Ford's Heritage Fleet brand manager, recently acquired an aluminum Mercury Sable made for the Canadian-market

Back in 1994, Ford made a grand total of 40 Mercury Sable AIV (Aluminum-Intensive Vehicle) examples, 20 of which were released to the public, fleets, or for crash testing. The concept was to explore the idea of making a lightweight, mass-produced, aluminum-bodied vehicle, replacing major steel body panels with corrosion-resistant Series 5000 and Series 6000 aluminum sheets joined using advanced adhesives and spot welding.

The result was a weight savings of roughly 400 pounds compared to the regular, steel-bodied Sable, but Ford didn't stop there. It also gave these AIV models the same Yamaha-tuned 3.2L V6 as the Taurus SHO, which churned out 220 horsepower.

https://fordauthority.com/2026/10/aluminum-mercury-sable-sedan-with-sho-powertrain-rescued-by-ford/