The 1993 Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest was the product of a joint venture between the Ford Motor Company and Nissan. The goal was to produce a smaller and more stylish minivan to compete in the traditional minivan market. The two minivans differed only cosmetically and shared a Nissan engine. They were built in a Ford plant in Avon Lake, Ohio.
The joint venture for this vehicle was a marriage of convenience between Ford and Nissan. Ford's Aerostar minivan was aging and lagging in sales, and its replacement product Windstar was not yet ready for market. Ford had cash to build an assembly plant but lacked vehicle design engineering resources due to other vehicles. Nissan was lacking cash but could contribute vehicle engineering and an engine built at its Smyrna, Tennessee facility. The initial project was code named VX54 within Ford.
The vehicle was initially very successful, but competitive offerings began to overshadow it in the late 1990s. There were freshenings in 1996 and 1999, and it was discontinued in 2002, ending the Ford and Nissan joint venture. Nissan pursued the development of the 2004 Nissan Quest while Mercury received a version of the 2004 Ford Freestar called the Mercury Monterey.
