akirby

I am assuming that Lincoln is not making any profit right now. None whatsoever. So now I ask again - why does that make them desperate? What should they be doing differently than what they're already doing?

Actually it was McCormick who said they were eschewing large sedans. Farley said they weren't going to build a big box with a cappuccino machine. I don't translate that to mean we won't get a new MKS just that it won't be a big floaty luxo-barge.

I bet it requires synthetic blinker fluid though and that stuff is expensive.

Why? Why is Lincoln in trouble and desperate? Is Ford about to go out of business? I don't understand the desperation here. Ford has several years to get Lincoln right. There's no big rush or deadline. Go find ONE post from a "cheerleader" who says that MKS sales are great. NOBODY thinks they're great. EVERYBODY thinks they're disappointing including Ford. But there is a big difference between disappointing and "OMG they need to kill it". Maybe that's exactly why they're working on a new one. Until the new one gets here there's nothing they can really do. If all they wanted to do was pump up the sales volume then they could do that just by putting cash on the hood. But what would be the point? All that would do is lower profit margins and get people used to Lincolns having big incentives and that's not healthy long term. Ford would be desperate if they didn't have a plan for Lincoln that was already underway or if they had already implemented the plan and it wasn't working. But they do have a plan and it hasn't been executed yet.

Should have left it disconnected while it was sitting for a couple of days. That's the only real way to test it.

Bingo.

That's what "without" means......

Plus crossovers and suvs. I don't think he would have stuck with DEW - too expensive and inflexible. Don't forget there was a global RWD program in place when the bottom fell out in 2008 and it had to be killed. I think it would have been a joint effort with team mustang and the aussies. Great performance options but lower cost than DEW.

When the vehicles roll off the assembly line they're put on a dyno and tested at WOT. Just vary your speeds as directed and don't tow anything and you'll be fine.

When the vehicles roll off the assembly line they're put on a dyno and tested at WOT. Just vary your speeds as directed and don't tow anything and you'll be fine.

Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner.

Looks more shark than whale to me....

Only 100 RETAIL orders. The rest are dealer stock.

It's a reboot. don't be concerned unless it starts happening a lot.

That's already happening - either moving strictly to 401Ks and/or cash balance pensions. Traditional pensions will be toast in a few years. It's too risky and too much overhead for the employers and they're not portable for the employees as they move between companies.

Order banks are open now - go get them!

It's the inventory lag. If a stop sale had been ordered it would have been front page news.

I remember Jim Rogers (VP of marketing at the time) talking about all the plans for multiple new Lincoln vehicles including a 3 series competitor. But then the business case for the LS fell apart and so did PAG. I still think about what Lincoln could be today if they had hired Mulally 5 years earlier.

I do hope the Republicans wise up and realize they need to soften their extreme stances and get candidates who are more moderate. Actually I wish we had a system that allowed an independent or 3rd party candidate to have a real shot at winning but that's not happening. At least the dems can't blame the previous administration any more.

What are you - some kind of LS club member?

This is EXACTLY what I was trying to convey 6 pages ago. You don't fix Lincoln with a halo vehicle. The LS was too expensive with no supporting premium dealership experience and while it was certainly different from any other Ford in all respects there were areas where it wasn't much better like the dash and interior materials. Lincoln is putting the foundation in to a long term successful brand. Foundations are never sexy but they're required to sustain the parts you can see and interact with. Lincoln will never match Lexus or MB without a premium dealership experience. The reason a lot of past and present Lincolns get no respect is that they were styled by the same folks who did the Ford vehicles. That's no longer the case with a dedicated Lincoln design team. The MKZ doesn't have to be perfect. At this point it just has to be a big step in the right direction to show that Ford is serious about Lincoln's being different. It will have room for improvement. It will also be the litmus test to see if buyers will accept the new Lincolns. I think it will be successful over the next several years and by successful I mean they'll sell more vehicles than they do now and turn a nice profit doing it. That's why Ford is keeping Lincoln - for no other reason than to generate more profits. It's not about winning magazine comparisons or other awards. LS won COTY - how'd that work out? I do think Ford will try to do one or more performance versions based on existing platforms. Whether that's CD4/AWD or Mustang/RWD I'm not sure but I do know they'd like to do something special - they just have to figure out how to do it without spending billions in the process and that may take some time.

It generates a mild electric current throughout the chassis. They're used a lot on salt water boats. That would be a likely culprit.

Go back to the original discussion. The question was not whether Ford's new plan for Lincoln was going to be successful or not. The assertion from Zan was that Lincoln was simply doing the same thing they have been doing for the last 20 years. That was it. Nothing about how successful or unsuccessful it would be - just whether or not it was any different than what had been done in the past. And anyone who looks at the changes Ford has made with Lincoln the last 2 years can see that it is an entirely different approach except they are still sharing platforms with Fords for now. We pointed out all of the things that Lincoln was doing differently - unique sheetmetal, features, dealership experience, etc. etc. etc. Based on those FACTS it should be easy to conclude that Lincoln's approach this time is different than any time in the recent past. And THAT was the question. Period. To ignore all those real changes and instead focus on what's currently in showrooms and current sales figures is myopic and doesn't address the original assertion. Summary: Is Ford doing things differently with Lincoln this time around? Yes. Will it be successful? Don't know yet. Too early to tell.

I was wrong about them not shipping completed vehicles to Flat Rock. You were wrong about it being due to hybrid titaniums.

You're not the problem and it's difficult to ignore the 4 or 5 people who are the worst offenders due to the sheer number of topics that get opened. Almost none of this political banter has anything to do with Ford or Ford cars or the automotive industry. At least limit it to one or two topics so if I want to open a non-political off topic topic it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Why people think this is their own private website where they can do anything they want is beyond me.