O.C. BUSINESS PLUS : ORANGE COUNTY BRIEFLY : Ford’s Mercury Line Loses Its Mystique

Lincoln Mercury told its dealers Tuesday that it will stop retail production of the slow-selling Mercury Mystique compact at the end of the year.

The Irvine-based unit of Ford Motor Co. dropped the Mercury Tracer subcompact last year and retains just five models in the Mercury line--the Cougar sports coupe, Sable mid-size sedan, Grand Marquis luxury sedan, Villager minivan and Mountaineer sport-utility.

Industry analyst Jim Hall of AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin said canceling the Mystique will free Mercury executives to concentrate on cars the public wants. Division sales, driven largely by the Cougar and Villager, are up 18% so far this year.

The Mercury line--once rumored to be on its way out--is expected to get an all-new Mountaineer next year that is not derived from the Ford Explorer. And Mercury has been developing sporty and high-performance concept cars based on the Cougar and the Grand Marquis.

The Mystique, Mercury’s version of the Ford Contour, is built at plants in Kansas City, Mo., and Cautitlan, Mexico, near Mexico City. The Kansas City plant’s Contour and Mystique production facilities are being shifted to production of a new mid-size sport-utility vehicle, based on the current Mazda 626 automobile platform, that will be introduced next year by Ford and Mazda. Production of the Contour will shift to Mexico.