Does Mercury matter anymore?

Image via Wikipedia's Mercury brand, long the lucky recipient of models identical to Ford with a different grille, has been rumored to be on it's way to the Oldsmobile/Plymouth graveyard. It's been a very long time since the brand had anything that caused any kind of excitement (with the possible exception of the Marauder). Mercury was originally designed by Ford to compete with Buick and Cadillac. But since Ford already has Lincoln, is this really a necessity? And competing with Buick is pretty pointless anyway unless you want to get in good with Grandma. The whole purpose of the brand seems to have lost it's way. What's the point of buying a Mariner when you can get an Escape? To have an Escape with fake wood accents? In spite of all of this, Ford announced last week that it would have new product for Mercury, including a small car in 2010. It appears that they finally have a goal in mind for the brand, which is to become a destination for importing European Ford models. Ford says it will build the European Mondeo sedan in North America beginning in 2010. The Mondeo is slightly smaller than the Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan/Lincoln MKZ. Ford has also said that it will build an all new Taurus in 2010, but has not made any mention of a new Sable. In Europe, the Ford Mondeo is a relatively upscale small-midsize sedan designed for a market that will pay a premium price for such a car. Giving it a Mercury badge gives Ford room to charge a bit more for it than Fusion sticker prices, and of course North American production will be much cheaper than European production. The other new Mercury will a version of the crossover of the Ford Kuga. The Kuga is a small Escape-ish style SUV that looks distinctly different from the current Mariner. This is all well and good, I suppose. But if you want to get people more excited in the Mercury brand, why not bring back the Cougar? I'm not talking about the Probe like previous model either. I'm talking about the late 60's/early 70's one. With the current retro styling of the Mustang, it would make perfect sense. I think it would be a great shot in the arm for the brand and would bring people into the showrooms. But please Mercury, no more fake wood grain dashes.