Notes from Steve Babcock presentation ...

Go2GuyFL

Go2GuyFL

Straight'n curves/Flat'n hills
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While the Marauder platform cost $37M to develop, Mercury made $100M in its first year sales ... a 300% return in an industry that typically achieves a 20:1 ROI. They filled the void left by Chevy in dropping the Impala SS. Although 2005 would have produced both black and white Marauders, the platform ended a year early due to political pressures from new Federal regulations and not fitting with the future vision of Mercury marketing more toward's women. 90% of the car purchasers were male and only 10% female. The ladies were more excited by the men with the idea of a five seat convertible.
 
Because

88LTDCV351 said:
And imagine what that $100M would have been if they spent some on advertising.
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Performance cars/trucks are not advertised by any manurfacture on any large scale. I never saw an ad for Ford's Lightning to name one.

The advertising question is one that gets asked a lot:)
 
I never tire of hearing this man speak, a true visionary!
"Hey Steve!", I still look at your sig on my overhead console each and everytime I get in the Marauder!" :bows: SJB FTW!
 
We owe Steve a huge debt of gratitude for bringing his lovely wife Carol and coming out to MV 9! I am personally so sorry that I missed Steve's presentation on Saturday. Mr. Man phoned me that night to fill me in. Eric was extremely impressed with what Steve had to say, and even more so by Steve himself! Eric also had wonderful things to say about Carol and said you couldn't meet nicer people! Thank you Steve! The Marauder community here on MM.net is grateful that you remain so interested in our cars and in coming to our events!! We loved having you and Carol in Hershey!!!
 
Ms. Denmark said:
We owe Steve a huge debt of gratitude for bringing his lovely wife Carol and coming out to MV 9! I am personally so sorry that I missed Steve's presentation on Saturday. Mr. Man phoned me that night to fill me in. Eric was extremely impressed with what Steve had to say, and even more so by Steve himself! Eric also had wonderful things to say about Carol and said you couldn't meet nicer people! Thank you Steve! The Marauder community here on MM.net is grateful that you remain so interested in our cars and in coming to our events!! We loved having you and Carol in Hershey!!!
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BIG +1 on that, Paula.

It was worth the drive from SC to PA just to see and listen to Steve again.
 
In case anyone didn't already know this, at MV2 Steve explained that the car was supposed to come with 3.73s or 4.10s from the factory, but got nixed to squeak by the gas-guzzler tax. So for those of you still thinking about it, what's stopping you?
 
RF Overlord said:
In case anyone didn't already know this, at MV2 Steve explained that the car was supposed to come with 3.73s or 4.10s from the factory, but got nixed to squeak by the gas-guzzler tax. So for those of you still thinking about it, what's stopping you?
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The 6 or 8 hundred bucks and the old saying, "if it aint broke, don't fix it".

If i ever need to do any work back there i will do the 4.10's.


:beer:
 
I changed my F-350 from 4.10 to 3.55 as most of my driving is Florida highway. Not going to do the reverse with our Marauders.
 
If you can't afford a supercharger, 4.10's are WELL worth the investment. Really wakes up the car. Along with a tune of course.
 
Go2GuyFL said:
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While the Marauder platform cost $37M to develop, Mercury made $100M in its first year sales ... a 300% return in an industry that typically achieves a 20:1 ROI.
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This makes sense if we assume Steve quoted 20:1 return on sales (not income). We heard in prior threads that Ford made 35,000 of the aluminum 4V engines for the Marauder program. If Ford had sold 35,000 Marauders to dealers at an average of, say, $22,000, then Ford's sales of Marauders would have been $770,000,000. Using Steve's platform cost of $37,000,000, Ford would have achieved a 20.8:1 return on sales, virtually on its 20:1 target.

But with no advertizing (thanks Elena) they sold about 1/3 of target, leaving no home for 24,000 4V engines. Some brilliant wag at Ford figured they could go into two other specialty cars, the Lincoln Aviator and the Ford Mach One. Problem solved. With all our inside contacts at Ford, who was the brilliant wag?
 
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