DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- Ford Motor Co. (F) said Monday it will end production of its Lincoln LS sedan following the second quarter of next year, possibly costing the Wixom, Mich., plant where it is exclusively built hundreds of jobs in 2006 and leading to the facility's closure.
"We have confirmed we will stop building the LS at the end of the 2006 model year," Lincoln spokeswoman Sara Tatchio said. The automaker has been selling the LS since 1999 and she said demand for the luxury vehicle has declined in recent years.
The Detroit Free Press reported the move is expected to eliminate 250 to 280 jobs next year in Wixom, but Tatchio dismissed the news report as "complete speculation." It is possible the automaker could try to move the employees to other locations or offer early retirement to excess workers, as has been the company's practice in some cases in the past.
Ford employs about 1,663 blue-collar workers in Wixom and builds three models, including the low-volume GT super car and the Lincoln Town Car sedan. Although no timetable has been announced by Ford concerning the Town Car, production of the GT is expected to cease following the 2007 model year, possibly opening the door to Ford closing the plant.
The automaker is saddled with too much production capacity in the U.S. and is widely speculated to be looking at Wixom as one of a handful of plants to close following its next round of bargaining with the United Auto Workers union in 2007.
Over-capacity, combined with high labor, material and healthcare costs, are squeezing Ford's bottom line in North America and putting pressure on its suppliers in the U.S., many of which are dependent on stable production levels and a fresh flow of business from Detroit's Big Three automakers.

 

there going to replace it with some FWD thing.

 

Ford missed the boat with the LS. Could have been a World Class sedan (and in some circles it was), but Ford neglected it.

I think the future Lincolns will be AWD standard, but based on FWD chassis. Much like Audi has done.

 

Jason I agree... the LS was a great car initially but they did nothing to refine the package... I guess they are moving Lincoln downmarket to compete with Buick and letting PAG compete with Cadillac.

What a shame... great car... great chassis... they could have built the next towncar/continental/mark9 off of it.

 

PAG?

i like the LS, its a cool lil sedan too bad its going

(still working on convincing Dad to trade his 323i for one...)

 

PAG = Premier Auto Group (Jag, Volvo, A-M, Land Rover)

 

ah, now i get it


(lol at first i was like... is that a typo for Jag? :P )

 

I always liked the LS. A freind of the family had one, and so did my landlord. Whenever I got in one, it seemed like a whole new level of car (granted, I was driving a 92 Taurus at the time, although I liked that too).

I am kinda concerned for the future of Lincoln. They are making some pretty big changes in their business plan, which could turn out really well, or even more easily turn out really badly. They really have to be careful when redoing the new Town Car (from what I hear, no more body-on-frame, and AWD). I am really gonna miss the Panther platform cars when they are phased out.

 

I thought it was a nice looking car. Very classy. They just didn't get a lot of performance publicity.