 In the mid-1950s, Ford executives were convinced by Ernest Breech that, in order to compete with General Motors, the automaker had to meet each sales segment with a unique product.The plan affected Mercury by calling for the marque's first completely new platform and body design since World War II in order to differentiate it from Fords, beginning with the 1957 model year.Historically, Mercury was usually considered a "lower-medium-priced" car, most often compared to Pontiac and Dodge.