General Motors is considering expressions of interest from several potential buyers for its Hummer brand after the planned sale to a Chinese company collapsed, five people briefed on the discussions said.
While the Mercury Mariner crossover and Sable sedan scored impressive gains in January, overall sales for Ford Motor Co.'s long-sinking Mercury brand were off by 35% during the first month. That's on top of a 7% decline in 2007 that left Mercury with just 168,422 sales last year -- exactly 1 percentage point of share in the United States. At its peak, in 1985,Mercury sold 528,033 vehicles.
Ford Motor Co.'s Mercury brand, whose sales have dwindled to less than a third of their 1978 peak, has a changing role as the automaker concentrates more on its Ford and Lincoln brands, the company's marketing chief said.
