What discontinued Mercury model was a rebadged variant of Ford's competitor to the Nissan Altima?
Nissan Altima The Nissan Altima (Japanese: 日産・アルティマ ) is a mid-size car which has been manufactured by Nissan since 1992. It is a continuation of the Nissan Bluebird line, which began in 1957. The Nissan Altima mainly competes against cars such as Chevrolet's Malibu, Ford's Fusion, Honda's Accord, Hyundai's Sonata, Mazda's Mazda6, Subaru's Legacy, Kia's Optima, Toyota's Camry and Volkswagen's Passat.
San Jose Assembly Plant The Ford Motor Company San Jose Assembly Plant was the automaker's primary Northern California manufacturing site after World War II from 1955–1983, replacing the Richmond Assembly facility. The plant was located in what is now Milpitas, California, United States. Numerous vehicles were produced at the plant including the Ford Falcon, Ford Maverick and Ford Mustang. It was also the manufacturing location for the West coast of the Ford Fairlane, Ford Torino, Ford Pinto, Ford Escort and the short lived Edsel Ranger and Edsel Pacer. Mercury products such as the Mustang-based Cougar, Montego, Comet, Bobcat, Capri and the Lynx were also assembled there. Ford F-series trucks were produced there, nearly from inception of the plant until its closure in 1983.