Ford Kills Mercury Sable

Mark Schirmer, spokesman for the Lincoln and Mercury brands, told Automotive News yesterday that the end of April will see the last Mercury Sable roll off the assembly line at Ford's Chicago assembly plant. Earlier yesterday, Ford announced that the Taurus X, also produced at the Chicago assembly plant, would end production at the end of February.

The current Mercury Sable debuted in 2004 as the Mercury Montego. Current CEO Alan Mulally had the Montego name changed to Sable, a storied Mercury moniker, at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show. The original Mercury Sable was a huge seller for Ford when it debuted in 1986, but fizzled out when the company moved it to the Taurus platform in 1996 and tried to push it upmarket. It was discontinued in 2005, with the Montego and Milan debuting as its replacement.

The 2010 Mercury Sable was expected to debut with 2010 Ford Taurus at the 2009 North American International Auto Show. The death of the Sable indicates Ford is serious about its claims that the Mercury brand will become a "small car" company-the Mercury Milan, a platform-mate of the mid-sized Ford Fusion, will become the largest car offered by Mercury. Mercury's lineup still includes the Mariner and Mountaineer SUVs-but their ends may be in sight as well.

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Ford to bring PowerShift Dual-Clutch Transmission to U.S. in 2010

In a further effort to increase fuel economy, Ford will launch a new PowerShift dual-clutch gearbox in its upcoming small cars. The fresh six-speed transmission will weigh 30 pounds less than the four-speed automatic in the current Ford Focus and could increase fuel economy by as much as nine percent.

If this strategy sounds familiar, that's because it is. VW has been putting its DSG dual-clutch transmissions in its small cars for years. In Europe, Ford offers a PowerShift transmission option for the Focus. However, this new transmission uses a dry-clutch like a conventional manual transmission, whereas the other two use a wet-clutch. The added benefit of the dry-clutch is durability and efficiency, since it doesn't require either an oil pump or torque converter.

To ensure drivers reap only the benefits of the new dual-clutch gearbox, Ford attempted to take care of the drawbacks of a manual transmission. PowerShift equipped vehicles will feature a hill mode (aka launch assist) that will apply the brakes to prevent the vehicle from rolling back on a grade. There is also a creep mode to simulate the low speed control of an automatic by limiting the amount of torque in either reverse or drive based on the brake pressure. Finally, when stopping, the clutch will disengage to improve coasting downshifts and reduce parasitic losses to improve fuel economy.

The PowerShift transmission could be first offered on the 2010 Fiesta and it will likely be offered on the next generation Focus as well. Ford says that almost all of its transmissions will be "advanced" six-speed gearboxes by 2013.

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