If you’d asked me in 1989 to predict what the automobiles of the 2020s would be like, I would have presumed that they’d look a lot like this car: the European Ford Scorpio, briefly sold here in 1988–1989 under Ford’s short-lived Merkur brand. The Scorpio was a flop in the U.S., but I thought its space-efficient, aerodynamic hatchback shape and fine chassis seemed like the direction all cars would eventually go. As a quick glance at today’s truck-and-SUV-dominated streets reveals, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
In the 1970s, American car magazines sometimes lamented that GM and Ford didn’t offer the U.S. market their senior European models, which had more tasteful furnishings and better road manners than most domestic cars. In the ’80s, Ford tried to oblige, importing versions of its European Sierra and Scorpio under a new “Merkur” brand, sold through select Lincoln-Mercury dealers.
The Merkur experiment was a notorious dud, for various reasons. The cars themselves weren’t bad, but they weren’t spectacular enough to make up for muddled marketing, a lack of badge cachet, and dealers that often didn’t know what to do with them. Essentially, Ford tripped over every point that Toyota later did right with Lexus, and Merkur went down in flames, expiring after only four mediocre years.
During its brief life, Merkur offered two models: the XR4Ti, a federalized version of the European Sierra XR4i three-door hatchback, powered by a turbocharged 2.3-liter four, and the bigger Scorpio, a federalized version of Ford’s senior European executive car (called Granada Scorpio in the UK), a five-door hatchback with a V-6 engine. Both cars were RWD, albeit with independent rear suspension rather than the live axles still used by Ford’s remaining U.S. rear-drive models.
I never quite warmed to the XR4Ti, with its extroverted biplane spoiler and an awkward front clip that suggested a Ford Tempo wearing a carnival mask. It had good performance and fine handling, but its boy-racer extroversion wasn’t my cup of tea, and it seemed a little too unpolished as a near-luxury car.
The Scorpio, which came here in May 1987 as an early 1988 model, was a different story. Introduced two years earlier on the other side of the pond, the Scorpio was a sleek European executive car that competed fairly successfully with the likes of the BMW 5-Series and Audi 100/200 as well as the rival Opel/Vauxhall Senator.
The European Scorpio was offered with various engines, few if any of them as smooth or powerful as this car deserved. The Merkur version got only the top late ’80s European choice, a revamped 2.9-liter version of the familiar old Cologne V-6. This latest pushrod V-6 had a stiffer block and freer-breathing cylinder heads, but it still boasted only 144 hp, so performance was nothing special (0 to 60 in around 10 seconds). Its refinement still wasn’t outstanding either, and it remained quite thirsty. The original (unadjusted) EPA ratings on this car’s window sticker were 17/24, but the adjusted EPA combined rating was only 17 mpg with automatic, with an adjusted city rating of just 15 mpg!
It was too bad that the Scorpio didn’t have a slicker, more powerful engine, because its RWD chassis gave it fine ride and handling. In that era, Americans and Europeans were seldom on the same page when it came to chassis tuning — European testers, especially in the UK, often sneered at cars their American counterparts praised — but critics on both sides of the Atlantic were impressed with the Scorpio’s blend of comfort and composure. Car and Driver gushed, “the Scorpio flows over the road, undaunted by broken surfaces, unfettered by crosswinds, unchallenged by speed.” Some rivals had sharper reflexes, but for all-around poise, this might have been Ford’s best ’80s effort.
Unlike the XR4Ti, which had rear drum brakes, the Scorpio had four-wheel discs and standard Teves ABS.
This was also an exceptionally well-packaged car. The five-door Scorpio was a little smaller on the outside than a Ford Taurus (and 6.8 inches shorter than a Mercury Sable sedan), but its interior space was generous.
The Scorpio had enough room in back that Ford threw in a standard power seat recline adjustment for the rear seat, an unusual feature.
It had comfortable, well-shaped front seats as well, with 16-way adjustment. I could pick a lot of nits with the interior design (that steering wheel was always a fright aesthetically), but this car scored well in most of the important areas. If you could afford the fuel, it would be an excellent road trip car.
When the Scorpio debuted, U.S. testers expressed some misgivings about its styling and its hatchback configuration. From a commercial standpoint, they were right: American luxury car buyers strongly preferred notchback sedans. (The European Scorpio got these eventually, but not until the 1990 model year, after Ford had given up on Merkur.) American consumer clinics also found that buyers disliked the pronounced rake of the European Scorpio, so Ford eliminated it, even though that left the Merkur version a bit less aerodynamic than the European car.
To me, the sleek styling was one of the Scorpio’s best features. In this, I suppose I’m dating myself: I grew up in the era when aerodynamic design had become mainstream. There was still a lot of whinging in those days about “jellybean” styling (much of it coming from aging stylists still longing for a return to the Good Old Days), but I had no affection for ’70s boxes or neoclassical throwbacks. To me, all that stuff was old-fashioned, and, by the late ’80s, decidedly reactionary. The Scorpio was what I thought a modern car ought to look like. It was a little futuristic — even now, you could stick it in the background of a science fiction show like Caprica or The Expanse and it would look pretty much at home there — but it was a real car, not a concept vehicle, and it wasn’t really that outlandish.
Sure, the Scorpio didn’t have a grille, but who needed one? Most modern cars are bumper-breathers anyway, and if you look at the giant grilles on modern vehicles, you’ll notice that they have a lot more overstyled black plastic than actual openings. I do think the Scorpio would have benefited from body-color bumpers and cladding (which the U.S. car was supposed to get for 1990, along with dual airbags), but it looked fine, and it was not improved by the half-hearted grille Ford added to later European cars.
As for the hatchback, why not? It was more practical, and I think the Scorpio looked better that way, especially with the cool three-piece rear spoiler.
If it wasn’t really to the tastes of American buyers in this class, the five-door Scorpio has nonetheless aged pretty well for an ’80s design. The later notchback sedan, which we never got, was comparatively undistinguished, obviously an afterthought contrived to placate conservative British fleet car buyers.
Over the years, the auto industry has gone through many cycles of advance, stagnation, and retreat. At times, there’s been a real sense of excitement about capital “P” Progress: new technology, new design themes, new formats, and the idea that cars can actually get better in ways that matter. The 1980s were one of those periods, but it didn’t last: The economy cooled, the Japanese bubble burst, exchanged rates shifted, and some interesting technologies turned out to be oversold and underdeveloped. In the ’90s, manufacturers found there was more money to be made by not trying so hard, while designers retreated to self-conscious retro concepts and cautious incrementalism, punctuated by the occasional foolish burst of change for the sake of change.
After it disappeared from the U.S. market, the Mark I Scorpio lingered on past its sell-by date in Europe, surviving through the 1994 model year with some minor facelifts. It was then completely undone by a catastrophic 1995 redesign that made the Scorpio one of the decade’s ugliest cars and permanently destroyed Ford’s credibility in the European executive car market. It was withdrawn in 1998, and Ford has never attempted anything like it since.
This Scorpio, the one we got, wasn’t nearly that bad. True, its sales didn’t live up to Ford’s rather modest expectations (they’d expected to move about 15,000 a year in the U.S., but the final tally was 22,010 cars in two and a half years), and I suspect a lot of the intended audience never knew it existed. However, I think its commercial failure had more to do with clumsy marketing and the confusing Merkur sub-brand than any specific shortcomings of the car itself.
The Scorpio isn’t so compelling that I’d be tempted to buy one now, even an amazingly well-preserved low-mileage example like the Tuscany Gold car pictured here (which had only 19,000 miles when it sold for $12,500 back in 2020). Nonetheless, it’s always pleased me — not so much for what it was as for what it seemed to represent. In 1988–1989, the contrast between this car and rolling relics like the Mercury Grand Marquis or bargain bin specials like the Mercury Topaz could hardly have been more stark. The Scorpio had its flaws, and the branding situation was probably hopeless, but I thought it was moving the game on, looking forward rather than backwards. It seemed like the future, for Ford and for the auto industry.
In the end, of course, things didn’t work out that way: Ford eventually decided there was no percentage in passenger cars, and has now walked away from the game entirely except for the Mustang coupe (and how much longer that will last is anyone’s guess). Right now, it seems that the automotive future will be a CUV in every pot and a giant four-door pickup in every driveway until the end of time, but who knows? In 25 or 30 years, people may be waxing nostalgic for the long lost days of luxury trucking. What might come about between now and then, I no longer presume to guess.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1988 Merkur Scorpio – Yes, I Finally Found One! (by Brendan Saur)
Curbside Classic: 1988 Merkur (Ford) Scorpio – Nice Landing, Wrong Airport (by Paul N)
Vintage R&T Road Test: Merkur Scorpio (by yohai71)
What If: Merkur Scorpio Sedan? (by Brendan Saur)
Car Show Outtake: 1993 Ford Scorpio 2.9i 24v Ghia – When Brougham Met Cosworth (by Johannes Dutch)
The CC effect !
Just yesterday I saw my first Scorpio wagon in what – 15 years?
It’s quite the curiosity of an 1980s Ford Euro rear and then this most unusual front.
Interesting to notice that this front appeared on the Scorpio the very same year as the 3rd geb ovoid Taurus !
That final front end restyle was atrocious. I remember it generating quite a lot of negative reaction at the time in Germany.
“So ya think it’s ugly now? Hold my Bierstein…”
Jeremy Clarkson likened it to wearing a haddock on your head and suggested you park nose in against a wall to avoid frightening bats
Also fitted it with a red nose
If they had been sold as Mercury in the USA, they would have been much more successful. They were much nicer than the Fords and Mercurys that were made here in those years.
I think it might’ve done better, comfortably meeting Ford’s expectations if not exceeding them, if they’d called it a Lincoln (with no attempt to make it “look like a Lincoln” whatsoever aside from badging!) and gotten it into US showrooms *before* the launch of the Taurus/Sable. It would’ve appealed to a buyer who never in a million years would’ve considered a Town Car.
As it was, rolling into L-M showrooms with a name that could be pronounced at least three ways, a year and a half after the Mercury Sable that looked just as sleek and forward-thinking but cost ten grand less, it didn’t have a chance.
I heard “Merkur” pronounced at least two different ways on local dealers’ TV commercials.
Even in Europe, sales figures for the Scorpio remained rather modest, even before the “fishface” redesign.
Of course, even back then, some buyers in this class were happy to pay a bit more for a star badge or a propeller on the hood. The real problem, in my view, however, was the miscalculation that one could manage with a single body style, without a notchback or station wagon. This was probably even more true for Great Britain than for the rest of the continent.
It was probably no much different in the US. The fact that the car statesside even had a name that was almost impossible to pronounce didn’t help either.
Ironically I think it was too american for the european market, too big and the interior felt cheap.
My friends family had one in the late 90s and even today I remember how the initerior felt cheap and rattled, especially the thin black plastic.
Some more info about the Scorpio:
https://driventowrite.com/2026/01/22/scorpio-rising-episode-one/
https://driventowrite.com/2026/01/29/scorpio-rising-episode-two/
https://driventowrite.com/2026/02/04/scorpio-rising-episode-three/
There may be an upcoming episode about the 1995 model.
A small correction: The blue car in the second photo is a Ford Consul. For legal reasons, this name was used until 1975 for the low-spec versions (mostly with a four-cylinder engine). You can recognize it by the horizontally split grille.
The Ford Heritage Vault misidentified it (not the first time that’s happened), and I didn’t look at it closely. I substituted a different one of a blue Mk2 UK Granada, which is at least actually a Granada.
Mk 1 Granada here. The entry level was the Consul.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/in-motion-classics-1976-ford-granada-ghia-3-0-and-1985-ford-granada-2-3gl-objects-in-the-mirror-may-be-closer-than-they-appear/
I worked at a Lincoln-Mercury dealership when these were introduced. The biggest problem these cars had was the sales staff. None of them knew what the cars were, a few old-school sales guys were too beefy to fit in the cars, and anyone looking at a Merkur (the dumb name didn’t help) was steered towards a Cougar or Continental. Potential customers left angry and confused, but they left without buying anything.
Too bad, they were (at least when new) fine automobiles- the mechanics loved taking them (esp the Scorpio) on test drives.
I spent a few minutes in Tuscany Gold Scorpio that belonged to a friend-of-a-friend. The owner was using it as a camera vehicle to take photos of my friend riding his motorcycle on a twisty road; as I recall the cornering grip was quite good, demonstrated by its ability to keep up a Yamaha FZ600 sport bike in the turns, and by the photographer’s difficulty in staying balanced while standing up and shooting through the sunroof. Tanks for rekindling the memory of a fun day nearly 40 years ago.
I was an early teen when Merkur came out. First the name, sounded like a wealthy twist on Mercury. Our local dealer was one of the participating ones, and I remember the sign and the commercials, but not much about the cars themselves.
Only Merkur I’ve seen in person is a XR4Ti that was constantly parked at a local shop. Later on in the 90s I ended up dating the girl who owned it, and she said it was the biggest pile of trash she ever owned, and ended up just turning the title over to the mechanic. Last winter I talked to a guy online from Windsor ON who was totally into them. Had one and swapped several things like a manual transmission, possibly engine or parts of it, wheels from a late 80s T Bird, interior parts. I think they look super cool with all their weird styling characteristics.
Never seen a Scorpio, but at one time I thought that’s the only car Merkur made. Looks to me like it started as a Sable, shorten the trunk, change the taillights, make a Taurus looking header panel.
I may have crossed memories since I can’t find it anywhere. But I seem to remember a commercial for the Scorpio, with a crooning jingle “oooh, make yourself comfortable… oooh, take off your shoes”.
I too was quite impressed by this when it came out, but yes, it really would have liked a more ambitious engine. It’s a bit surprising how roomy that seat was, given its RWD architecture. It begs the question as to whether the FWD Taurus really was more space efficient?
I think it came down in large part to the Scorpio’s five-door configuration. The roof extended quite far back, so the trailing edge of the roof was close to the rear axle centerline, allowing the rear seat to be set well back without losing any headroom. To take advantage of that, the wheelbase was somewhat longer than the Taurus or Sable, shifting the rear wheel houses farther back. The semi-trailing arm suspension took up very little space, and of course there was no need to account for axle travel like with a live-axle RWD car.
The Taurus and Sable had rear struts, which didn’t take up much space either, but rear seat room was restricted by the three-box configuration: The trailing edge of the roof was a little ahead of the rear wheel, so even though there was no differential and the rear struts didn’t take up much space, the rear seat couldn’t be set farther back without having occupants’ heads pressed against the glass. The Taurus and Sable had longer trunk compartments than the Scorpio, so I guess one could argue that the space wasn’t wasted, but less of it was available for passengers. It’s kind of analogous to how some ’60s cars had more rear legroom and headroom as a four-door sedan than as a hardtop because the roof shape dictated the seat shape.
From a commercial standpoint, Ford would have done better to offer buyers a choice from the outset, but in terms of packaging, the five-door Scorpio made a lot more sense.
I did quite a bit of back seat time in the Taurus, Sable, and Scorpio. The first-gen Taurus/Sable sedans had a very roomy and comfortable rear seat. It appeared to be short of legroom if the front seats were adjusted rearward, but the high seat cushion kept your legs pointed straight down rather than stretched out. There was much more legroom than some competitors like the GM A bodies. Sables had large headrests for the outboard rear passengers, while the Taurus just had small humps at the top of the seatback useful only for shorter people (the low-end Taurus L didn’t even have those). Wagons were less comfortable back there due to flatter seat cushions that allowed the seatbacks to be folded down.
The Scorpio had an even roomier rear seat with amazing stretch-out legroom and recliners that tilted back quite aways. Center passengers may have been better off in a Sable though, as the interior seemed to be a bit wider and the center floor hump was smaller. The only other car in this class I recall having reclining rear seats was the Rover Sterling which offered them in the sedan, not sure about the hatchback. But they worked by actually moving the seat cushion forward, which dragged the bottom of the seatback along with it while the top of the seatback remained in about the same place, causing the seatback to recline. So the more you reclined the seat, the less legroom you had! Stretching the roof as with the Scorpio was a much better solution.
If you wanted Scorpio-like legroom in a front-drive car, you could find one in the same showroom. The ’88-’94 Lincoln Continental shared a platform with the Taurus and Sable and used the same basic seats as the Taurus, but had more rear legroom thanks to a 3 inch wheelbase stretch. No reclining back seat though.
The XR4Ti could have just been some kind of Mercury with all the trim but on a sportier note. Cougar XR4Ti so it would have more Cougar-ish look in and out perhaps to compliment the XR7. The Scorpio could have been marketed either as a Sable Touring as the hatchback version and a Lincoln something. Versailles with the notchback formal roof version? But with more elegance than the current Scorpio of course. See, back in the 80’s the Euro theme was popular, so everyone wanted to get in on the act. We had the birth of the Seville STS, Pontiac 6000STE, Buick T-Types, The DeVille/ 98 Touring Sedans. Mark VII LSC. All euro themed. We all know the Merkur was a marketing failure but if would have cost more to change the trim/ styling to match the Mercury and Lincoln lineups. Ford should have spent more to Americanize but also have that Euro theme and allocate between Mercury and Lincoln. it would have worked out better.
As South Africans managed to fit the thirsty, barbarous Windsor V8 into the Euro Granada (thus the Perana there), could this have worked with the Scorpio? I know, it would dilute the European cool factor, but one might get over it after mashing the throttle down. And there’s the Stateside logistical advantage.
I enjoyed an eight year old Scorpio for 6 years and improved the handling with stiffer sway bar bushings (the bar also served double duty as the lower longitudinal control arm for the strut). Simply adding a couple of solid spacers to the coils firmed up the mushy front end nicely. The engine actually seemed pretty peppy compared to my four cylinder Volvos . If the leather on top of the rear seat hadn’t split and climate control computer failed, I would have kept this otherwise pleasing car.
Albeit transverse-FWD rather than longitude-RWD, one relatively modern car sold in the US that was similar to the Merkur Scorpio…was the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx. It had a relatively long wheelbase (longer than the regular Malibu sedan), an square roof, and an abbreviated decklid that actually hid a full hatch.
A lot of people think the Malibu Maxx is a reskinned version of the also-German Opel Signum. Although they were on the same global Epsilon platform, the Malibu Maxx really was closer to the American Epsilon cars. It had the same LWB setup as the Pontiac G6 at 112.3″ (the Malibu sedan and Saturn Aura would eventually adopt this wheelbase in 2007 and 2008, respectively) and mostly the same interior as the Malibu sedan.
My bonus sister had one of these, and it seemed to serve her well. I believe all versions of the Maxx had V6 engines, an earlier and then a later version of the 3.5-liter, and a 3.9-liter for the SS version.
A Malibu Maxx SS, as pictured here, is a rare car indeed, and an interesting footnote from GM’s post-9/11 era.
The Maxx in turn reminds me of the similarly-proportioned, similarly-named Austin Maxi. Same configuration with the stretched rear doors, short rear overhang, and hatchback.
I was totally in love with the shape of the Maxx for years. And by now they’ve gotten old and cheap enough. But after all the issues my mom went through with her 09 Malibu sedan, I’m not so sure I’d want one anymore.
1989 Ford Scorpio
Wheelbase 2,761 mm (108.7 in)
Length 4,673 mm (184.0 in)
Width 1,760 mm (69.3 in)
Height 1,440 mm (56.7 in)
Curb weight 1,380 kg (3,042 lb)
Latest Honda Civic Hatchback
Wheelbase 2,736 mm (107.7 in)
Length 4,549 mm (179.1 in)
Width 1,801 mm (70.9 in)
Height 1,415 mm (55.7 in)
Curb weight 1,305–1,460 kg (2,877–3,218 lb)
The Scorpio fish-face redesign was done ahead of the 2000 Deville – and there are a lot similarities.
In hindsight, IMO Ford should have just canceled or renamed the Fox-body Mercury Capri, allowing them to revive using Capri as a well-known submarque for sporty European Fords, rather than inventing the hard-to-pronounce Merkur brand with zero name recognition.
As with the prior Capris sold here, the imported Sierra variant would initially be marketed and badged as simply Capri, no other marque or model designation. It could even use the Lincoln-esque logo/badge they’d designed for Merkur, but have it say CAPRI instead. This would replace the outgoing Fox-Capri as the small sporty model in Mercury showrooms.
Later they could expand Capri into a broader marque in its own right, adding the Capri Scorpio and perhaps even a 4-door notchback Capri Sapphire (derived from the Sierra Sapphire notchback), and finally give the continuing original model its own model name, but something simpler like Capri XR4 (as XR4Ti was too much alphabet soup) or maybe Capri Ghia.
Moreover, what if Ford decided to equip the SHO V6 in all of those models, either as a Capri exclusive or in addition to the Taurus SHO?
Ultimately, Capri could even develop into a full-range captive-import marque by adding Mazda-derived models like the Capri Tracer and eventually a Capri Barchetta (what we got as the Mercury Capri roadster).
I remember first reading about Ford USA importing its European products and thought “Yes! Finally”… Then I learned they were going to confuse everyone by marketing them under this obscure “Merkur” label. Downer…
I always thought Ford should have just called them “Ford of Europe” or something similar. Once again, a car company underestimates its customers – I think most potential buyers looking at these were aware that Ford had some superb products across the ocean.
I could never get past the styling of either of the Merkur models. The turbo 4 in the XR4/Ti didn’t really excite me and the V-6 in the Scorpio was decidely “meh”. I’ve heard that Ford management “shamed” the designers of the Scorpio for the styling and pointed to the first gen Taurus and Sable as being more attractive.
Always love, love, loved the looks of the Scorpio! I thought, and still think, that the original 1985 shape was standout stunning to look at inside and out, with some lovely proportions and detailing. It looked and felt very much like the logical next step up the ladder from the Sierra (with which it shared floorpan, engines, gearboxes and more). With that in mind, the hatch-only shape at launch was also logical, as the Sierra launched in hatch and wagon format only. Ford of course realised their error and the Sierra sedan arrived in 1987, followed by the Scorpio in 1989 (and Scorpio wagon in 1992).
We got the RHD Scorpio new in New Zealand in miniscule numbers from 1985-9. Mostly V6 Ghia, but a friend of a friend’s father had a 2.0 GL too. It might still be around as of the 6 left, 1 is a GL. The Scorpio’s 2.9 Cologne V6 has a wonderful engine note, but I once read that only Ford could design such a big engine that produced so little power while using so much fuel. Having a 2.9 V6 in my Sierra, I concur. Sounds delicious between fuel stations though…!
I’ve never been able to fathom why Ford allowed the Scorpio to go from being one of the best-looking 1980s designs to one of the worst-looking 1990s designs. The team who developed the Scorpio (and Sierra) did a great job, and the Mondeo was quite decent too, so how on earth the terrible facelift got through is beyond me…
But in the meantime, I’d be delighted to have a Scorpio in my imaginary stable, and I wouldn’t mind if it had a Ford or Merkur badge.
I usually establish the capabilities of my passenger vehicles and remember hitting 120 once in the Scorpio possibly on a gentle downslope, considerably faster than my normally aspirated Volvo fours. Mileage was in the low to mid 20s for an easy 18 mile commute and other Oregon roads.
That 89 Merkur Scorpio was a pretty good looking car IMO.
I used to work with a Boeing QA guy in the UK. He drove a succession of Toyota Supras, which he identified as close to a UK available (and broadly familiar) Camaro or Mustang as he could get, and then a 1995 on Scorpio Ghia or Ultima, which he saw as a the UK take on a Buick or smarter Mercury.
Back home, he kept a Corvette
I drive a 1988 Scorpio presently. I would not call it a daily driver, but it is not registered antique or anything.
Best seats Ford ever put in a vehicle. It is also a versatile vehicle. Fold the rear seats down and open the rear hatch and you have huge cargo capacity. Easy to work on and most engine parts from the 88-89 Ranger. Parts are cheap from RockAuto. Many difficult (or unobtainium) issues have workarounds and are discussed on the MCA Merkur Forum (many authored by me). The vehicle was way ahead of it’s time and is truly underrated. Sadly there are probably less than 200 of these on the US roads today.
I was living in Europe when the Mark 2 Scorpio launched and I remember the British motoring press complaining about its “American” styling. Sorry mates, that ones on you.
I looked at one of these on used car lot in 1990. One thing I really remember was the pair of black squeeze bulbs either side of the transmission hump, for the lumbar support on the seats. Wonderfully weird.