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ford has to be careful in how they refurbish the lincoln brand. it cant be too high performance as they will cut into the performance ford buyers. it cant concentrate too much on luxury either as it becomes an old mans car. the styling does have to get away from the ford influence, but still use the various ford chassis. i agree that the grills are hideous, but firing the people who designed them isnt good enough, they need to be executed in as horrible a manner as the law allows.
clean styling, performance at least equal to what cadillac has, and luxury along the lines of mercedes, and bmw like handling, and you have something that will sell in the upscale markets.
as for engines. the ecoboost engine from the taurus sho, with perhaps a bit more power, is a good choice when coupled to an all wheel drive system.
for an optional engine, the 5.0 coyote engine with a supercharger making about 100 more hp that the ecoboost V6 is also an excellent choice. and for a real hot rod lincoln, perhaps a supercharged 6.2 V8.
I vote they, and the designers of the Aztec, must serve a life sentence of driving a Ford Festiva.
no, that is too good for them. a better choice for torture would be a vega, an early one.
I thought they'd all rusted away,...except for the parts where the oil frequently leaked out. How about an AMC Pacer without a working AC and make them live in Arizona?
I thought they'd all rusted away,...except for the parts where the oil frequently leaked out. How about an AMC Pacer without a working AC and make them live in Arizona?
nope, the pacer is still a better car than the vega ever was. perhaps a yugo?
Richb - I agree with you on many things but not the engines. There is no realistic market for 12 or 16 cylinder engines. Only Bugatti has a 16 - and that car sells for > $1M. As for 12 cylinders - I see no advantage for Ford that could justify the engineering development cost. The Ford V10 was a nice truck engine, but it was 6.8L - way too big to be considered anything less than a brute truck engine.
Lincoln needs to sell 150K vehicles eventually, and cars with every expensive engines will not help them. Nothing wrong with 6 cylinders, as it is the bread and butter BMW engine.
I agree with a limited number of models.
1. luxury high performance coupe - RWD, 400Hp or more, and beautiful. Metal hardtop convertible could be offered.
2. luxury 4 door full size that is not a plushmobile (Town Car). I like the idea of a suicide doors RWD sedan. Unfortunately Ford seems to have no interest.
3. mid-size sedan.
4. mid-size luxury SUV - kind of a small Range Rover. Must be fast and have reasonable offroad capability.
A high end compact car, with unique energy efficiency, would be a nice statement for for the future.
Richb - I agree with you on many things but not the engines. There is no realistic market for 12 or 16 cylinder engines. Only Bugatti has a 16 - and that car sells for > $1M. As for 12 cylinders - I see no advantage for Ford that could justify the engineering development cost. The Ford V10 was a nice truck engine, but it was 6.8L - way too big to be considered anything less than a brute truck engine.
Lincoln needs to sell 150K vehicles eventually, and cars with every expensive engines will not help them. Nothing wrong with 6 cylinders, as it is the bread and butter BMW engine.
I agree. A V-12 or V-16 engine is not necessary. BTW, thanks for saying engine instead of "motor."
Quote:
I agree with a limited number of models.
1. luxury high performance coupe - RWD, 400Hp or more, and beautiful. Metal hardtop convertible could be offered.
2. luxury 4 door full size that is not a plushmobile (Town Car). I like the idea of a suicide doors RWD sedan. Unfortunately Ford seems to have no interest.
3. mid-size sedan.
4. mid-size luxury SUV - kind of a small Range Rover. Must be fast and have reasonable offroad capability.
A high end compact car, with unique energy efficiency, would be a nice statement for for the future.
I don't think we'll see any type of luxury full-sized Lincoln, in plushmobile or non-plushmobile form. The Town Car is the last (very unfortunately) of the full-sized Lincoln. Which is one reason why it should not be discontinued.
They should scrap the whole lineup except the small crossover, the MKT I think? Whichever one is based on the Edge.
Then they should work on a global RWD platform. Something that can go under the next Mustang but be sophisticated enough to be dolled up with road sensing suspension or air ride. The Austrailians can use it for the next Falcon. Two models at first: a Continental (E class fighter) and a mkix (3 series/clk) coupe using 5.0s and/or Ecoboosts for motivation. Then they can just branch out from there as the market improves.
Tough one that no one seems to have the answer to, not even Ford, lol. If it were me, I would semi scrap the lineup and go for 4 models while completely overhauling the styling:
1. Current MKZ, Fusion based volume car with the Ecoboost 4 cylinder as the base engine and a hybrid version as well. Take a page out of the Acura book and content the crap out of them, basically only offer two models, Ecoboost or hybrid, everything else is standard. Make the Lexus ES the suspension and refinement benchmark. By trimming down the options you give people a better perceived value and lower the overall price. The ride will rival Lexus while the content marks it as a strong value play. Priced at ~$35k.
2. Current MKX, Edge based crossover following the same formula as the above Fusion based sedan. Content like an Acura RDX with the ride and quality of a Lexus RX. These moves are a total value/volume play to keep costs down and cars moving off the lots while the focus on developing the next two cars. Priced at ~$40k.
3. RWD is a must and should share platforms with the Falcon. The Mustang platform is its own platform designed to be inexpensive and use a solid rear axle, it's not a good base for a luxury car and Mustang volume easily supports its own platform. This model needs to signal the future direction of the brand. The goal would be to provide a budget 7-series. You need more pricing flexibility here, so options should abound and be highly customizable, this is not a bread and butter car, more of a halo effort to draw attention to the brand ala Hyundai Equus. V6 Ecoboost should be standard, perhaps offer a V8 Ecoboost, or if you want the left field option, offer a diesel. Can you imagine that? Full size luxury car with the new Ford 6.7L diesel? It would return the best MPG out of all the high end lux cars and has the power to pull off the proper luxury feel with an immense amount of torque. The price point would be in the $70k-$90k range, expensive, but still a value for the segment and would give them enough flexibility to do it right.
4. This would be my performance coupe slot. If you can engineer the platform for number 3 to be flexible without sacrificing anything, then use that to underpin this car. If not, I would tap the Mustang platform, but only if I could get a proper IRS under it. This car should have a healthy options list as well. Inspiration for this car is the Audi S5 and Infiniti G37 coupe. Offer it with the same engines as the Mustang, the 3.7 in base form and the 5.0 in upper trim with about an extra 20 horses baked into each one. Offer a high performance package akin to Audi's old S-line that would include upgraded suspension and brakes. Price point for this car would be $45k - $60k filling the middle void in the lineup. Debut with the coupe and follow-up with a hardtop convertible the following year.
Basically, Lincoln needs to be a value play ala Acura/Buick on the bottom end offering a lot of content and refinement for the money. If these cars a break even in terms of profit, then that is fine. The upper end car takes the reverse to Cadillacs strategy in building from the bottom/middle and goes straight for the top. Again, it's a value play as Lincoln needs to be a value play, but it also showcases what they can do without worrying so much about a budget. Using a shared platform allows them to get the price down. The fourth car, the performance coupe is all about getting younger more affluent buyers interested in the brand and helps provide a bridge in the lineup.
Down the line I would look at introducing two additional cars, one a Focus based entry in the upcoming premium compact segment. The other a midsized version of the flagship to round out the product portfolio. To sum up, Buick/Acura on the bottom, Cadillac/BMW/Audi on the top.
They need a RWD car that isn't a boat, or too focused on economy. Nothing they have now seems exciting or gives a reason to look consider Lincoln over German competition.
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