Auto News 5

Having made its entrance in the rarefied environs of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and its worldwide public debut at last fall's Frankfurt auto show, the Bentley Mulsanne is now ready to hit the streets. We've had a chance to do just that, but in this case the streets were the narrow village lanes, undulating country byways, and wide-open dual carriageways (divided highways) of Bentley's home turf in the U.K. The car won't be rolling onto U.S. roads until sometime this fall.

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Proof that the car market is overloaded with excess brands and a confusing of miasma models, the Ford Motor Company has terminated Mercury's long run. Production will end later this year for the four remaining models-Grand Marquis, Mariner, Milan, and Mountaineer. Approximately 1700 dealers currently offering the brand will move on to other endeavors such as Lincoln sales. The hop, skip, and jump through Mercury's history that follows is our fond farewell to the car named after the messenger to the gods.

1937: Against his near-senile father's intuitions, Edsel Ford identified an opportunity for a new brand positioned between mainstream Fords and upscale Lincolns. The hope was to raise the competitive game against GM's thriving Buick, LaSalle, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac nameplates.

Over the past thirteen years, the silver spoilered brat pictured here has confidently watched its owner acquire - and then rid himself of - a hot red Nissan, two Mazdas, a VR6-powered Volkswagen, three Mercedes-Benzes, five BMWs, and a pair of Porsches. From its heated garage spot, it has snickered at Ferraris outside braving the rain and Aston Martins fighting the cold. And it laughs so hard it pees - Mobil 1, on the floor - every time some expensive, exotic new car sits out overnight, suffering the indignity of being molested by the neighborhood cat.

Could internal politics endanger the Volkswagen Group's trio of mid-engine compact sports cars -- the Porsche 356, the Audi R5, and the VW BlueSport? VW launched the mid-engine BlueSport concept at the 2009 Detroit auto show. The car was a runner, the engineers had done much more than their routine homework, and, in principle, marketing had given it a thumbs-up. Almost eighteen months later, however, the two-seater is still on hold.