Mercury Marauder

The Mercury Marauder is an automobile nameplate that was used by three distinct full-size cars produced by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from the most powerful engines available to the Mercury line, the Marauder was marketed as the highest-performance version of the full-size product range. During its first production run, the Mercury Marauder was a trim option on standard Mercury sedans; the equivalent of the Ford Galaxie 500XL, the Marauder was given a "fastback" rear roofline. For 1966, the Marauder was replaced by the similar Mercury S-55; remaining the counterpart of the 500XL, the S-55 transitioned the Marauder from a trim option to a distinct model.

For its second production run, the Mercury Marauder returned for 1969 as a fastback version of the Mercury Marquis.[1] Designed to bridge the gap between the Mercury Cougar and Lincoln Continental Mark III, the Mercury Marauder was repackaged as a personal luxury car. After the 1970 model year, the Mercury Marauder was discontinued.

For the 2003 model year, the Mercury Marauder nameplate was revived as a high-performance variant of the full-size Grand Marquis. After lower than expected sales, the Marauder was discontinued at the end of the 2004 model year. As it was the final nameplate introduced on the Panther platform architecture, the Mercury Marauder remains the final rear-wheel drive sedan introduced by Ford Motor Company in North America (as of the 2018 model year).