The Blue Oval is trying to make the case that, after years of tolerating decline at its luxury brands, the fight to bring Lincoln up to snuff is deadly serious. But if admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery, CEO Alan Mulally may just have kicked off Lincolns rehabilitation with a minor stumble, telling Automotive News [sub]
we didn’t tarnish the brand. We just didn’t invest in it.
You say tomato, Alan, we say tomahto. If neglect won’t “tarnish” a luxury brand, nothing will. But now that the requisite excuses have been made, what is Ford going to do to bring back its lagging luxury brand?
Ford’s product czar Derrick Kuzack gets first crack at that question, explaining
The strategy isn’t just new products, but full differentiation from the Ford brand in not only design but in technology
…and already we’re running into problems. Remember, some of Ford’s best work in recent years has been its ability to brand and market luxury-level technology… for its Ford brand. EcoBoost? Most people think Ford Taurus SHO. SYNC? Again, a brand that’s been well-associated with Ford and slapped onto Lincolns as an afterthought. MyFordTouch? Did you even know there is such thing as MyLincolnTouch? Can you imagine it bringing anything to the table besides a Lincoln badge? You see where this is going.
But let’s set aside the anti-brand-strategy implications of Ford’s democratization of technology and the trouble with putting that genie back in the bottle for one moment. After all, the underlying problem with Lincoln is that its products suffer from the same lack of differentiation as its technology. The solution? Less than overwhelmingly convincing. Kuzack says future Lincolns “will get some of their own powertrains,” and adds a cryptic passage that AN parses thusly:
Kuzak said Ford can tweak existing Ford platforms for Lincoln. For example, he said, consider Ford’s power steering or chassis electronic control. “Imagine adding suspension control to that and what would happen to the platform if you did that on Lincoln only,” he said.
Not inspired yet? Lincoln’s own product development honcho Scott Tobin adds:
Ford’s plans for Lincoln products also include newly designed interiors, more V-6s, and upgraded features such as paddle shifters and all-wheel drive.
And that appears to be just about everything the men in charge of Lincoln’s rehab seem to have in the works. Otherwise, the waterfall grille will “evolve” and there will no be rear-wheel-drive Lincoln. None of which, on face value anyway, sounds sufficient to pull the brand out of the luxury game cellar. Between Mulally’s attempt to minimize the malignancy of Lincoln’s neglect, and plans that seem to boil down to “more of the same, but better” there’s not much here for Lincolns to cling to. Especially when you look at Cadillac’s continued struggles despite a fairly substantive improvement in its products and differentiation. Luckily for Ford, success with its Blue Oval brand seems to have kept the automotive media from asking the really tough questions about Lincoln’s future… even though Ford’s success seems to trade off increasingly with Lincoln’s.
Ford / Lincoln’s guys didn’t say anything useful and “Smarter than Luxury” still isn’t cutting it.
Distinctive sheetmetal, distinctive platforms, distinctive product are the entry price to being taken seriously in the entry-Luxury segment.
And if “suspension control” is a return of the air suspension in the Mark VIIIs, Lincoln is better off without it.
Distinctive sheetmetal, distinctive platforms, distinctive product are the entry price to being taken seriously in the entry-Luxury segment.
Other than the LS460, what unique platforms does Lexus have? The LF-A doesn’t count.
Lexus GS, IS, LS, and SC all have unique platforms in the U.S. market.
The Lexus SUVs (RX, GX, LX) share Toyota platforms, but have unique sheet metal. They’re significantly different from their Toyota brethren in trim and appearance.
The only Lexus with Lincoln-level shamelessness is the Lexus ES. While it does have unique body styling, it’s still a FWD sedan sharing the Camry platform. It is all too easily cross-shopped with the Camry and Avalon.
Perhaps I should have clarified:
1. distinctive sheetmetal on all products, so they don’t look the same
Yes, the ES / Camry are the same under the skin, but at least they look different.
2. at least 1 distinctive platform / product not available as lower line that can’t be cross-shopped down
Lexus LF-A is what I’m thinking here. The Lexus LS is just a tarted-up Avalon.
Hope this helps
Has anyone at Ford ever noticed how Toyota is able to differentiate their sheet metal on some of their products to make a low-end Lexus – or – how the high-end Lexus doesn’t exist as aToyota in N. America?
Taking it further, just look at the subtle differences between a VW and Audi. You know they are the same car underneath, but the Audi is taken to the next level of refinement.
Heck, if they would just get off the Dearborn campus and head over to the local GM dealers, they could see an Enclave, Acadia, Outlook, and Traverse – same platform, but 4 different bodies at 4 different price points.
And with any luck, Caddy will get a Lambda CUV as well, for yet another example of how to make different cars off the same platform.
I’m convinced that the only reason they axed Mercury and not Lincoln was because there was more per unit profit in the latter. It certainly wasn’t because of overall sales, market perception, reputation, rwd vs fwd, or anything else I can think of.
Lincoln was positioned higher than Mercury, so it’s the right brand to have kept.
The problem is that neither brand got the resources it should have.
“It certainly wasn’t because of overall sales, market perception, reputation, rwd vs fwd, or anything else I can think of.”
Ford and Mercury had almost no differentiation between them. Only really old people remember the days when a Mercury was a legitimate “step up” from a Ford. Most folks 40 and under just see a Mercury as a badge engineered Ford. Same car, different grill and taillights. Not a bad car, necessarily, but definitely not a “step up”, just a step to the side.
Regardless of what was going on with the products, Lincoln has always managed to maintain its “step up” image in the Ford product marketing hierarchy. Lincoln was the brand to keep. Mercury never had a chance despite its many charms.
Precisely, the problem was that Lincoln has moved down into where Mercury was, a step up from Ford. Mercury has traditionally have Ford platforms, just a little bit more upscale, with different body/interior. That’s what Lincolns are right now. Unable/unwilling to lift Lincoln to its former place, well above Mercury and closer to the top of the automotive scale near Mercedes and the like, they decided to kill Mercury instead.
Funny thing, the same thing happens at GM! Buick is where Oldsmobile/Pontiac used to be, a small step up from Chevrolet. Cadillac today is where Buick was before!
MrWhopee,
Thanks. I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw it.
Lincoln needs to quit talking about what they are going to do and just do it. Just. Stop. Talking.
So far, Ford hasn’t figured it out what to do with Lincoln, and that’s fine, I understand, because they seem to be working on it. Instead of the half-baked, unconvincing baloney we keep hearing, I’d prefer Ford to just say they’ve got exciting stuff in the pipeline for Lincoln but are only sharing their plans with suppliers and dealers. A little mystery never hurt interest in anything.
Ford figured out what to do with Ford branded vehicles, and I’m sure they’ll figure out what to do with Lincoln. However, until they’ve got a solid, comprehensive and compelling plan that they can talk about with genuine excitement and pride, they need to shut the hell up. At this point, everything they say about Lincoln just makes it worse, not better.
I was inspired in 2000 when the LS was in the works. Now, not so much. Giant wheels and giant chrome grilles on goofy-looking SUVs destined for limo service do not a status symbol make.
Lincoln is now where Cadillac was in 1996 when they cancelled their last RWD V8 Full-sized car, without replacement. And like Cadillac, it will be all down hill from there… Unlike Cadillac Lincoln has nowhere near the distance to fall…
No V8’s? No RWD?
No relevance. Dead, gone and joining Mercury in 5 years max.
I am convinced Ford could do away with Lincoln and be better off because of it.
The uniqueness that they speak of for Lincoln should be understood as code-talk for standard feature (where in Ford it may be optional, or introduced in a following MY.)
Differentiation seems to be only as Mercury was to Ford for all these years, (the difference in the past was that the Mercurcy cost about 700 bucks more than the Ford sibling, Ford to Lincoln upgrade is likely to cost more.) But other than this, or early-introduce features, it would seem that Lincoln is just an up-trim proposition differentiated by suspension and powertrain tuning.
The old argument of GM Cadillac Div. managment back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, that to even dream of being competitive, they needed a unique (RWD) platform is valid here. That being said, just because unique platforms are not in the plan right now, if moderate succes builds on moderate success, then uniqueness could follow in the medium term…
Funny, but if you count the F-series & Mustang, doesn’t Ford have more badge-unique RWD platforms than Lincoln?
I don’t know about the Panthers, because I never priced them out, but for any other Ford/Mercury price comparison I’d quarrel with the idea that Merc was $700 more than a facing Ford. For as long as I’ve been paying attention, the only real difference between Mercury and Ford pricing was that the Merc didn’t have the entry-level model.
So, for example, the Fusion has the S, SE, and SEL, while Milan made do with the Base and Premier. If you priced out a Milan Premier, it was $25-$50 max more than an identically equipped Fusion SEL. Maybe a Milan Base was $700 more than a Fusion S in base price, but that has everything to do with equipment levels and nothing to do with a Mercury price premium. In addition, any optional equipment available on Milan also was available on Fusion. You had to go to the Zephyr/MKZ to find unique equipment availability. The decision for Ford versus Mercury really was entirely whether you wanted a waterfall grill or the horizontal bars, or maybe a two-tone interior.
And that’s why Mercury had to die. It wasn’t really an upscale Ford, it was just an alternative to Ford, producing no extra profits but sucking up PD resources.
Don, I have to admit the 700$ figure came out of some articles i read probably 20 years ago and was intended to be illustrative of the relationship between the F and M brands … if the figure was less than that, acc your figures about 90% less. then it is even more clear why merc had to die.
Killing Mercury was a good idea because the brand offered nothing that Ford didn’t have in its showroom. That brand had withered on the vine for so long that the only people mourning its loss are a few people nostalgic for the great Cougars of the 1960’s, which was pretty much the last time Mercury had anything interesting going for it.
My question is: what does Lincoln offer? When did they last have anything unique and interesting going for them? From my perspective, (and apparently that of Advance_92) it was the LS, but that car didn’t do that well for them, and was killed off, so, now what? What next? Is it time to just make a few even nicer versions of the Taurus, Flex, etc. and kill Lincoln off once and for all?
Cadillac is struggling? What struggle? They just doubled their sales last year!
“Struggling” relative to the big 3 of luxury sales: BMW, Benz & Lexus. That is, a year out of bankruptcy, Caddy doesn’t sell as many cars as any of the top 3 lux brands.
I assume you are being sarcastic. If last year you only sold 1 car and this year you sell 10 just because your sales increased by 900% doesn’t mean you are not struggling to sell anything…
Cadillac has only one model that sells right now… The SRX and it sells because it under cuts the competition by $5000… notice that GM just killed the upscale version of the SRX for 2011 because sales were zero… When you have a luxury division that competes almost exclusively on price, you are in BIG trouble.
And to blame Cadillac’s problems on the BK are very short sited… Cadillac had been losing customers and market share at alarming rates since the 2004 introduction of the 2005 STS…
All I know is that Caddy & Buick consistently outsell Lincoln or Mercury or any other “luxury” brand.
Sorry, but Cadillac and Buick really aren’t true luxury brands anymore. They don’t sell anything that is remotely competitive to the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5-Series, let alone the S-Class and 7-Series.
Cadillac is an entry-level luxury brand at best, and that is being generous. Buick isn’t remotely prestigious in any way, shape or form. Its best vehicle is the LaCrosse, and it’s largely bought by people who used to by LeSabres, Lucernes and the old LaCrosse, based on what I see.
Caddy sure does – ever see an full-size Escalade?
Cadillac and Buick world wide sales are no where NEAR any other large luxury brands, not MB, not BMW. And you have to ignore that over the last 10 years Cadillac has lost sales and lost huge chunks of market share every year the last decade except 2002 and 2010.
Cadillac is dead as a doornail, even their own head of design calls their cars “near luxury” and “stop gap” offerings, leaving luxury customers with “mixed feelings”… You know when that is the nicest thing that a senior manager within your own division can say… you got issues.
How can these guys not mention styling??? Give me some suicide doors and some imposing presense ASAP. There was a older Continental show car that was just stunning.
Come to think of it, in recent years Ford has shown some great concept cars, like that Continental, that never made it to production. The Mercury Messenger concept was gorgeous and was exactly the kind of differentiated product that Mercury needed.
I think what Ford needs to do with Lincoln is put their best designers in a room with the following cars and then see what they come up with:
1940 Continental
1961 Continental
1956 Continental Mark II
1972 Continental Mark IV
1998 Continental Mark VIII
They all have classic long hood short rear deck styling. So they conformed to some styling conventions but I bet when you saw the list, with the possible exception of the Mark II, you had a pretty good mental image of what those cars look like.
That’s what iconic truly means. I’m not saying that they have to mimic classic Lincolns or do something retro. What I’m saying is that Lincoln styling should be inspired. If you think about the history of automotive styling and the seminal role that Edsel Ford & Bob Gregoire played in that history, it’s a shame that today’s Lincolns have fairly forgettable styling – well that is if you’re not put off by the grille and the MKT’s funny shape.
1956 Continental Mark II
Jumbo T-Bird. And I didn’t have to look it up. That’s been one of my favorite cars since forever. Every one sold at a massive loss.
“Ford’s plans for Lincoln products also include newly designed interiors, more V-6s, and upgraded features such as paddle shifters and all-wheel drive.”
and more chrome! cha-ching
Imagine a next generation “Panther” chassis with the 5.4 liter V-8 (natural and supercharged).
An S class Mercedes at Infiniti prices … this is what Lincoln could be.
Hot Rod Lincoln indeed.
“S class Mercedes at Infiniti prices”
The Hyundai Equus says hi.
I can see the appeal in an MKZ with the rare combo of the 3.5V6 + Zephr styling. But only cause they cost about the same used as a loaded Fusion. What years were those? Oh yeah, 2007-2009. Otherwise, meh.
Call me when you get TRUE Town Car successor. FWIW Cadillac, call me when you build a true Fleetwood replacement.
Ford is kind of stuck where Chrysler was. The Imperial was weak competition for Cadillac and eventually died, with the Chrysler brand at the mid-price level. Dodge and Plymouth became nearly identical cars with maybe a $50 premium for Dodge. Plymouth was killed at the Pentistar and Mercury was killed at the Blue Oval. Pontiac’s fate was the same story. That still leaves Lincoln at the Buick Chrysler level and maybe thats ok for now, as long as Lincoln can get some distinct products like Buick has.
The phrase “step up” reminds me of the Oldsmobile ad from decades ago. “What a step up, holy cow! If my friends could see me now.”
I have two words for Mulally re “didn’t tarnish the brand”. Lincoln Blackwood.
Also Mark LT and “get real”.
Call me crazy but I think in time the Blackwood will be a collectible vehicle. How many other cars or trucks were just on the market for a year? That’s like a tv series that’s canceled after the first episode. By the end Ford was practically giving them away. I think they sold fewer than 10,000 in total.
Few companies understand the truck market better than Ford. They know there’s a market for premium trim pickups. Hence the efforts to brand the F series as a Lincoln and now their Platinum trim line. Maybe the third time will be a charm. Perhaps the average rich guy who likes to drive a pickup is the kind of guy who doesn’t put on airs. He likes his toys and luxury but he doesn’t need the luxury brand. It’s interesting that across town, GM sold a Cadillac version of the Chevy Avalanche under the Escalade brand, but that had a back seat and a shorty bed. I doubt that GM would ever make a all out pickup with the Cadillac brand.
Interesting factoid: The El Camino name was first used for a Cadillac show car. No it didn’t have a bed, but it did have some pretty wild fins. The Impala name was also first used on a Motorama show car, the Corvette Impala, a full size Corvette.
http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/impala/files/page64-impala56.gif
http://wikicars.org/images/en/2/2a/1954_el_camino.jpg
My recollection on the Blackwood was that they sold in the neighborhood of 400 (wiki says 3356). They tested the limits of the overpriced pointless luxury truck market, and found the line. I want one, just for the sheer extragavent stupidity of it. Considering how “finished” the cargo box is, it doesn’t even really qualify as a truck. It’s the world’s crudest-platform modern 4-door 4-seat sedan. Prices seem to run in the $12-15k range these days.
BTW, the link for the El Camino show car returns a 403 error. Try this one:
http://wikicars.org/en/Image:1954_el_camino.jpg
This is what happens when today’s hi-tech becomes tomorrows standard equipment. Advances in technology are moving so fast that even standard cars (Fords) have more gizmos that last years premium offerings (Lincoln). The only way to stop this trend is to offer the fancy new stuff on Lincolns exclusively for the 3 years or to come out with something really new that is unique to the premium brand. Paddle shift and AWD? Yeah right I’ll believe it when I see it. Lexus avoids this trap by making the dealership experience it self very upscale, with Lincoln sharing lot space and repairs bays with Ford customer’s don’t get anything in return for their premium investment.
I would take a quick low cost approach to Lincoln.
1. I would build a baby low cost “hot-rod” Lincoln using the Mustang parts bin. 4-doors & RWD independent rear suspension. The Mustang is approaching BMW performance and a little tweaking could get it there. This would give Ford the credibility of Lincoln as a player. This while getting people into Lincoln at a lower cost point with good margins. Must have a sporty body style. Call it the LS.
2. Badge engineered AWD luxo barge. (kinda the strategy now) Use the Taurus platform and just make an awesome body style and interior. Repeat, awesome body style and interior. Of course add the necessary whiz-bang gadgets. Promote a luxurious all wheel drive motoring experience. It will be all about a secure drive and not performance. Call it the Town car.
@ Trend-shifter…re point 1. Nope. Call it the “Mark X”…but I love the idea of a Lincoln coupe or mid-sized sedan based on the Mustang.
Interestingly, though, they tried this already….the Mustang is based on same platform as the Lincoln LS….but the LS was as bland as a stick of butter….
Australia. I just never get it, The market sells 1 million a year and has rear wheel drive vehicles at Ford & GM. GM barely tapped this source twice recently with the Pontiac G8 and GTO imports. Our friends at Ford? Nothing. What is the business case there to continue on developing the Ford Falcon family of rear wheel drive cars with V8 engines for such a small market? They even have the homely rear drive Ford Territory SUV. Why don’t we see those platforms used at Lincoln with great American skins? I look at ford.com.au and think of Jack Baruth’s crash story. A visit there made me feel the same way.
I agree – the Oz RWD patform is celarly an option that is constantly ignored
As usual I like the rest of the world Ford products than I do the USA products. Same with Opel vs Cobalt/Aveo/Malibu.
Dammit – we ought to unify the vehicle safety and emissions standards so I can just buy what I want to buy.
Detroit – want to get me to buy your vehicles? Sell me those cars instead of the bloated, overweight gasoline slurping stuff you sell here now. Been that way for 20 years.
I’m going to just buy another VW or Honda instead.
I don’t like to see any car brand die but in the case of Lincoln I would have made an exception. Alan Mullaly has made mostly good decisions at Ford, but if he wanted to keep the Blue Oval in the luxury game then he made a massive mistake in selling the profitable Jaguar Land Rover company.
Ford had already done the difficult bit at JLR so selling three globally recognised premium brands (Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover) whilst trying to turn round one moribund domestic only brand was just plain nuts. Does anyone at the Blue Oval seriously think Lincoln will ever make it in Europe, in the way that JLR has in the US or China?
Shareholders should have pushed Alan Mullaly to explain why selling JLR to try and rescue Lincoln made sense. Because from where I’m sitting it just doesn’t.
got to keep in mind that fomoco is controlled by the ford family and there is much more emotional baggage involved with killing lincoln and/or merc (both the baby and brain-child od Edsel B. #1) than there was in dumpung jlr (bought by petersen and nasser), vcc (bought by nasser), or mazda (bought by HF #2) equity.
I am still waiting for the Lincoln Mark IX. RWD 2 Door. Mustang platform. Call it MK9 if you have to.
Just no stupid hump in the trunk-lid… (an arc of CHMSL leds would be interesting though.)
Robert, that’s a great idea. Subtle evocation of some styling heritage without going retro.
Lincoln just needs four things:
Better cars
Better styling
Better dealers
Better management
Lincoln is of bygone age. What young and upcoming would aspire to one now? That chromed creme puff Ford platform image is too much water under the bridge.
Lincoln has plenty of brand cachet left. If Caddy can come back from the brink, Lincoln has more than a fighting chance. The biggest problem facing the marketing team right now is who to target the message too. Lincoln is still popular with the retired crowd, and Ford obviously doesn’t want to lose their business, but at the same time, you have to court the younger buyers and make vehicles that are appealing to them.
As far as technology goes, Ford shouldn’t, and I don’t think they will, cut down on the technology offerings on the Ford lineup. GM’s biggest mistakes have come from handicapping their mainstream lines in order to artificially elevate their luxury brands. There is plenty of tech available that would just cost too much to put into a mainstream vehicle, and that is what I see Ford moving to integrate into the Lincolns – things like IR nightvision, magneto-resistive shocks, LED headlights, 360 degree cameras, etc.
The current Lincoln lineup also has interior materials that are a major step up from the (already good) Ford line. Yes, the MKZ is based on a Fusion, but it comes standard with the engine from the Fusion Sport, and by the time you account for the extra features you get with the MKZ, the pricing makes sense. The MKZ compares well against the ES350 and TL, the MKZ compares well against the RX and the MDX. The popular line is ‘well, that’s just a tarted up so and so’ and that may be, but the fact that the Ford vehicle the Lincoln is based on is an excellent value and has a lot of features doesn’t detract from the fact that the Lincoln compares very well against similar luxury vehicles in its own right.
If gas prices continue to climb, the decision to focus on FWD V6 platforms instead of RWD V8s may well play in Lincoln’s favor. The MKZ Hybrid has already been an big success in the showroom.
Too many people are still judging Lincolns based on perceptions and ideas they developed five, ten, or twenty years ago. Before you just echo comments about an MKZ being a Fusion with more chrome go and sit in both and see if you could honestly tell they were based on the same car if you didn’t already know, the same for the MKX and the Edge, and the MKS and the Taurus. The MKT and the Flex look absolutely nothing alike – far better differentiation than you see in any of GMs CUV offerings. Sure there may be some shared switchgear here and there, but the idea that Lincolns are just another trim level of Ford is a tired old lie that needs to die.
If gas prices continue to climb, the decision to focus on FWD V6 platforms instead of RWD V8s may well play in Lincoln’s favor.
I’m not necessarily saying that Lincoln needs to be RWD-V8 only.
Still, if Mercedes, Cadillac (for now), Jaguar, BMW, Lexus, Chrysler, Infiniti, and Hyundai all manage to do it, why can’t Lincoln at least try?
_____________________________
The MKT and the Flex look absolutely nothing alike – far better differentiation than you see in any of GMs CUV offerings.
I don’t know if “Not as cynical as GM!” should be Lincoln’s rallying cry. I personally think Mulally should just kill the brand.
Ajla –
I’m thinking that a RWD car will eventually grace the Lincoln lineup, but it make sense to play for the volume market first. Acura is all FWD or AWD, the big volume Lexus vehicles are FWD or AWD, Mercedes and Audi are both increasingly pushing their AWD lines, Caddy only has the CTS (since the STS is all but dead) as a RWD car, leaving BMW and Infiniti alone carrying the torch for RWD luxury vehicles. The average luxury car buyer doesn’t really care which wheels drive the car, and even fewer care or know the difference between front and rear biased AWD systems.
I’d love to see a new Lincoln Mark IX with the 5.0 or 3.5 Ecoboost, loaded with every cutting edge technology available, but I wonder how many people would buy it. Lincoln is a brand that needs to be rebuilt – so before high priced low volume models flood the lineup, it make sense to play to the middle and build the brand and the pricing up gradually with better vehicles based off of existing platforms, differentiating them more and more over time from their Ford counterparts until truly unique platforms can be developed. Ford started its revolution in 2006 with the Fusion, and how five years later is equal or superior in build quality and reliability to Toyota and Honda, offers features above and beyond all of the other mainstream brands, and is gaining more marketshare every day. Give Lincoln five years and see where they end up.
I do agree that ‘Hey, we aren’t as bad as GM’ isn’t the best defense. Still, killing Lincoln would be a horrible idea. Lincoln is an American icon, and a brand that can easily come back. Killing off Lincoln would be like Ford giving up – saying that they aren’t good enough to field a real luxury division, and I think it would hurt sales on the Ford line. Lincoln needs to rise up, and the news to take from Mullaly’s statements is that Ford is ready to pour the money in to do it. It will be an uphill battle sure, but back in the days of the oval-fish Taurus and the firestone Explorers a lot of people would have said that Ford would never be the darling of the industry come 2010, so, I think it is far too soon to count Lincoln out.
@Nullo:
Still, killing Lincoln would be a horrible idea. Lincoln is an American icon, and a brand that can easily come back.
I agree that it can be saved. I hope it is saved because GM is currently busy re-wrecking Cadillac.
I just don’t know if Ford executives really want to invest in the brand. If that’s the case, then it’s better to burn out than to fade away. Kuzak’s words really didn’t fill me with optimism.
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I’d love to see a new Lincoln Mark IX with the 5.0 or 3.5 Ecoboost, loaded with every cutting edge technology available, but I wonder how many people would buy it.
Now it’s my turn to think you are selling Lincoln short. The LS sold okay before Ford let it get stale. The CTS sells alright even with a recent bankruptcy and GM lacking FoMoCo’s positive perception. I think there are a lot of people out there that want a kick-ass Lincoln.
Anyway, even if it doesn’t sell, what about the whole “Quality over Volume” argument used to justify the high price of the Focus/Fiesta and the Flex’s continued existence?
GM’s CUVs are fantastic, far better than FoMoCo. GMC Terrain looks like nothing else. The Lambdas are all well-differentiated.
The gen 2 Edge is slightly less like the Lincoln rebadge, but not significantly so. Can I no longer swap the Lincoln doors for Ford ones? The cutlines say you should be be able to freely interchange body panels one at a time, without affecting either car.
There’s the demographic thing going as well as belt tightening and overall rising quality. My wife and I could be Lincoln customers in a few years but if there’s a Edge like, Mustang, Flex like, or something truck new? in the Ford line up that fits our fancy, maybe we’ll go there. People who can afford upscale autos aren’t stupid and they recognize value. Worse, if all auto’s are rising in basic quality and value, the value quality problem gets tougher competition. 4 door trucks are a dime a dozen now as the everyman’s swiss army knife for value. Certainly a market there, if your buying upscale trucks now expect to pay 50-60K and for that it might as well be branded a Lincoln truck instead of “King Ranch or Platinum”.
I’d probably consider a new [Ford} GT. Make everything AWD and top of line electronics (then again, soon everything will be). Maybe a 4 door ‘Stang-like (not called a Mustang of course), Hybrid Raptor or move SVT to Lincoln. Of course, then everyman gets cut out. I agree with previous posts as in Lincoln had better be all in on top end, otherwise, its a muddle. The “M_ _” of the world are lost on me as monikers, then again all the other upscale brands do the same thing.
Here’s the weird thing. We’ve driven Expedition’s for years, now that kids are gone and I don’t farm, hauling is less the need but I still like something truck-like to tow the boat and cargo trailer. Due to the untimely demise of our recent Expedition, we ended with an Explorer STA. It’s far quieter than any Expedition, its loaded to the gills, has the decent 3V Mustang engine, seats 4 very comfortably, has a 3 speed auto with AWD and IRS as well. It’s like a ‘Stang 3/4’s truck almost Lightening SUV. We love it (and it tows nearly 7K). I’m driving down the road thinking, man this would be smoking cool with the V6 EcoBoost. Then I thought. “Crikey, with some serious work by SVT this could be the shooting brake Lincoln..as a 3/4 size 4 door sports truck” Lincoln needs to be all in with somethings new.
Minor note, the Sport Trac with the V8 actually has a 6 speed auto, not a 3 speed.
Yo, correcto..6 speed it is!
The old argument of GM Cadillac Div. managment back in the late 80′s and early 90′s, that to even dream of being competitive, they needed a unique (RWD) platform is valid here.
I gotta disagree. Audi and Acura are players (weird snouts aside) with FWD/AWD platforms exclusively.
In that same path, Ford needs to take a serious look at the VW/Audi relationship and mimic that to determine a way to separate Lincoln.
The last GOOD product Lincoln has was the LS. V8/RWD, proper handling, styling that wasn’t horrid, etc.
It was a fantastic car.
Lincoln now is a complete joke. Nothing more than an expensive trim level on a mediocre Ford. They have no identity. They have terrible styling, the luxury cred of a 10 year old Nissan, and on top of that, nothing that would make you want to buy one over the Ford twin.
The majority of people agree too. Sales at Lincoln have been dismal for years, The MKTaurus was DOWN over 16% last year…a year that was horrid for automotive sales. Nothing Lincoln has now, or has hinted at shows that Ford is interesting in making it a legit luxury brand. The brand has ZERO cachet left.
I don;’t think Ford has the first clue as to how to right a sinking ship….and as such, Lincoln will sink. But at least when they are sinking, they will see the animals that inspired their horrid grilles.
After looking around at all 60 some odd comments, the only complete joke I found was you, my friend. If you only had any idea how downright foolish you sound. And by the way, the LS? Too cramped inside. Not comfortable at all in the driver’s seat. Everything was just too close and squished in there. And the grill on the LS? Puny. Doesn’t belong on a Lincoln. Especially in black. It was almost acceptable in chrome but still too small. The shape of it wasn’t right either. Didn’t make enough of a statement. Didn’t demand attention the way Lincolns are supposed to. And way too little room in the back. I had the Mark VIII in ’93. Now there was a Lincoln. I now have a 2011 MKS which I would take any day of the week over the LS. Lookswise, ridewise, you name it wise.
After looking around at all 60 some odd comments, the only complete joke I found was you, my friend.
This coming from the guy who severely overpaid for a Taurus SHO(W). That is the joke my friend.
You clearly don’t like the truth…but the truth is, Lincoln is a joke. Their product lineup is a joke, their level of so-called luxury is a joke, their pricing is a joke, their styling is a joke, their powertrains are a joke, etc.
Lincoln could go away, and no one would notice.
I think Lincoln’s current campaign is completely backwards, instead of pushing ever new and complicated technologies on their customers, why not build cars for the only people still interested in the Lincoln brand – Old people, plain and simple, they have money, and they remember when driving a Lincoln actually meant something. I’d love to see a real “throwback” Lincoln: smooth ride, soft leather and a high quality interior made with attention to detail not technology. I’m thirty years old, and I want no part of all the touch screen info-tainment centers in Ford/Lincoln’s new lineup. I can’t imagine the 60+ crowd that makes up most of Lincoln business are really asking for an Ipod on wheels. Retro works for muscle cars, why not luxury? Give me that good old floaty American luxury sedan feel, with the best powertrains Ford has to offer, and then Lincoln would have a real identity again.
You better not ignore the youngins’ though. They need a dual lineup – something sporty and import like (think BMW or Audi) with alot of technology and a couple of cars for the Luddites as well. All need to be very quiet and all need to offer amazing build quality. They need to last 200K miles without a sweat too.
Perhaps the sporty versions could be AWD and the Luddite versions could all be RWD. Then Ford could remove AWD from all but their top of the line Ford cars to keep it a Lincoln feature. Don’t forget to offer manual transmissions on the sport versions and flappy-paddle gearshifters.
Maybe Ford needs to base their sporty Lincolns on the import Fords from Europe or Australia. Base the Luddite Lincolns on an updated RWD Panther platform.
I’m not fond of the whale grin grille or the MK-whatever names b/c the all sound the same – but I think Ford is doing good stuff with what they’ve built. Remember we are coming out of a recession where Detroit almost went broke. GM and Chysler relied on gov’t dollars and Ford on private loans. They were faced with a limited number of dollars to update their products with.
Lincoln needs to pick a strategy. If they want to focus on the retired crowd, play up nostalgia and a smooth ride. Just be aware that they’ll all die, and the people who are young right now will never aspire to own a car that makes it look like they have one foot in the grave. You’ll sell out, and when sells drop, you’ll have to kill the brand. Probably not a bad idea, really; Lincoln is already too geriatric. They’ve already lost most of the brand-equity, and it would take a decade of world-class cars before anyone even considers them again. Even the name sounds very staid and old-fashioned. It brings to mind stolid images of President Lincoln.
Around the time Ford kills Lincoln is when they should introduce a brand new premium brand. Note I said “premium” and not luxury. Even the plain-Jane cars have pretty much every luxury feature you want now days, so this premium brand should focus on concept-car-level styling, and performance and handling that beats BMW. They could start with the Mustang chassis, but give it IRS and really go through it with a fine-tooth comb until it has that handling feel of an E46 3-series. It should also have a very nice interior, but through use of advanced materials, weigh less and have a lower CG than the Mustang. A 2nd large RWD/AWD platform should be set up for the bigger cars. Maybe a badge-engineered fusion (but really well done, like a Lexus ES) could be the entry-level car. They should continue to focus on light-weight and offer electric versions of all these cars.
In summary, here’s what Lincoln’s replacement needs to offer above Ford
1) Performance and handling
2) WORLD CLASS styling. Not just distinctive. No overstated. World class & timeless
(1 & 2 will probably require at least one unique platform)
If I had Mulally’s ear, I’d first tell him to lose the baleen whale front end (“waterfall” my butt – that’s a whale!). Then I’d tell him to drop the alphabet soup and put names on the models. Third, I’d tell him to find the guy who put all those unlabelled buttons on the IP and fire him (maybe rough him up first). Look at all the best-selling Lincoln front ends since 1950, pick the simplest design and do a modern interpretation, and use that for the whole line. Keep Towncar and Continental, and add maybe a Geneva, or Manhattan, and even bring back Versailles. For IP controls, simplify, simplify, simplify.
Lincoln doesn’t have to choose between old people who want a pillow ride and younger buyers who want peformance and/or status. With a sport suspension setting, you can build a coddled-in-luxury car that brings in the old money, and still attract younger professionals who want to keep up with the Beemer crowd. The drivetrain has to be class-competitive, but as was pointed out in the Jaguar review, not at the expense of luxury and refinement.
Speaking of luxury, both groups want the same high quality materials, solid feeling hardware and that solid thunk of the doors. There’s nothing wrong with using Ford platforms if they’re good and the sheet metal is different. Remember when Ford made a Continental from a stretched Taurus? That car sold very well, especially among yuppie professionals, because it was loaded with classic luxury styling cues like an understated grille, gentle creases with rounded curves and a limo-look roofline, and an interior and IP that was as far away as they could get from a Taurus. The next gen was mechanically superior, but the all new body dropped the lux cues and sales never recovered.
A class-competitive RWD drivetrain is needed, but in lux class, appearance is everything. Elegant, understated luxury will fix what ails Lincoln.
Lorenzo, some of us actually like that grill. Some of us love it to the point that it becomes a dealbreaker. I haven’t found anybody who doesn’t say the grill on my 2011 MKS Ecoboost isn’t flat out gorgeous. Which it is by the way. Aggressive, no nonsense in-your-face LINCOLN. The way I like it. The way I’ve always liked it. The whole car is absolutely beautiful. Nothing wrong with the name either. It stands for Mark Sedan. Does it turn heads? Every freaking where I go, baby.