The Mercury Villager was a minivan

Minivan

Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....

, marketed by Ford from model years 1993-2002. A rebadged

Badge engineering

Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...

 variant of the Nissan Quest

Nissan Quest

The Nissan Quest is a minivan manufactured since 1993 by Nissan, and is now in its fourth generation. The first two generations of the Quest were a joint venture with Ford, which marketed a rebadged variant as the Mercury Villager...

, the Villager was a product of a joint venture between Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 and Nissan and was built at Ford's Ohio Assembly

Ohio Assembly

Ohio Assembly is a Ford Motor Company factory located in Avon Lake, Ohio. The plant opened in 1974 to produce the Ford Econoline van. It produced the Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest from 1993 through 2002, and the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner until 2005...

 plant in Avon Lake, Ohio

Avon Lake, Ohio

Avon Lake is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,145 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Avon Lake is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

.

The Villager was unrelated to the Ford Aerostar

Ford Aerostar

The Ford Aerostar is a minivan produced by Ford Motor Company for the North American market; the first such design by Ford, it was sold from the 1986 to the 1997 model years. It was sold in both passenger van and cargo van configurations in two body lengths with both rear wheel drive and all wheel...

, the Ford Windstar

Ford Windstar

The Ford Windstar is a minivan that was produced and sold by the Ford Motor Company from the 1995 to 2003 model years. This front-wheel drive minivan was the second minivan designed by the company, serving as a replacement for the rear-wheel drive Aerostar minivan. The two were sold concurrently...

, the Ford Freestar

Ford Freestar

The Ford Freestar is a minivan that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company from 2004 until November 2006. It replaced the Ford Windstar for the 2004 model year. The name change accommodated Ford's strategy to rename all their cars to words beginning in F...

 or the Mercury Monterey.

First generation

The first-generation Villager was available in three trim levels: GS, LS, and the luxury Nautica Special Edition. All Nautica models came with a two-toned blue and white, paint scheme, an elegant yellow pinstripe, second row captain's chairs, and blue and white, or grey leather upholstery.
The Quest/Villager engine seems to have a serious flaw in the crankshaft, as they break at the front stub. Nissan increased the diameter from 25 to 27 mm around 1995.
The Villager carried the code name "VX54" within Ford. The Villager received a minor freshening in 1996 that included a new front fascia — removing the front light bar — and redesigned taillights.

Second generation

The Villager was redesigned alongside the Quest for 1999, and facelifted for 2001, but sales remained slow. Ford pulled the plug after a brief run of 2002 models were produced, ending the Ford and Nissan joint venture. Nissan pursued the development of the 2004 Nissan Quest while Mercury received a version of the Ford Freestar called the Monterey. The second-generation Villager was available in three trim levels: Base, Sport, and the luxury Estate.

Innovations

The Villager's main innovation was in its seating configurations. At the time, minivans had bulky seats that folded over and usually could be removed. The GM

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 minivans offered the first modular removable seats which were notably uncomfortable. The Villager had a folding removable middle seat (or two buckets). The rear seat folded and moved on tracks in the floor. It could be slid forward to the middle position making a 5 passenger vehicle with ample cargo space, or all the way to the back of the front seats to make a large cargo space. The seat was not removable however, and the system was not improved in the 1999 redesign (on which the model wouldn't be sold in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 anymore), so newer fold into the floor seats and lightweight buckets quickly eclipsed the system.

Other uses of the name

"Villager" first appeared at Ford as the name of the Edsel

Edsel

The Edsel was an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The Edsel never gained popularity with contemporary American car buyers and sold poorly. Consequently, the Ford Motor Company lost millions of dollars on the Edsel's development,...

 station wagon, the Edsel Villager

Edsel Villager

The Edsel Villager was a station wagon produced by the former Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln Division of the Ford Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan, and sold through its Edsel marque from 1958 to 1960. Like the two-door Edsel Roundup and premium Edsel Bermuda station wagons, the Villager was built on a...

, in 1958. The Villager name resurfaced at Mercury on a woodgrained Comet

Mercury Comet

The Mercury Comet is an automobile produced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1960–1969 and 1971-1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car.The Comet was based on the compact Ford Falcon and later the Ford Maverick...

 station wagon from 1962 to 1967, and subsequently on similarly trimmed wagons in other Mercury series, including the Montego

Montego

-Vehicles:* Austin Montego, a car produced by Austin Rover and then the Rover Group, from 1984 to 1994. Also sold as the MG Montego and finally the Rover Montego after the rebranding of the company....

 (1970–1976), Bobcat (1975–1980), Cougar

Mercury Cougar

The Mercury Cougar is an automobile which was sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division from 1967 to 2002. The name was first used in 1967 and was carried by a diverse series of cars over the next three decades. As is common with Mercury vehicles, the Cougar...

 (1977 and 1982), Zephyr

Mercury Zephyr

The Mercury Zephyr is a compact car sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division of Ford Motor Company for the North American market. Introduced as a replacement for the Mercury Comet, it was produced from 1978 to 1983...

 (1978–1981) and Lynx

Mercury Lynx

The Mercury Lynx was a compact car produced by the Ford Motor Company for its Mercury division from 1981 to 1987. It was a rebadged version of the Ford Escort. In 1987, the Lynx was dropped after slumping sales . In 1988, Mercury launched the Tracer as the Lynx's replacement...

 (1981–1984). On Mercuries, the Villager name almost always denotes a top trim, wood grained wagon. Villager was the equal of the Ford designation "Squire". The Mercury equivalent of the more well known Country Squire

Ford Country Squire

- Third generation :Prior to 1961, all Ford wagons used a two-piece tailgate assembly that required the operator to lift the rear window up and locking it into place via a mechanical support, and then drop the tail gate down to fully access the rear compartment.For the 1961 Ford adopted a tailgate...

 full-size station wagon was the Colony Park

Mercury Colony Park

The Mercury Colony Park was the top-of-the-line full-size station wagon offered by Mercury between 1957 and 1991. It wore woodgrain paneling on the bodysides and tailgate, as did the related 1957-1991 Ford Country Squire and the 1958 Edsel Bermuda wagons....

.

Sales

Calendar Year	American sales
1999	45,315
2000	30,443
2001	22,046
2002	16,442