Lincoln Mercury dealers Sunday that they will be getting a new small car, an offshoot of the next Ford Focus

Ford executives told Lincoln Mercury dealers Sunday that they will be getting a new small car, an offshoot of the next Ford Focus.
Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, and other executives met with dealers behind closed doors at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando. At present, the Mercury lineup lacks a compact car. Ford officials say they’ve talked about bringing a small car to the Mercury lineup more than  year ago, but it was new to Drive On.The next Focus, shown above, could be a breakthrough small car for Ford. It’s far more stylish than the current one — and the Mercury version would be even more upscale. Fields told Drive On that he talked to dealers about changes afoot. For instance, when Ford dealers get the new Fiesta subcompact, a car even smaller than Focus, they may have to adjust to new hip, young new customers who might have not have wandered into a Ford showroom before. Just what changes they’ll have to make, he didn’t say.