TriumphGT6
Active LVC Member
The Previous thread I made about venting against Ford's volvoizing themselves. This thread is where you post suggestions of what they could do, REALISTICALLY, to improve the Lincoln division so it doesn't Oldsmobile itself out of existence.
My Suggestions:
1. Continue to make cars based on the panther platform as the research costs were paid off in the 1970's and only minimal investing (compared to a total redesign) is necessary to turn out a superb car that will continue to sell.
2. Make each car unique. IE - Dont make the Crown Vic and Mercury Grand Marquis look so similar. Make it so people don't look at Mercury Montego as a Ford 500 with better option packages.
3. To Offset the cost of creating each car uniquely offer fewer engines, but make more performance parts for the sportier cars. IE - Make the Crown Vic, Mark IX(Hopefully), Continental (Hopefully), Town Car, Grand Marquis, Mustang (Dump the V6, just offer a detuned V8), F150, Aviator and Navigator with the SAME ENGINE but offer specific parts to improve torque on Trucks, and Horsepower on the sport cars.
4. Don't go headfirst into makng all the cars FWD or AWD, test the water for 5-6 years and see how it affects resale when compared to a RWD model (hopefully Town Car).
5. Allow people to pick their options. Back in the day you could pick and choose each option you wanted and didn't have to buy them in stupid packages. This makes for a customer get that fuzzy feeling that they got exactly what they wanted, and it helps make them a return customer.
6. Fix whats broken. Instead of relying on the old method of letting a few problems exist and dealing with them in the marketplace, find a way to fix them before they hit the market. The Japanese do it and they have a very good returning customer base. Saturn tried to do it, but they still built cars with an oil ring problem, but refuse to acknoledge it.
7. Use parts that are cheap to manufacture, but good in quality (Build stuff like Honda does) , because cheap repair costs improve used car values.
8. Do not keep adding ultra-techie features to Lincoln cars. Most people tha t buy a Lincoln don't want a navigation system, because they remember when TV's came out. They don't want anything more complicated than a Radio, with a Cassette and in-dash single-disc, NOT Trunk CD player. More odd little features like that alienate old people, and the cost of developing these features ups overall costs, so drop the nav system.
9. Keep up the Luxury and Sport, but don't compromise on the luxury as there will always be more sportier cars than luxoboats, but they won't be able to touch the comfort of a luxury car.
10. Don't put stuff interior, exterior or engine-wise where you wouldn't hink it would be. Ergonomics in every aspect of the car is very nice for upping used car values; because a good to drive, good to work on, and easy to sell later car is easy to sell now.
I have laid out what I hope happens, and I hope some Ford executive takes my ideas, take credit for them, I don't care, I want them done.
Now lets hear what you all think should be done...
My Suggestions:
1. Continue to make cars based on the panther platform as the research costs were paid off in the 1970's and only minimal investing (compared to a total redesign) is necessary to turn out a superb car that will continue to sell.
2. Make each car unique. IE - Dont make the Crown Vic and Mercury Grand Marquis look so similar. Make it so people don't look at Mercury Montego as a Ford 500 with better option packages.
3. To Offset the cost of creating each car uniquely offer fewer engines, but make more performance parts for the sportier cars. IE - Make the Crown Vic, Mark IX(Hopefully), Continental (Hopefully), Town Car, Grand Marquis, Mustang (Dump the V6, just offer a detuned V8), F150, Aviator and Navigator with the SAME ENGINE but offer specific parts to improve torque on Trucks, and Horsepower on the sport cars.
4. Don't go headfirst into makng all the cars FWD or AWD, test the water for 5-6 years and see how it affects resale when compared to a RWD model (hopefully Town Car).
5. Allow people to pick their options. Back in the day you could pick and choose each option you wanted and didn't have to buy them in stupid packages. This makes for a customer get that fuzzy feeling that they got exactly what they wanted, and it helps make them a return customer.
6. Fix whats broken. Instead of relying on the old method of letting a few problems exist and dealing with them in the marketplace, find a way to fix them before they hit the market. The Japanese do it and they have a very good returning customer base. Saturn tried to do it, but they still built cars with an oil ring problem, but refuse to acknoledge it.
7. Use parts that are cheap to manufacture, but good in quality (Build stuff like Honda does) , because cheap repair costs improve used car values.
8. Do not keep adding ultra-techie features to Lincoln cars. Most people tha t buy a Lincoln don't want a navigation system, because they remember when TV's came out. They don't want anything more complicated than a Radio, with a Cassette and in-dash single-disc, NOT Trunk CD player. More odd little features like that alienate old people, and the cost of developing these features ups overall costs, so drop the nav system.
9. Keep up the Luxury and Sport, but don't compromise on the luxury as there will always be more sportier cars than luxoboats, but they won't be able to touch the comfort of a luxury car.
10. Don't put stuff interior, exterior or engine-wise where you wouldn't hink it would be. Ergonomics in every aspect of the car is very nice for upping used car values; because a good to drive, good to work on, and easy to sell later car is easy to sell now.
I have laid out what I hope happens, and I hope some Ford executive takes my ideas, take credit for them, I don't care, I want them done.
Now lets hear what you all think should be done...