Lincoln future cars and product plans: 2010 and beyond

Lincoln hood ornament (source: flickr user pmarkham)

In 1999 Cadillac admitted that it had "overstated" its 1998 sales in an attempt to keep its 57 year winning streak as the nation's best selling luxury car. This confession lead to a Lincoln victory.

The final numbers were for 1998 were Lincoln: 187,121 and Cadillac: 182, 570. There was much rejoicing at Lincoln's headquarters.

As a side note, a 1999 NY Times article covering the Cadillac/Lincoln story quoted stock prices of $86.94 for GM and $64.38 for Ford.

That moment of victory was probably a high-water mark for the brand. Since that time, Cadillac has surged forward in its attempts to recapture the title "Standard of the world." Meanwhile Lincoln has seen its Navigator, the veritable engine of Lincoln sales, slow to a crawl and its other offering post modest sales numbers. At the end of the 2008, a "just shoot me" year for car sales, Lincoln posted 107,295 sales and Cadillac scored 161,159.

Click to view this slideshow of future Lincolns and a bit of the past.

All that is in the past. Let's look to the future! For 2010 Lincoln is launching its new crossover, the MKT and refreshing its MKZ sedan. The turbocharged EcoBoost engine will be made available in the MKS and MKT. For 2011 the MKX gets the new family snout when it gets a mid-cycle update while the Navigator and Town Car may come to an end. Looking further ahead, Automotive News predicts a possible compact sedan, compact crossover and an MKS refresh for 2012.

The switch towards smaller luxury is quite a departure from the Navigator fueled sales renaissance of the late nineties. Will consumers accept a Ford Focus sized luxry car? There was a lot of interest over the Lincoln C concept at this year's Detroit Auto show, but would that translate in to appreciatable sales? A small, luxury crossover based on the Ford Kuga (see slideshow) would probably fare better.

I have covered Ford's entire 2010 lineup in a three part series. You can read the story by clicking here for Part I, Part II and Part III. I have also written an article on Ford's 2010+ future lineup, you can read it here.

You might also be interested in these photo galleries:

2010 Ford and 2010 Lincoln photo gallery

2010 Ford and 2010 Lincoln photo gallery (Part II)

2010 Ford and 2010 Lincoln photo gallery (Part III)

Ford and its future

Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus

For more info: Information for this report comes from other articles written by the author and Automotive News.

Subscribe to receive alerts when the author submits a new article, follow the author on twitter or contact via e-mail!

Read More...

2010 Lincoln MKZ Fodder

Below is a snippet heralding the 2010 Lincoln MKZ. Is it worthy of your consideration? Personally I’m not that interested in this car. The styling is ho-hum and in this particular segment there are much more dynamic looking options out there. Take for example the CTS. While it may be lacking some of the technological, gee-whiz stuff that the MKZ sports, its styling is off the charts. Am I bitter that Lincoln abandoned the RWD LS sedan? Hell yeah! The LS was an innovator when it arrived on the market, a sign that domestic luxury marks weren’t interested in making barges for retirees forever. The LS was a young, hip sedan. So what if the headliner on my particular example fell down, it was still a very competent car. Since that time, Lincoln elected to go FWD/AWD and left the true sport sedan segment to the CTS. To top things off, Lincoln got rid of the spiffy Zephyr handle and slapped on the much less evocative MKZ badge. Boo, hiss.

Having said all of that, the MKZ could still make a bigger splash if it wasn’t so plain looking. If you still desire this car, I recommend saving the cash and buying a very similar Ford Fusion, just as I would advise you to choose a new 2010 Taurus over an MKS.

Lincoln needs to reboot, yet again, and until it does something in noteworthy like the original LS, I’ll sit on the sidelines. Oh, and another thing, if Lincoln thinks that ugly as sin MKT is going to help matters, I think it is going to be sorely disappointed.

The 2010 Lincoln MKZ offers customers more standard luxury and segment-exclusive safety features for their money, with a starting price of $34,965, including destination and delivery.
Compared with other midsize luxury sedans – such as the Lexus ES350 and Cadillac CTS – the MKZ comes with more standard luxury features, such as Bridge of Weir leather seats, genuine wood trim, heated and cooled front seats, the popular SYNC entertainment and connectivity system, a reverse sensing system and driver multi-adjustable power seat.

source: Ford

Read More...

Lincoln and the Grammy Awards

While other manufacturers have been dropping high-profile advertising left and right, Lincoln is touting its Grammy commercial. In my mind, you can't beat the value of lower cost efforts. The MKS isn't even the main focus of the commercial. Instead of spending a truckload of cash on a moon shot, why not buy more airtime and bang people over the head with your message? I hate the Snuggie, but thanks to an unrelenting ad blitz I'll never forget it.

The above video is obviously not the commercial, but rather some footage of the MKS driving around.

Lincoln and its creative agency, Y&R Team Detroit, created “Project Rising Stars” in collaboration with Gary Calamar – renowned DJ and Grammy-nominated producer and music supervisor. The team selected 10 songs from some of the country’s top emerging music artists and developed a music video-based competition in partnership with Filmaka, an online community for filmmakers and other artists, to create their own original content.

source: Ford

Read More...

Lincoln C Concept

Ford is committed to bringing a full slate of smaller vehicles to the USA. I mean, really committed. Some might say that Ford has over committed. We shall see how things all play out starting in 2010 when the first of the new vehicles start to arrive.

Now, let's talk about Lincoln. The brand has sputtered a bit, but as of late has shown some signs of life. Personally I don't think that Lincoln's brand focus is as well honed as Cadillac's, but Ford is ministering to its baby and hopefully the brand can gain some traction. At the 2009 NAIAS, Lincoln trotted out the production MKT and this little concept, called very appropriately the C Concept. Doesn't look like any Lincoln I've ever seen, how about you? Now this car is just for show, but I think it is absolutely guaranteed that we'll see a Lincoln of this size going forward. Now, will the production C-Segment Lincoln look like this? I have no idea. Should it look like this? That is a toughie!

For starters, I'll talk about what I do like about the C Concept. The grille. Oh, how I despise the grille on the new MKT. Overwrought, whale-like, find your own adjective. The C Concept's schnoz looks much more elegant, it fits the design of the car. There's no mistaking its a Lincoln, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. I like the size of the car. I'd welcome more C-Segment luxury vehicles. It has a ton of tech as a concept and I'm sure that the production model would have a boatload of goodies for younger buyers to explore. I also like that this is a hatchback. The hatch certainly allows the buyer to make the best use of the space available. Speaking of space, the rear of the car isn't rounded off, so you get maximum cargo room--I like that as well.

Okay, now for the dislikes. I think that the overall design in too Renault-ish for my tastes. The starship like dash does not entice me. I don't like the wacky seats either. Overall, the concept seems like a distant vision of where Lincoln would like to be, many of the concept's features probably have no production intent--I don't like it when concept cars tease me.

Funnily enough, I was walking the halls on my last night when I saw the Concept C in the Chrysler display area. I was startled at first, kind of looking around to see if it was some sort of prank, but it turned out that the car was just placed there so that a TV crew could shoot it.

As I said before, I don't think that the Concept C is a prank being played on the public by the folks at Ford. Mulally and company are very focused (yes, I'm punny) on delivering smaller cars and the Lincoln brand will in on the strategy. Overall, I think it's a risk, but a good one. I also think that Ford's tech-heavy strategy is excellent and will pull in younger buyers. Can a small, luxury hatchback from Lincoln carve out a niche for itself? Time will tell, but this it is a much better bet than another Lincoln pickup!

Read More...

2010 Lincoln MKT

I like the Flex. I like the idea of a more luxurious Flex. I'm not enamoured with the MKT. It's distinctive, that's for sure. I started to warm to the design last year when it was in concept form, but I'm not feeling it anymore. The interior was a nice surprise. I hadn't read through the press materials before I sat inside and was very happy with what I saw. Everything had a nice feel to it and the color selection was good. If I had to grump, it would be the gauges. I think they are a little low rent given the space in which Lincoln wants to play. Even the center stack seems a bit plain. I feel that way about most of Ford's IPs, they just aren't catchy enough. As with every car that Ford is releasing these days, it has an amazing list of tech features. This approach appeals to me, as I think that in-car tech will be a huge influencer moving forward.

Spending some serious time with the MKT would answer whether or not I can get past that whale of a nose and that silly MKT badge on the back. With Cadillac getting out of the seven seat crossover space, Lincoln will have some breathing room for its latest addition. I am very curious to see how many buyers are willing to take such a styling leap.

In addition to my pictures, I've added some FoMoCo provided material. I was disappointed that I was not able to get a better portfolio of photos taken, mostly because people kept climbing into the vehicle.

Read More...

2010 Lincoln MKZ

I sure liked the MKZ better when it was called the Zephyr, what a difference a name change can make. In any case, there is no way I'm spending 30 some odd grand on the MKZ when there are so many deserving competitors out there. I'd either save some dough and get a Fusion or purchase a CTS, G37, Lexus IS or any number of other sedans. That doesn't mean that the MKZ isn't right for some people and they'll be even happier with the 2010's improved powertrain and plusher interior.

Read More...

Lincoln Attempts to Use Daft Punk to Sell Gramps-Mobile

This post's title might make it seem like I'm trying to diminish the new Lincoln MKS. I'm not. Really, I'm not. It's just that after I watched the new MKS commercial featuring Daft Punk's Technologic, well I just couldn't sit around and say nothing.

I was cool with the Starship commercial. It didn't motivate me to buy a Lincoln, but I could see how the spot could raise awareness of the latest gadgetry that the brand has to offer. Heck, the Starship commercial influenced this guy enough to post his own video about it. Who knows, maybe in twenty years he can afford one (after he gets a decent webcam setup). However, this latest Daft Punk, "Leather-Wrapped Cyberspace" commercial is just way off base. Most Lincoln customers aren't going to get it and the commercial may in fact give them seizures. "Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, Trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it, Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, Snap it, work it, quick erase it." Did they honestly think that is going to resound with a prospective Lincoln buyer? The MKS is many things, but it is not, nor never will be a car for hipsters. Why try to sell it to them?

What's worse about this commercial is that it highlights some less appealing attributes of the sedan, such as the crap instrument cluster that looks to be ripped out of a circa 1980's Ford. And what's with this nasty side profile? Ewww.

I've always viewed the MKS as a shout out to all the Lincoln Continental owners who felt abandoned after the brand axed the FWD sedan. The MKS is a perfectly modern interpretation of the Conti and who knows, maybe it'll even win over a few Town Car fans. That's all well and good. Perhaps if we think of the MKS as the meat, then a fun, competitive RWD sport sedan would be the pudding that we'll get later on.

Until such a time as Lincoln has "the pudding" to offer auto enthusiasts, may I suggest a different tactic for their ads to sell their meat? I would have a voice-over running with a more appropriate soundtrack that discussed some of the features of the car. For example, you could mention the car's chromium-free leather and recycled wood, attributes that a buyer in this class of car might be interested in knowing about. I think this would resound far better than an excellent, but inappropriate techno soundtrack with no explanation about what makes the MKS unique.

Update: Thanks for the pointer to the commercial!

Read More...

Lincoln Crossover Details Due Imminently

Pebble Beach is bringing us a nice bounty of new car news. We've just seen some snaps from Cadillac and now, according the the WSJ, Lincoln should be giving us more details on its forthcoming Flex-based crossover.

I was really mixed on the MKT concept (pictures above). On the one hand, that grille makes it look like the car is filter feeding for crustaceans. The bustle-back design at the rear is a little bit off putting as well. I happened to be standing around at the Detroit show, moping that this was the last time I'd see Jaguar and Land Rover in the Ford section, when the crew was bringing the MKT down the walkway and up to its perch on the Lincoln stand. For some reason as I watched them slowly inch the car up a ramp, I took a liking to the MKT.

Was it the burbling exhaust? Was it the very krill eating grille that I had previously despised? I don't know. The MKT could be like one of Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend, the gal who had "two faces," one where she looked beautiful and then not-so-hot when conditions changed. I presume that Ford will be sharing pictures with us, so that Cadillac doesn't completely overshadow things. We should know more shortly.

source: Ford Plans New Luxury Crossover - WSJ.com

photo source: rwcmick

Read More...