How dumb is Lincoln anyway.

[Silver02Sport]

Reading about Lincoln becoming the next Acura what with lacking a V8 or RWD and after seeing the success of Caddys V Series I'm wondering why on earth Lincoln hasn't yet slapped a new body on a Stang, install the LS suspension a DOHC 4.6L (with some kind of new Ford Multi-Displacment System so it can get decent milage) and called it a Mark 9 it worked like a charm in the 80's with the Mark 7. It would also give them a convertible which couldn't hurt sales.

They could even make a DOHC 5.4 version to compete with the likes of the germans. Introduce a Twin Force AWD MKZ to go along with it and you've got the beginnings of a real performance group. I'm sure none of this will ever happen Fords way to worried about loosing Mustang sales. But even an idiot can see Lincoln needs the image boost and I'm sure the stang could take the small hit in sales.

 

[dnehthend]

because ford has no idea what's going on

 

[CTX-SLPR]

Ford also has no cash to go and do things like that. Agreed they have the platform for a Lincoln Mk9 with about a foot longer mustang with a new body but right now Mulalee is on a good idea of making a universal RWD platform so that we can get stuff like the Interceptor and a revised Town Car/Crown Victoria out. Ford should sell of Rover and Jag, just shut down Mercury, and make Lincoln into a Caddy and Lexus fighter with some Buickesque models thrown in for high volume near luxury since Merc will be dead.

 

[SoonerLS]

There have been drawings of a Lincoln coupe based on the Mustang running around for almost a year (from Ford's design studios, not from some random source). Why haven't they moved forward on it by now? Simple economics: insufficient return on the investment at this time.

Luxury coupes are a minor market and it would require a substantial investment to bring a Mustang up to Lincoln standards of refinement. The Mustang is a great car for what it is, but it is far too crude to play in the luxury market.

As J Mays said, they have to get the bread and butter (sedans) correct before they can move to desert (sporty coupes). They're not exactly flush with cash, if you haven't noticed, but they are having some success with the MKZ and MKX (which are both doing something the LS never did, selling at a profit).

Once they translate those initial successes into sustained successes, then they can move on to riskier projects like coupes. Until then, they have to make sure the real moneymakers will make money.

 

[owlman]

As J Mays said, they have to get the bread and butter (sedans) correct before they can move to desert (sporty coupes). They're not exactly flush with cash, if you haven't noticed, but they are having some success with the MKZ and MKX (which are both doing something the LS never did, selling at a profit).

Is that true, the LS did not turn a profit?

 

[fuzzyb]

Is that true, the LS did not turn a profit?

You would have to market the car!!!

Very few people even know what a LS is. The only way they know is if they are interested in one.
"Lincoln LS, is that like a town car?" I get that a lot. Yet every body loves my car

 

[Silver02Sport]

You would have to market the car!!!

Very few people even know what a LS is. The only way they know is if they are interested in one.
"Lincoln LS, is that like a town car?" I get that a lot. Yet every body loves my car

Thats the problem exactly nobody knows anything by lincoln other then Town Cars and Navigators they need something like I was talking about to boot there image something Lincoln desperately needs. Brand Awareness

 

[glanga]

They did sell off Aston Martin. That was a step in the right direction. After 500+ steps back.

 

[Barwick]

because ford has no idea what's going on

DING DING DING DING DING!!! We have a winner!

 

[Eliot_Ness_Ls]

You would have to market the car!!!

Very few people even know what a LS is. The only way they know is if they are interested in one.
"Lincoln LS, is that like a town car?" I get that a lot. Yet every body loves my car

Thats the problem exactly nobody knows anything by lincoln other then Town Cars and Navigators they need something like I was talking about to boot there image something Lincoln desperately needs. Brand Awareness
June 25th, 2007 01:40 PM

I don't know about that, every time I say something about owning a LS people tell me how nice they are. I myself get a bit amazed at how many responses I get when I tell some one I have a LS, even on other custom type car forums people say its so nice and they would love to have one. These days I see them everywhere from the one age group to another.

I think of it like this, Americans like everything to be big and powerful while foreign likes it small and precise. American companies are damn good at making it happen with big powerful engines but for some reason when we try to put the small precise attributes together with big American craftsmanship and power it just don't work and lately the American car trade has been losing to these foreign companies so we are putting the 2 together more and more .

 

[Beamer]

Ford sucks, I hate to say it but its just one bad decision/release after another it seems. They need to get the styling they have over seas and bring it here, the new Mond--- (forget name at the the moment) is freakin nice, inside is so not our fords, even the Fiesta(our focus) is a good looking car. They get that here and we well see a turn around. I would be visiting the FoMoCo dealers if they did. There is alot of reasons for this and that, read them over and over, getting sick of hearing about it.

 

[SoonerLS]

Is that true, the LS did not turn a profit?

Yeah, it's sad but true. The business case for the LS was made at an annual sales mark of ~100,000 units, which was wildly optimistic even before they killed the European sales program. The high water mark for sales was around 50K units in one year, IIRC. When you're that far off on the sales projections, there's no way to make the money back...

 

[Jim Henderson]

Seems like Lincoln was becoming th eneglected step child while Ford had brands such as Jaguar and Aston in the stable.

I recall a year or two back where Ford spokesperson even said Ford was concentrating on it's premium brands and that Lincoln was going to be put down into the midrange.

Well, looks like they succeeded. Not many people view Lincoln as a premium brand anymore. Heck not many know Lincoln except for the huge overpriced trucks they now like to sell.

Good news I guess is that they did sell off Aston and are looking at dropping Jaguar and Volvo. So maybe they might have the money and or attention to make Lincoln their repmium brand again someday? I kind of doubt it, but who knows. For now, even I am looking at Cadillac as the only premium American brand left, it's too bad.

Jim Henderson

 

[SoonerLS]

Good news I guess is that they did sell off Aston and are looking at dropping Jaguar and Volvo.

They are reportedly shopping Jaguar and Land Rover, but not Volvo. There are reports that some European manufacturers are interested in buying Volvo, but no credible reports that Ford is actually shopping it around.

There are three major problems with the reports of Volvo being on the block:
1) Pretty much all of the current and planned European Ford cars are built on Volvo platforms.
2) Ford put Volvo up as collateral against the line of credit that's financing their Way Forward recovery plan. Lenders tend to look askance on you selling things you've used to secure their money.
3) Ford doesn't publicly separate the profits and losses of the PAG brands, but the strong indications are that Volvo is the one PAG brand that's profitable (now that Aston has been sold), and Ford needs all the profit it can get.

Selling Jaguar also has problems--two of Jag's factories have been used as collateral against that same line of credit. As for Land Rover, nobody in his right mind would buy it without Jaguar, considering that Landies are powered by Jag engines.

On the other hand, Land Rover and Jag are both getting ready to hit major model redesigns, which means they're going to be needing big bucks in the R&D arena...

Also, the sale of Aston was not all that great as news goes. Aston was turning a profit, even though its production was low enough that it wasn't making a tremendous difference to Ford's bottom line. That's why it was the easiest to sell off...