We weren't shocked last week when Ford announced that production of Mercury vehicles would end by the latter part of this year. We were relieved. Most of us on the Autoblog team aren't old enough to remember a time when Mercury was a respected brand with a unique identity. It's been nothing more than a line-up of rebadged Ford models since 2002 when the Villager minivan and Cougar coupe, neither of which had a Ford-branded counterpart, ended production.