We've been waiting, along with pretty much everyone else in the country, for Ford to go ahead and bring over some of the desirable small cars it sells in Europe to the United States. It's been discussed over and over, and rumors now predict that Ford will make some official product announcements on Thursday. According to a report on the New York Times, some of these Euro-designed Ford's will wear the Mercury badge as the automaker moves to improve the health of that ailing marque by building those Euro cars in America in ex-truck, SUV and van plants. For our part, we'd be more than happy to see a premium set of small, fuel efficient cars sprout in Mercury dealerships to go along with the higher-end Lincoln models that they share floor space with. If Ford is able to offer bread-and-butter models wearing the Blue Oval badge along with premium and fuel efficient small cars like the Euro Focus and Mondeo under the Mercury brand, they could have a winning set of vehicles on their hands.

[Source: The New York Times]

Ford is responding to the dramatic shift in vehicle sales in recent months by culling truck production and adding passenger car production as quickly as they can. One of the few bright points in Ford's lineup right now is the Focus, which Ford is selling as fast as they can build them. The company will be adding a third shift in the body and paint shops at the Wayne, MI assembly plant that produces the Focus and increasing the line speed on the assembly line to try and keep up with demand. The Kansas City assembly plant that builds the Escape and Mercury Mariner crossovers is also adding a third shift to keep up with demand for those vehicles. At this time, Ford doesn't plan to increase volumes for the Escape hybrid from the current 25,000 per year.

Perhaps more exciting to the those who aren't fans of the styling of the current U.S. Focus, Ford has confirmed that the next-generation Euro Focus will be coming to North America with production starting here in 2010. CEO Alan Mullaly declared, "We view the move to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles as permanent, and we are responding to customer demand." Ford is also slashing production of all large trucks and full-size cars. The big question for Ford is can they move fast enough to meet demand for the cars that drivers want? The Ford press release is after the jump.