akirby

It's almost a moot point if you have the power liftgate. I did like using the glass when loading or unloading from trips since you didn't have to worry about stuff falling out.

Go check Camry sales vs. ES350 sales. As price goes up, sales go down. Mercury sales are significantly fleet and employee sales. Lincoln has almost no fleet and lots of conquest sales. And with the higher transaction prices it's a fair guess to say that Lincoln was more profitable even on lower volume.

I guess you guys don't understand the concept of teasers.

I had a LS and the wife had an Aviator. We really wanted a MKX but could not justify the $4K+ price difference with the only big difference being cooled seats and the THX stereo. Plus we actually liked the Edge styling better. Haven't regretted it at all. That doesn't mean we won't spring for a new MKX with the improvements in a few years but I definitely would not discount the Edge.

I would assume it's to reduce glare.

Bububububu it's RWD so that makes it perfect. Don't you know anything?

Having gone from 2 explorers, an expedition and an Aviator to a 2008 Edge w/power liftgate - I can honestly say that I've never missed the separate rear glass at all.

It was - around 2004, give or take. It started as 3 years, then was reduced to 1 year before being discontinued altogether. Back then Lincoln also guaranteed a Lincoln loaner vehicle but they reduced that also. Free maintenance, rain sensing wipers, selectshift - Lincoln has finally returned to where it was in 2004.

I can almost guarantee this will be standard on 2011 models. This probably covers all of the 2010 models.

It was only 24 months for the new Taurus - a record I believe. And it wasn't just a "knee jerk" reaction to sales - it was about not throwing away a valuable brand name. At that point the choice was to reuse Taurus or throw it away and keep Five Hundred. Seems like a no-brainer to me, regardless of what happened with sales.

Ford has been actively working to consolidate dealers for the last 2 years at least behind the scenes (quietly).

Took me about 30 seconds to realize it's the rear hatch.

Then why does the 2011 order guide fail to list it as Standard equipment on the V6 Premium and lists it as (Coupe Only) in the optional equipment section? Also the performance package which includes the 3.31 is only available on a manual coupe. Perhaps you're thinking of the 2010?

I'll take a Cayman S and pocket the change - thank you very much.

Do we use the same number for attaboys?

It would have to be done with incentives of course. Dumping Mercury simply reduces the number of Lincoln dealers, improving volume for the remaining ones and reducing the number of dealers that Lincoln has to revamp.

This is the kicker that makes it an open and shut case in my mind. They might as well mail the $16M check now. And get ready for more.

Link - USA Today

SRX sells over 4K/month right now. That's 50k/yr and should be sufficient.

Mulally doesn't make decisions like this on a whim or by himself. This was a team decision with a clear plan in place - that's how they operate now. It was either dueling plans where one finally won out over the other, or a new plan presented itself recently and was rushed through. My personal guess is they want to revamp the Lincoln showrooms to compete with Lexus including separate showrooms for Lincoln in F/L dealerships. They started that a decade ago but stopped. Mercury was allowing these marginal L/M dealers to survive so getting rid of it accomplishes 2 things - fewer, better dealers and less distractions for the product and marketing teams to rebuild Lincoln.

I remember the Lincoln LS had optional cloth seats in Canada. And in 2003 Lincoln had planned 4 LS models - V6 and V8 sport and non-sport. The U.S. dealers killed the V6 sport and the V8 non sport but IIRC you could still get them in Canada. It probably has more to do with U.S. dealers than manufacturing.

Nobody knows. This is just sheer BON speculation and resulting arguments about said speculation. The only thing we know for sure is that Lincoln gets a "C segment vehicle".

You wouldn't have it for long. All the good executives would leave and the company would be a leaderless disaster. I know you don't like it, but that's the way jobs and compensation works in the REAL world.

Last time I checked they still make a Ford ranger - selling over 6K/month in fact. I don't think Ford will walk away from the Ranger - I just think that they haven't figured out how to do a replacement efficiently. Apparently the global ranger isn't suitable. As for Town Car - it has a reputation but not one that Ford wants to perpetuate. It will not be missed.

And Rangers (unless those were done aftermarket)