Mercury's Name Game

The Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego debut fall as '05 models, followed by the Mazda6-based Ford Futura and an unnamed Mercury companion for the '06 model year.

Ford is already promoting Futura. What's the snag naming the Mercury?

“My staff keeps serving up names. Getting agreement on a name is very difficult,” says Lincoln-Mercury Div. President Darryl Hazel. “They have a name they like, but I don't. I told them to come up with something else.”

He adds, “Coming up with a name is wearing me out.”

In keeping with Ford Motor Co.'s new naming policy, new Mercurys must start with the letter M, new Fords with the letter F.

Perhaps Mercury could reuse a name from the past and call the midsize sedan the Monarch. That's from an '80s Mercury compact.

“We've talked about Monarch,” says Hazel. “My guys don't like the name, but I've pointed out that it's as good a name as what they've come up with so far.”