The Mercury Tracer is a compact car that was marketed by Mercury from 1987 for the 1988 model year until 1999 . The replacement for the Ford Escort-derived Lynx, the first generation of the Tracer is a modified version of the Asian-market Ford Laser, itself a variant of the Mazda 323. In 1990 for the 1991 model year, the Tracer became the Mercury counterpart of the Ford Escort in North America.