Two facts must be stated when it comes to Lincoln Motor Company:
1. Ford has been giving Lincoln the shaft since at least the late 1990’s, if not earlier.
2. Lincoln really hasn’t done a whole hell of a lot with the meager budget it did get.
And with those two facts, you can see how it all has bit the company in the ass over the last few years. The last model to have a significant impact to Lincoln’s bottom line was the Navigator when it was introduced in 1998, when Lincoln bested Cadillac in sales for the first time in many years. But not much else has come of it. It’s no secret that former Ford CEO Alan Mulally wanted to kill off Lincoln in the 2000’s, but was talked out of it at the last possible second. Now the brand is scrambling to find it’s place in the market, and you can see just how desperate the company seems to be: hiring Matthew McConaughey as a spokesperson (and promptly receiving a good spoofing from Jim Carrey) was a questionable step, but rumor coming out of Dearborn is that Lincoln is pushing over five billion dollars towards development of a new platform, dubbed “D6”.
Reportedly the platform will be a modular piece that can support FWD, RWD and AWD and a range of engines. Theoretically, the expectation is that a refreshed MKZ and replacement for the OH MY GOD KILL IT NOW!-ugly MKT will be the first two to utilize D6, with other possibilities, such as a long wheelbase halo model, expected to appear further down the line. Meanwhile, the MKZ will probably get one more generation update before moving to D6 and the Navigator is expected to go on the same aluminum diet that it’s F-150 root cousin has already undergone.
If Lincoln is serious about their 300,000 vehicles per year sales goal, they had better get their backsides in gear, because these types of developments have been long overdue.
(Courtesy: Reuters)
I really do want Lincoln to pull through, they’ve had some great cars in the past.
If anything, I’d like them to succeed because our streets are packed with boring, grey, appliance-like Civic and Corolla clones from all the USDM automakers, but the styling from Lincoln as of late has at least manged to stand out.
If Ford can rebuild Lincoln to go toe-to-toe with Caddy, they would pull down some serious interest. All the fire and fury of Caddilac’s current angle but with Ford’s superior interior and electrical quality.
I’m with you! I think the current Lincoln’s at least do look pretty cool, and I hate to see some of our older, reverred brands die. I also don’t think 5 billion is a whole lot of money for this effort, but spent wisely, could do the job. I remember when Ford redesigned their van back in the early ’90’s, they spent almost 2 billion just doing one van! So it’s not excessive to revamp and entire product line.
I never thought about that, but you’re right, 5B really isn’t that much for a corporate-level turnaround, unless they have one hell of an ace up their sleeves.
Still, all it would take is one really great model to get the ball rolling.
To many of us, the US car industry pretty much died the day the brands shifted to centralized Corporate designs, and now they’re showing us that they still can add a few bits to the stock vanilla and get a better flavor.
Well … as far as the current crop [ crap ] of Lincolns is concerned .. what they look like is exactly what they are . Re-bodied and rebadged Fords at severely inflated Lincoln price tags .
As to going toe to toe with Cadillac . In light of the fact that Cadillac in fact is in the financial weeds and the 2nd largest money loser [ after the Corvette division ] in GM’s line up .. Lincoln damn well better do a hell of a lot more than go toe to toe with America’s Eurosnob Wanna Be losers ..
As to my personal feelings towards Lincoln ? Yeah … you’re damn right I hope they can get their ___ together and survive
But .. in light of the last ten years … all the stupidity [ on every level ] going on with Cadillac [ that Lincoln thinks they need to target ] … the rampant onslaught of badge engineering going on thru out the industry .. as well as Ford’s reluctance to do much of anything smart [ other than the new Mustang ] of late ?
Not to mention each and every automotive business prognosticator to a number saying at least 40% of the brands currently being sold are destined for the relegation heap .
Suffice it to say .. I won’t be holding my breath …. though I’ll keep my fingers crossed in a semblance of vain hope regardless … cause like many others .. I’m getting tired of iconic brands going the way of the Dodo bird
Some kind of Lincoln “sport coupe” to compete with the CTSV would be nice….
I really think that out of all of the “Big 3”, Ford is in the best position to pull a killer sports coupe off because their European division has been very successful, and at least know what things are like competing in BMW’s home turf.
If a Lincoln sports coupe is on their scopes, it may prove wise to ignore the CTSV and instead emulate or target the M5.
The days of Lincoln competing with Packard and Rolls are long behind, but the Executive Sports Car market is growing quickly.
I hope Lincoln can get it s… together. I’m needing a new car thanks to a drunk redneck in a jacked up 4 wheel drive totaling my 2009 Town Car. Right now the only choice out there is a Fiat 300 or some other foreign junker. And I’m not looking forward to that.
God Please, I would love to buy a mid size Lincoln coupe with a 5.0 coyote V8 and enough room in the back seat that someone could actually use it… build it and I’ll write the check…. I’m not holding my breath………
I’m thinking mark IX
Part of the money should be spent to buy everyone that works at Lincoln a scale model of a 63 Continental. That’s where I would start.
Part of the problem is Lincoln built a car to compete with BMW, it was the LS line. When I worked for them it was a great car, no problems to speak of Beemer type styling, nice ride and considering the 3.9 v8, went like hell.
The problem was no one bought them….people were still thinking Town Car and didn’t give the new Lincolns a serious look. I still hate the fact Ford killed them.
I had a LS for a bit, and I will agree that it was a nice little car, but a lot could be done better. The styling on it was more Mitsubishi than luxury…