DCK

Then what will Lincoln become? Is Ford going to purposely limit Ford Brand Cars so the same thing doesn't happen to them?

They are hip, atleast for college age people, a lot of people at my school have the rabbit, the interiors are consistantly best in class. THe interior of the rabbit is far better than anything a domestic has in something under 25k, better than anything Toyota and Honda have also in something under 25k. It is what It is.

This is good to hear, I mean the car that is the best against its competition gets absolutely 0 meaningful advertising from Ford. I thought teir would be a big return of the Taurus ad campaign, but nothing happened.

True, I just wish it wasn't soo ugly.

I don't see chevy being screwed except for the lack of the Lamba, the Equinox is still scheduled to b e replaced after its life cycle and the Malibu was replaced after only 4 years, what do you expect from GM? 2-3 year product cycles for chevy? I fail to see your logic, GM has made a decision on where they want Saturn to be and they went for it to keep the brand alive.

Scion surpass their sales goal since they launched. But I don't see the new round of scions selling well, they aren't good, overpriced and the hype of the brand is gone. None the less they are low volume niche sellers. I think the Versa impacted Sentra sales, it is besides the fit, the best B segment vehicle on the market and its sales are deserved. And it was obvious the focus would see some upkick the first year since the current focus has rotted for nearly 8 years. The question remains how it fairs after the first initial year.

If anyone is wondering the New Malibu sold about 3k units with about 3,500 being sent to dealer lots. That was from a report last week on GMI. Rental companies must be begging for the Avenger and Sebring.

The PT Cruiser has been rotting on the vine with virtually no cosmetic changes worth speaking of, it is time for a redesign and then if they can pull that off they can start looking at different variants.

LincolnFan is the definition of a childish troll, go look at his post history, you'd think he was somebody from a mental institution that got a hold of the computer. 90% of his arguements are along the same route as "GM teh sucks, the CTS is a POS and everything that isn't a Ford is a POS and sucks"

:boring: Point being people find the xB to fulfill their need in a vehicle, and it may have a cheap interior, but it I have seen no where stated that they aren't reliable and last a long time. People buy the Caravan for the same reason.

I have a question, Where would you like to see lincoln in 5-10 years? What products? I think the MKS is nice and should do well, the only issue I have is it doesn't give anyone a reason to want it, it doesn't offer anything that people can't find somewhere else, though it does probably undercut them in price. So isn't the MKS going with the same philosophy of "i don't know what I want but this was cheap" ? I am getting that Lincoln needs to get core products inline before they try something that would be a niche. I think if they follow the route of the MKS, with future products built off existing FMC platforms they should do well in getting their core products in line, but I think they should only be viewed as a stepping stone back into luxury market, and if they are taken globally I think more investment in Lincoln should be put forth and maybe give them something that wasn't derived from a Ford Brand Vehicle.

Why would a Toyota buyer be dumb? And the TC isn't bad and the XB offers a lot of space for the money.

That alond with the xB interior have got to be the two worst interiors available in the US Market. I was listening to a Scion designer speak about what influenced his design in the xB interior and I couldn't believe the BS he was saying. The interior is terrible, it looks like shit, and its function is shit. It looks like some fricking powerwheels toy car designed for 4 year olds.

I don't know if it has, but I don't see any benefit in advertising it so far in advance, IMO I say go the route of Apple, not to that extreme but Apple(except for the Iphone) shows off a new computer or Ipod, and it is available within a week. I would like Ford not to showcase upcoming vehicles until 3-4 months before they launch. The vehicle hits the market while the buzz is still hot. Honda has been very succesfull with that route.

STFU, and open your eyes, Ford and GM need to stop showcasing vehicles years away, and it would have been better to show the vehicle in January than a year before its realease. I thought it wasn't launching till August, so my mistake their, but none the less still way to far in advance.

Uh Oh, Richard got his panties in a bunch. Better not post anything other than Ford is the greatest and every decision they ever made were 100% the best decision anyone could ever make. All hail the Mighty Billy Ford. Anyways Does Ford want to Flex to launch and be stale? I mean the production version debuts 14 months before it launches and now it is plastered on TV 8 months before it launches. WTF? Did someone at GM move to Ford? GM though still takes the cake with the advertising the Camaro and Vaperware Volt.

So going back to your philosophy can we name the MKS/S80 = "I wanted a BMW but it is a good thing Ford has to bargain bin price their product to move them"

Yes there sales have been in a steady decline it seems since forever and I believe it is because of bad product, their product is dated and their turn rate for new product is terrible, their lot is old and stale. The new S80 is a complete DUD, I mean lets design a new car to resemble our cars that came out last decade. They need to start heading towards a new design direction.

Okay Richard, we can just name Lincoln = "I wanted a Ford but I am 80 and I like leather seats and I want to experience the vehicle that will be hauling around my casket" Same stupid mentality you got going on their.

In Reality it will be: Ford -Mazda -Lincoln --Volvo Mazdas are a step above Ford, comparable products sell at a premium over FOrd and I don't see Ford trying to sell cars at a higher price point. Mercury is gone, completely, and Lincoln seems to be heading towards almost/entry Luxury terrirtory, the same Territory Volvo is heading above.

I just have to ask, reading the headline that focus shifts from Mercury to Lincoln, When the hell was focus even on Mercury? It should read focus shifts from penny pinchers to products development.

Or Ford NA could not leave product to rot on the vine and be penny wise and dollar dumb and we could of had both. Ford NA can't start the cycle with the new Verve and leave it to rot for 10 years, they need to kick the habit and get inline with updating product in a timely manner as its competition. I don't think we have to worry because Ford now under their new management seems to be getting product invested in.

Yes.

It is as if people here do not want Ford to succeed. The Escape is losing Market Share in this ballooning segment, it is bargain bin priced, fleet dumped and the CR-V and RAV 4 Eclipsed it, i don't understand why such fools praise mediocre uncompetitive products. Lets praise Ford for giving up a segment they dominated, they failed to match the CR-V and Rav4's increases, They failed to match their product. It is a flop, it is bargain bin priced, fleet dumped and losing market share. All while the Rav 4 doubled sales and CR-V ballooned past the Escaps sale numbers. The escape is even more pathetic when you take away fleet numbers.

From a design point, if it was a good design it wouldn't look like such a mess at first viewing, it would have been designed on a tier of importance, with size, shape, texture, placement, and color, orchestrated to create a since of order, or order of importance. There is non of that in the F-150 dash, same size horizontal line of buttons there because they needed to be there. Kick the design school rejects of out Ford and hire designers with talent.