“Mercury Milan challenges the perceptions of what an exceptional mid-size car should be,” Mercury says, “by combining distinctive, sophisticated styling, an expressive, modern interior and segment-leading quality, all at an unexpected value.” One key new available feature for 2008 is the company’s industry-exclusive Mercury SYNC,™ a voice-activated, hands-free communications and entertainment system.

While sales in the large SUV segment have softened, small sport utes remain hot. The popularity of the breed lies largely in their versatility and all weather friendly, all wheel drive. Mercury's compact SUV Mariner first rolled out in 2005 and returns for 2008 with new sheet metal, a fresh interior and chassis upgrades.

The easier you make it for people to do the right thing, the more likely they are to do so. That as much as anything explains the growing popularity of hybrid-powered vehicles in this country. We like our SUVs for their space, their image and, most of all, their go-anywhere, in-any-weather attitude. But we don’t like being on a first-name basis with the cashier at the local gas station. And many of us don’t want to be hoggish about using more natural resources than we need to. So, the end of the payment book sparked many drivers to migrate out of their large SUVs, in search of something smaller, greener and more economical. Mercury is among the happy recipients of this influx of buyers.

Ford Taurus became the company’s best-selling vehicle by 1987 and the country’s best-selling car by 1992. Sable, it’s Mercury counterpart, benefited greatly from this popularity, enough to revive Mercury’s fortunes, and together they turned around the corporation … Not so successful were the overly ovoid next-generation Taurus and Sable unveiled a decade later … For 2008, they’ve returned, accompanied by bolder styling, a more powerful engine, a smooth six-speed automatic, and significant content, quietness and safety improvements.

Don’t you just love great vehicle names? Names you can pronounce, understand and remember, instead of confusing alphanumeric badges. So it is on today’s Mercury vehicles — the mid-size Milan and full-size Sable sedans, compact Mariner crossover (CUV) and midsize Mountaineer SUV. The latter is not only poised and ready to take on mountain roads and trails, towing a boat, wave runners, mountain bikes or snowmobiles, but completely at home on the highway or a night on the town in style and comfort.