Mercury is an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company founded in 1939 to market semi-luxury cars slotted between entry-level Ford and luxury Lincoln models, similar to General Motors' Buick (and former Oldsmobile) brand and DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler brand. To this day, most Mercury models are based on Ford platforms. The Mercury name comes from the planet Mercury and during its early years, the Mercury brand was known for performance.