http://www.caranddriver.com/features...incoln-feature

Fixing Lincoln has been on Ford’s to-do list for more than a decade, and today the job is more urgent than ever. Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo are gone, so Ford is forgoing the fat markups that come with luxury models at the same time that it is boosting its range of less profitable small cars. Former Lincoln Mercury dealers are clamoring for more product and higher volume to fill the void left by the death of Mercury. And Ford needs to move quickly before ceding too much additional market share to more nimble competitors such as Audi.


So Ford has formed a 92-person Lincoln task force to come up with a plan to start the revival of the languishing brand in time for the 2013 model year. Unlike past schemes involving celebrity designers and high-powered, rear-wheel-drive flagships, Ford is setting the bar lower this time. It is targeting the entry-luxury buyer with $35,000 to $55,000 to spend, and it will be offering a compact sedan and a small crossover for the first time. New Lincolns will get large helpings of Ford technology, such as eight-speed transmissions, computer-controlled dampers, EcoBoost engines, and MyLincoln Touch electronics. But dreams of big-displacement engines powering exclusive Lincoln models, as was the case back in the day, will have to remain just that—dreams. An analysis of Lincoln’s product plans reveals only models built on Ford’s corporate platforms and nothing larger than a V-6.


The company that put America on wheels and later adopted a “One Ford” philosophy has had a complicated relationship with the luxury market. Founded by Henry Leland in 1917, Lincoln was acquired by Henry Ford in 1922, and his descendants made it a viable competitor to Cadillac and other top luxury brands. Henry’s son, Edsel, championed the development of the refined 1940 Continental, with its eponymous bumper-mounted spare tire; Henry’s grandson William Clay led the styling of its successor, the stately 1956 Continental Mark II.


As recently as 1998, Lincoln ranked as the bestselling luxury brand in the United States, propelled by the enormous success of the Navigator SUV. But then-CEO Jac Nasser directed his attention and the company’s resources to its overseas luxury brands, Jaguar and Land Rover. Lincoln was shoehorned uncomfortably into the Premier Automotive Group (PAG), where it languished. Charged with finding a new styling theme for the brand, Land Rover designer Gerry McGovern created a massive slab-sided concept based on the 1961 Continental that remained stuck in the clay-model stage. Nasser departed Ford in October 2001, and PAG was disbanded a year later.

Lincoln never recovered. Its sales for the decade peaked in 2000, at 193,009, and declined steadily after that. A new naming convention inaugurated in 2006, replacing old favorites (Zephyr) with initialisms (MKZ), did nothing to arrest the decline, nor did in-your-face bow-wave styling created by designer Peter Horbury. Sales bottomed in 2009, at 82,847, before recovering slightly in 2010, only to begin sliding again. During the first five months of 2011, Lincoln sank another eight percent while Cadillac rose 23 percent.


To take a fresh look at Lincoln, Ford’s president of the Americas, Mark Fields recruited half the task-force members from outside the company. Group marketing director C.J. O’Donnell came from Jaguar, and others have joined from Audi, Lexus, and Cadillac. They are taking customer service seriously; more than half of the team’s members are working on dealership upgrades. Last October, Ford announced plans to eliminate 175 of its roughly 500 Lincoln franchises in the top 130 markets (metropolitan areas where it is overrepresented) and is demanding substantial improvement in showroom facilities and customer service from the remaining franchisees.


Another foreign-born designer has been selected to spearhead Lincoln’s product rebirth. In December, Ford lured Australian Max Wolff, 39, away from Cadillac, where he was in charge of exterior design and had been working on the DTS replacement, the 2013 XTS. Looking over his shoulder will be Fields and global product development boss Derrick Kuzak. Wolff and company will be plenty busy. Lincoln has promised to introduce seven all-new or redesigned models during the next four years.

The first Wolff-inspired designs arrive for the 2013 model year. Look for an all-new MKZ, which will be based on the Fusion again but with Lincoln styling. As there is today, there will be a hybrid version to add fuel-economy/green cred. Coming in 2014 is the first compact Lincoln—the MKC—which is a crossover based on the Focus.


This November, Lincoln will unveil the 2013 MKS and MKT with refreshed styling and engineering changes to the powertrain and chassis. The jumbo-size Navigator gets a mild midcycle enhancement and an optional twin-turbo EcoBoost V-6 from the F-150.


A new version of the Edge-based MKX crossover may arrive in 2014. A completely redone MKS flagship is expected late in 2015. The three-row MKT crossover continues; a replacement is being discussed but has not yet been determined.


Compared with the $4 billion General Motors gambled on Cadillac’s turnaround a decade ago, Ford is making a conscious decision to keep down costs and spread its bets. For the foreseeable future, Lincoln’s products will continue to be based exclusively on Ford products. Cadillac builds some of its models on dedicated architecture, but many of its future models will share components with other GM brands. With the upper middle of the domestic market relatively underserved and even stricter government fuel-economy regulations on the way, Lincoln’s blend of shared global platforms and smaller engines may be smarter than it looks, and may be just what’s needed to reverse the brand’s sales slide. True product differentiation, apparently, will have to wait for another day.

 

SMFH.... looks like it might end up being R.I.P. Lincoln afterall...

 

If that is their plan to make Lincoln competitive with other brands, then as bad as I hate to say it, save the money and put the ol' girl down with the little dignity she has left.

The only thing that will truly revamp Lincoln is a massive infusion of cash and complete ground up redesigns to separate them from upper level Fords. If you don't have the money, or the ***** to make that big gamble, then cut your losses now instead of trying to do it piecemeal and still losing money.

 

Lincoln has always been in competition with Cadillac. They can't compete with Caddy right now. Period.

 

Building a fancy Ford is not an issue. Audi and Cadillac are doing the same thing and they're pretty successful.

The problem with Lincoln is that they need to position themself on the market. Lincoln was always poor man's Rolls Royce and that has worked quite well for them for a long time. In fact, in 1998 Lincoln was the best selling luxury brand in the USA. Better than Lexus, better than BMW.

And then, for some unknown reason, they tried to become American BMW. So they lost their traditional buyers and they didn't really gain any new ones.

So unless they start building some RWD cars and start building cars that don't look like Fords (and for the love of God get rid of this whole MK-nonsense) ... Ford might as well kill Lincoln right now and save $1 billion.

 

I agree with all of you. If this actually works I will eat my hat. But this is the worst last stand I've seen. At least in a long time. None of the tinge mentioned is the path. If anything it's exactly the same path they have already tried. And failed. This is just sad to see.

I was going to say it but Red Star said it perfectly. Lincoln is the poor mans Rolls. And I'm ok with that. I don't think that Cadillac is near the same company it was but they successfully took the challenge of rivaling MB and BMW and won in most regards. Won enough at least. I never took Lincoln to be that kind of brand. Lincoln is responsible for the Posh side of American auto luxury. With powerful cruisers and great interiors. Chrysler more successfully executed this with the 300. Although a little more cheaply, they captured the audience that Lincoln needed. Lincoln had sex appeal at one point. It needs that back. Like Mad Men sex appeal. Not the actor in Mad Men. Low slung sexy sedans, even a sedan convertible. A hip but gentile coupe and a couple entry level EcoBoost powered sedans as entry level market. Model Audi, longitudinal engines with good power and minimalist bodies. No more bloat. I feel like the current line looks like a regular car put on a flotation device.

I'm sorry Lincoln, I'm sorry. Close your eyes. Goodnight old friend. Goodbye.

 

Well it's still possible to be successfull if Lincoln continues to be Ford based and FWD & AWD.

I mean, look at Acura, they're all Honda based and they're all FWD & AWD. And they make some of the ugliest cars ever built (ZDX, TL ...).
And they still managed to sell over 133,000 cars last year (compared to Lincoln's 85,000).

 

Kind of a bad comparison. Not even apples and oranges. More like watermelon and tomatoes.

Acura has always ridden on the heels of Honda's success and reliability. Only in the past couple years have Acura produced cars that faithful have shunned. They have always been on a similar platform. Acura wasn't doing well with the Vigor and changed the TL with the times. Not so sure about the new one though. But they are reliable and trustworthy.

Lincoln has been weak sauce for a while now. Getting very lucky with the Navigator to carry them through the late 90s and early 2000's. Lincoln has lost it's image completely. Acura hasn't.

Success may just be selling cars and I hope you are right and they are successful. But Lincoln will have to become Acura, not Audi. Maybe that's what they want. I hope it transpires for them but at this point, Lincoln is dead as I know it. It just doesn't work in my eyes but I hope they go all Wal-mart and move some product. I'll just have to do business with brands that have been better. Better at what they do. Not a brand struggling to figure out what is is now.

Just my opinion.

 

I was very hopeful when they first said they were gonna rebuild Lincoln, then when I read this... It's like reading about a dear friend relapsing on drugs... more of the same ol' b.s. and calling it a new direction...

 

DROP THE MK-WHATEVER NAMING SCHEME!!!

It's meaningless, confusing, and boring. I'd go so far as to says it's resulted in lost sales purely over confusion alone

 

Bingo - I think Lincoln needs more excitement and less lethargicity (I made up that word, but it sure sounds like the state of the Lincoln lineup) or it will become as boring and desirable as a Buick.

IMO they really needed to pursue this route...

 

Bingo! Bring back some exciting new, fast good performing luxury vehicles....

 

That wouldn't be a bad thing considering the fact that Buick has been pretty successfull in the past few years.

 

I really don't see how - maybe the Baby Boomers? I feel the stigma that Buicks are "old people cars" - no offense to old people as I'm on my way there. I find the lineup as exiting as Oldsmobile and Pontiac were before... you know.

Looking back, the intermediate GM brands made some real fine art. Its like they aren't even trying anymore. My '73 really had some style.

Just to confirm, I went to the website: four vehicles, all blah IMO.

 

Buick sold 155,000 vehicles last year, up by 51% (the biggest gain in the auto industry).

They have some pretty nice cars, like this Regal GS.





LaCrosse also looks pretty good.

 

After reading that I am somewhat depressed. I have to agree with the others, it is the same story we have heard before. I would love to know how 92 people are going to agree on anything and how that many ideas will make anything better.

 

...I'll be back in a few minutes...

(prints photo...runs to bathroom) O.O


I think with the recent events at Buick, I might be able to give you that one. But that was a lucky strike. Lincoln will need the same amount of luck.

 

cant pass judgement on Linc yet, gotta see what they've cooked up starting with the upcoming MKZ, MKS, MKT, and the new Nav.

to me they're making a bigger effort this time around by:

1.) decreasing its dealer network and increasing the customer service and lux appeal.
2.) dedicating a team of Linc engineers, designers, etc this time around.
3.) more focus driven around differentiating from the Fords (atleast in writing, we'll see in teh next few months).

with that said, looking at the bigger picture, by 2015, Linc would have a vehicle in the C segment, mid-size, full-size, cuv compact, mid sized cuv, and full size SUV to be competitive with the other lux brands. their plan makes sense, but lets see if they can execute.

 

the 2 things that make the least sense IMO are the MK naming scheme and the lack of a RWD car, be it 2 or 4 door, I think they should have at least 1 rwd car.

 

I take that back - I have always liked the full size sedan, whether it was called the Continental in the 60's to the Town Car in the 70's & up... Long live the Town Car!!!

Tell me this doesn't reek of 60's class...



Then Ford drops the entire Crown/Marquis/Town Car platform...