 1981 and I still have dreams about it and regret it to this day. When I get the money I want to hunt down the exact car in the copper color I had. It was way, way cool.....

[tbone]

This isn't the exact car but it looked exactly like this. Tan top, wide quarters, rally wheels, bucket seats. 350 Rocket, only a 2 barrel since it was a 72. Still had decent power.

Regrettably I only have a few pics of it. None with me by it but one with my HS sweetie in it. So that's a bonus. On my home computer.

[Mr. Man]

I think the over priced marauder was just that over priced with lack of performance was its demise........Now if they just dropped in a 03-04 cobra motor with that price tag or even a little more the car sales would have gone wild, just like the last year of the Grand nationals.I asked Steve Babcock this question at MV9 and he said the Cobra motor wasn't though development in time for the Marauders scheduled launch time of April/May of 2002. Also having the foresight that Elena was lukewarm about the Marauder to begin with a delay in release to incorporate the Cobra engine became a non-option. Would have been a great engine in the Marauder though.

Also seem to remember Steve mentioning at the car show at MV Cleveland that the '05 Marauder might have had a S/C option and it wasn't clear to me if it was to be on the DOHC or SOHC engine. Car was to be white as stated, but what color white had not been officially chosen. I asked him about the interior colors for '05 and he said nothing had been officially chosen there either.

A convertible, wagon and a Ranchero style Marauder based cars were pitched as well with the convertible getting as far as the concept stage. I asked him about future Marauder direction and he said other than keeping up with things like USB, Bluetooth etc. they hadn't really gone into to much future planning. Makes me think the writing was on the wall before the Marauder was even released in 2002. Only phenomenal sales would have kept the Marauder going. Wonder what Ford would have called the Marauder if it had been a success and Elena still ran Mercury into the ground, a Ford or a Lincoln?:)

[Bondfreak13]

IMO Because Ford Up sold the crap out of the car's "low end Performance" And how much of a Muscle sedan it was. It didn't take long for folks to find out Ford was full of crap and the sells numbers show it. Close to 8,000 cars in 03 and then sells dropped like a rock in 04 to just over 2,000. Couple that with the 35k price tag and your Muscle sedan could get out Muscled by a fully loaded V6 Honda Accord for 10k less. The value wasn't there. Had they tuned the Engine for more low end or upped he gears to 3:73's it would have made a difference. Look at the sales literature from 2003. 0-60 in 6.5 seconds. Most cars mags and auto reviews where happy to get 7.5 0-60.

I love this car, I truly do. I know I bash on it a lot, but it's not the car i'm hating on its Ford. One thing I have learned about Ford thus far his how they Half Ass a lot of what they do. And the Marauder is a great example.

[1Marauder]

I still think they should widen a Mustang by 6 inches, add 1.5 feet in length, add 5 inches of roofline headroom height, add a third and forth door, Pack the biggest fastest supercharged engine under the hood, and call it a Marauder.

[DrZ]

I bought my 2004 Mercury Marauder in April 2004. It was for my wife but I knew that meant I would drive it just as much as she would. No other car out there at the time had the size, performance, and comfort like my gangster car. Ford/Mercury stopped making this great car for many reasons but poor sales numbers did it in. I remember getting 5G off sticker price spanking new. Loved the car then and still to date it still makes me smile.

[RF Overlord]

Had they tuned the Engine for more low end or upped he gears to 3:73's it would have made a difference.Steve Babcock told us at the Chicago Marauderville that the car was supposed to have 3.73s or 4.10s from the factory, but the bean-counters nixed that due to the Gas-Guzzler Tax. It just squeaked by with the 3.55s.

[stevengerard]

Steve Babcock told us at the Chicago Marauderville that the car was supposed to have 3.73s or 4.10s from the factory, but the bean-counters nixed that due to the Gas-Guzzler Tax. It just squeaked by with the 3.55s.

I believe it was also or more so because of the decibel level of the car. Remember they had to meet certain restrictions for sound level and with different gears the car was too high up in the RPM level (only by a little) enough that they had to scale back the revs to allow it to pass. They have to start out at a certain speed and accelerate past a second sensor, they average those readings and it gad to be below a certain level.

[kirk]

I believe it was also or more so because of the decibel level of the car. Remember they had to meet certain restrictions for sound level and with different gears the car was too high up in the RPM level (only by a little) enough that they had to scale back the revs to allow it to pass. They have to start out at a certain speed and accelerate past a second sensor, they average those readings and it gad to be below a certain level.

Along those lines, I was told by Kevin (head of drive-line) that they worked long and hard on the exhaust and were under the limit by only a half a db.

[tbone]

Along those lines, I was told by Kevin (head of drive-line) that they worked long and hard on the exhaust and were under the limit by only a half a db.

I'm over the limit by a lot and lovin' every minute of it! :burnout:

[88LTDCV351]

I think the Marauder just needed advertising. As is, it was still a good car and was a good baseline. Probably even should have had the dohc 302 horsepower become the main panther engine to keep the old dog Crown Vic and Grand Marquis more keep up with the times.. But then for the Marauder, there should have been an X-100 or options to add supercharger, etc. for the die hard enthusiast.

[Mr. Man]

Along those lines, I was told by Kevin (head of drive-line) that they worked long and hard on the exhaust and were under the limit by only a half a db.Someone must have changed the rules, compared to today's cars the stock MM note is quite tame even under throttle.

[stevengerard]

Someone must have changed the rules, compared to today's cars the stock MM note is quite tame even under throttle.

I'm betting with 6, 7 and even 10 speed transmissions you can accelerate just quick enough to meet the requirements while staying in the sweet spot of the trans for a low Db level. They did not have to floor the car or got to WOT.

[Joe Walsh]

I think the Marauder just needed advertising. As is, it was still a good car and was a good baseline. Probably even should have had the dohc 302 horsepower become the main panther engine to keep the old dog Crown Vic and Grand Marquis more keep up with the times.. But then for the Marauder, there should have been an X-100 or options to add supercharger, etc. for the die hard enthusiast.

Yep....I can only recall seeing exactly ONE Marauder commercial during 2002 - 2004!
(The one in the parking garage, where the Marauder rumbles in and parks.... and the cars beside it move over to give the Marauder more room.)
Mercury spent absolutely NO $$$ on advertising the Marauder.

There was the Elena Ford commercial showing all the Mercury vehicles driving down a city street with the Mariner out front and the Marauder hidden wayyyyy in the back!.....:mad2:


2004 or 2005 X100 option with a S/C would have been so cool!

[stevengerard]

How many of you guys went to a dealer and they ask you what you were talking about? I want to many a Mercury dealer and not only didn't they have the car they didn't know what it was. I'm guessing some just played it that way to try to get me to buy a different car. Not only poor advertising but horrible sales training.

[Joe Walsh]

How many of you guys went to a dealer and they ask you what you were talking about? I want to many a Mercury dealer and not only didn't they have the car they didn't know what it was. I'm guessing some just played it that way to try to get me to buy a different car. Not only poor advertising but horrible sales training.

Luckily, both Mercury dealers that I visited knew exactly what a Marauder was.
The dealer in Tysons Corner Va. gave me a test 'ride' (not drive) with another interested customer in the summer of '02 in their only Marauder.
I bought mine from Safford LM in December of '02 when they had 7 Black Marauders lined up on the lot! (and a $3,000 end of year rebate)
They wanted to move them as there was little demand.
Sad...but true.

:hmmm:

I wonder where those other 6 Marauders ended up....as I carefully looked over ALL of them and got the 'pick of the litter'.

[stevengerard]

yeah I had a choice of SB, SB or DTR they had one of each and had a 5k discount. Someone else looking really wanted to the SB so I said take it. I came back a few days later at night and the black looked better at night so I went with that. I still think the DBP and DTR look awesome in the daylight on a sunny day, But liked the black all around and it was the newest of all the cars on the lot. Made in March I bought it April 4th.

[the fat bastid]

the Marauder just needed advertising

I remember Steve saying something along the lines of "We thought of it like an SVT vehicle which are not advertised either." then added they either didn't have/get the advertising budget they wanted and it would sell itself hopefully (like other SVTs). (memory fuzzy)

[Bondfreak13]

I was in high school when this car came out. I visited my local Mercury dealer (The now defunct Osman Lincoln Mercury) and they had 25 cars on order with none on the show room floor. I was like "Dang, these things are popular."

[Svashtar]

Yeah. Now that it was 35k it was directly vs bmw 3s, etc. A fight it couldn't win. Mine sat on the lot of 8 months and I got it for 27,500 brand new. That felt right to me.


Mine sat on the lot 21 months! It was an ‘03 delivered around the beginning of November 2002 and it was the first week in August of ‘04 when I picked it up.

They had it listed as a GM, and the sales manager had put 300 miles on it using it for a daily driver. They had no idea what to do with it. It also had a couple of scratches and paint issues they fixed. I got it for $24k base. Out the door with all taxes and fees, $27,100 cash. About the only good deal I ever managed in my life, as I generally suck at negotiating.

As much as I loved it I don’t think I would have paid the $34,900 they were asking. As soon as I bought it outright the “not a problem!” sales guy vanished, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to fix anything he had committed to on behalf of the dealership.

FYI, I heard somewhere that the plan at Ford was to sell 19,000 units per year for at least 3 years, then come out with a manual transmission convertible model. That would have been awesome.

(Don’t know if that’s BS or not, but I read it here somewhere so it must be true. [emoji41])


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[RF Overlord]

then come out with a manual transmission convertible model. Dude, just stop it. I would have given my left one for a ragtop with a stick.

[puptent]

Ford's MOD motor was not popular with the automotive press. The car got poor reviews from a few too many jurnos. The MM was the answer to a question that not many people were asking. Really, a 4,000 lb performance car that wasn't put together in Germany? Can you say SHO Taurus?
But then, I was a Rambler guy, so of course, the car appealed to me. Tried to buy one at the '03/'04 model change, but my credit union balked at the $35K sticker price for what was essentially a Grand Marquis. Car disappeared from Kumpf's lot in Denver... So I made my own, eventually bought an '07 MGM corporate car and started adding goodies. It turned into a great road trip car, but no Marauder.
After two years of disappointing sales, and I think, a failed run at the police high speed vehicle market, Ford just pulled the plug. Even with the premium sticker price, I doubt FOMoCo made any money on the MM brand. Every Crown Vic and MGM rear bumper cover comes dual exhaust ready, which I take as a clue.
The good news, is that FoMoCo built an instant cult/classic car that was bound to attract a loyal following. My MM may never again see the $35K sticker price, but then, it should never be worth less than what I paid for it. The Marauder brand has always been associated with limited edition, small run cars. I like that.

[Bluerauder]

After two years of disappointing sales, and I think, a failed run at the police high speed vehicle market, Ford just pulled the plug. Even with the premium sticker price, I doubt FOMoCo made any money on the MM brand.


According to Steve Babcock at Marauderville III (MV3) in Detroit, MI, FoMoCo was making $10K on each Marauder sold at the $35K MSRP sticker price. They still made $2,500 on my Blue MM when I snagged it for $27,500 brand new with 54 miles on it after being transferred to VA from a dealer in Pennsylvania.

The Marauder was always planned as a limited production run. So, I doubt whether more than 15-16,000 were ever planned. Production quit at 11,052 when the 2004 model year numbers were cut in half from the 2003 run.

[sspmustang]

Wrong execution of the right idea.

I would also put the '03-'04 Mach 1 (of which I own one) under the same heading.

[Mr. Man]

Ford's MOD motor was not popular with the automotive press. The car got poor reviews from a few too many jurnos. The MM was the answer to a question that not many people were asking. Really, a 4,000 lb performance car that wasn't put together in Germany? Can you say SHO Taurus?
But then, I was a Rambler guy, so of course, the car appealed to me. Tried to buy one at the '03/'04 model change, but my credit union balked at the $35K sticker price for what was essentially a Grand Marquis. Car disappeared from Kumpf's lot in Denver... So I made my own, eventually bought an '07 MGM corporate car and started adding goodies. It turned into a great road trip car, but no Marauder.
After two years of disappointing sales, and I think, a failed run at the police high speed vehicle market, Ford just pulled the plug. Even with the premium sticker price, I doubt FOMoCo made any money on the MM brand. Every Crown Vic and MGM rear bumper cover comes dual exhaust ready, which I take as a clue.
The good news, is that FoMoCo built an instant cult/classic car that was bound to attract a loyal following. My MM may never again see the $35K sticker price, but then, it should never be worth less than what I paid for it. The Marauder brand has always been associated with limited edition, small run cars. I like that.The Marauder made plenty of money for Ford. If I recall Steve Babcock said there was something like 33 million in development and close to a 100 million in gross. I could be off on the numbers slightly, but the car did make money.

As for a failed police vehicle market the Marauder was never intended for police fleet use. Some sheriffs departments bought their own for the same money as anyone else. This came about because police departments were suing Ford over Crown Vics that would explode in a rear end collisions. Florida Highway Patrol had some but they were donated privately.

[puptent]

I am amazed that Ford made money on the MM. I know the Panther platform, in general, was a cash cow... big yellow taxis, cop cars, etc. The salesman at Kumpf was blowin' smoke, I guess. Proof of concept, chase down a Camaro. Still, I loved the car from day one. Actually tried to work over a plain white wrapper Crown Vic first, gave up and concentrated on my Mopars, a Dart Swinger, a convertible Dart, and a '68 Matador, all gone but the Swinger, to buy the silver '07 MGM. A nice project, but not what I really wanted.At this point in time, I'm glad that Ford ended up with a limited edition car, whether intentional or not.

[stevengerard]

Wrong execution of the right idea.

I would also put the '03-'04 Mach 1 (of which I own one) under the same heading.

agree on both, really wanted a Mach 1, still love 'em but it wasn't the car I was expecting either. Now the new GT350!:banana:

[Mr. Man]

I am amazed that Ford made money on the MM. I know the Panther platform, in general, was a cash cow... big yellow taxis, cop cars, etc. The salesman at Kumpf was blowin' smoke, I guess. Proof of concept, chase down a Camaro. Still, I loved the car from day one. Actually tried to work over a plain white wrapper Crown Vic first, gave up and concentrated on my Mopars, a Dart Swinger, a convertible Dart, and a '68 Matador, all gone but the Swinger, to buy the silver '07 MGM. A nice project, but not what I really wanted.At this point in time, I'm glad that Ford ended up with a limited edition car, whether intentional or not.
Keep in mind the Marauder aside from a few specific parts is a parts bin car so development costs weren't as high as a blank piece of paper car.

[Comin' in Hot]

The 4.6l DOHC was not the first choice for engine. I recall Steve Babcock's saying more than once, they wanted to use a pushrod engine, but the mod motor engineers had all the castings destroyed to prevent it from happening.

Tons of what ifs.... I'm just glad I've had a chance to buy five of them over the years lol.

[the fat bastid]

The 4.6l DOHC was not the first choice for engine. I recall Steve Babcock's saying more than once, they wanted to use a pushrod engine, but the mod motor engineers had all the castings destroyed to prevent it from happening.

Tons of what ifs.... I'm just glad I've had a chance to buy five of them over the years lol.

People love low-end. The mod motor's low end isn't great. A pushrod would helped the 'no grunt' thing a lot.

[gpfarrell]

Expenses to Re-engineer the drivetrain for drive-by-wire e-throttle hit Ms. Ford's desk on the wrong day. Plug pulled... as I recall Mr. Babcock stating at Dream Cruise in '07.

If you were around at the beginning, you'll recall it was widely believed that MM engines really loosened up and started to make power around 5,000 miles. I test drove a squeaky new one and my wife and I both thought it was a pig compared to my 220 hp SHO.

I bought a used '03 in '04... it felt better, but still sleepy since they were tuned for the EPA and MPG's, not us. Nevertheless, sluggish test drives likely led to sluggish sales. In hindsight, we know it was an awesome platform. The supercharged version would have been over the top amazing... but it wasn't meant to be.

[Mr. Man]

The 4.6l DOHC was not the first choice for engine. I recall Steve Babcock's saying more than once, they wanted to use a pushrod engine, but the mod motor engineers had all the castings destroyed to prevent it from happening.

Tons of what ifs.... I'm just glad I've had a chance to buy five of them over the years lol.
The idea behind the pushrod 5.0l was that whatever power numbers Mercury put in the car there was a huge aftermarket to make it more.

[Bondfreak13]

People love low-end. The mod motor's low end isn't great. A pushrod would helped the 'no grunt' thing a lot.

A 5.4 DOHC would have fixed that. Easily could have sourced the intake from the Aussies. The "it Wouldn't fit" mentality just meant it wouldn't fit without modifying the engine compartment. Which meant higher production cost and development among what already seemed like rushing a car into production.

[Guittard22]

Price + Supply > Demand.



Very true - Supply in year one was too big not enough of the demand to continue on the history of the car :bigcry:

[sspmustang]

agree on both, really wanted a Mach 1, still love 'em but it wasn't the car I was expecting either. Now the new GT350!:banana:

Yep - awesome car!! :burnout:

Still love both the Marauder and the Mach 1, they'll be in the garage for quite a while, although with my wife's new SS convertible it's getting crowded. :D

[Dragcity]

Marauder was always just a couple/few year runs. I would not have handed over the $$ at full price for them. I got mine brand new. I am a Z planner so get really nice pricing, plus all rebates. Price was the same as all the other cars I was looking at then. The Marauder had more class than all the other crap. Plus, I like limited edition cars. Clearly the best car I have ever owned. Even if it is a Grandpa's car.

I think it only ran for two years, because that is the history of MARAUDER.

[tbone]

The transmission slipping into overdrive at 25 mph certainly didn't help a motor that came alive at 3000 rpm. It was like all or nothing.

[Agent2006]

and a '68 Matador

no Matadors in 1968

signed,
AMC Police