Merkur (, Mercury) is a defunct automobile brand that was marketed by the Lincoln-Mercury division of Ford Motor Company from 1985 to 1989. Drawing its name from the German word for Mercury, Merkur was targeted at buyers of European executive cars in North America, selling captive imports produced by the German division of Ford of Europe. Following the 1989 model year, Lincoln-Mercury withdrew Merkur, making it one of the shortest-lived automotive brands in the modern American automotive industry, lasting only one model year longer than Ford's earlier, more prominent failure, the Edsel. Background During the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States and Canada, buyer preferences in the luxury-vehicle segment began shifting from once traditional Cadillac, Lincoln and Chrysler models towards more European-produced and inspired vehicles. As a response, the Japanese automotive industry launched luxury-oriented brands developed for North America, with Honda's Acura brand going on sale in 1985 and Nissan and Toyota bringing Infiniti and Lexus, respectively, to market in 1989. In its own response, Ford announced the creation of the Merkur brand in November 1983 with an expected launch for the 1985 model year. Instead of developing all-new product lines, Merkur adapted vehicles from Ford of Europe to meet American safety and emissions regulations. During the 1970s, the Mercury Capri had been imported from West Germany, becoming the most-imported car in the United States behind the Volkswagen Beetle. In the initial launch of Merkur, approximately 800 Lincoln-Mercury dealers signed up to take on the Merkur brand. Advertising and PR materials strongly urged the proper German pronunciation of the brand name (German for Mercury). On Merkur vehicle badges was a script stating: Ford Werke AG-Cologne, West Germany, indicating the car's place of manufacture (Cologne Body & Assembly). Models The Merkur model line consisted of two models: the three-door XR4Ti hatchback and the five-door Scorpio hatchback. North American regulations dictated a number of modifications to the design of the vehicles, which meant that a Merkur could not be identical to a European-market Ford Sierra or Ford Scorpio. To adapt a Merkur for sale in the United States and Canada, 5-mph bumpers were added, FMVSS 108-compliant headlamps, and an instrument panel with non-metric gauges. XR4Ti Introduced for 1985 as the introductory Merkur vehicle, the Merkur XR4Ti was a performance-oriented hatchback. Sized nearly identically to the Ford Mustang hatchback, the XR4Ti was a slightly rebodied version of the Ford Sierra