goingincirclez

Mr. DeLorenzo is usually pretty accurate, once you get past all the tired self-coined catchphrases and euphemisms he peppers his site with. And he does tend to beat the horses well past death just to say he told you so. That said, it's subtly obvious he likes Bill Ford, and wants them to succeed... but the other poster here was dead-on in that GM consumes much of his mindshare, and he suffers from the I AM AN ENTUSIAST AND THIS IS HOW IT SHALL BE syndrome. Nonetheless, it's hard for me not to agree with the general tone of his rant on Ford this week. His concession on the rumored TTV6 situation is spot-on: it might be a good thing in the long run, but doesn't help Ford's image in the near-term. I think Ford is just stuck in a 50/50 image cycle right now. For every positive thing they do, there's something equally negative, thus giving the appearance they aren't really doing much of anything. Which we all know is not the case, but there's only so much a company can do at once. It's like a game of chess only the other opposing pieces are all moving too and your pawns keep changing their stance. So given limited resources and time, and so much research, and perception and "gut" feelings, what do you do? You make a calculated risk where you can afford it and an educated guess when you can't. I trust that Bill is doing the best he can to make the best decisions, if for no other reason than to protect his own inheritance... which is really a good reason if you think about it. 'Cuz if he goes down, it's over. So it's in his interest to succeed, and that would benefit everyone. They did this before in the 80's. I wonder if they can do it again.

Wow... this is almost tempting enough to make me jump the gun on the Edge and settle for a bloated 1992 Escort Wagon er oops I mean Freestyle. I hope this drives traffic, because Ford could use some. And it's very good news that they're limiting this to a week or so and not having another FIRE SALE O' DA MONTH which means that they're at least really really trying to be smart about incentives and resale value and alla that good stuff... But damn, haven't they learned ANYTHING? Giving cars away to subprimers almost bankrupted Mitsubishi for good... And if I don;t jump the gun now, well maybe they'll have to do the same thing AFTER the Edge comes out. Sigh. It's the same old deal, consumers conditioned to wait for the better deal. Funny thing is, it's the can't-kill-it-for-trying reliability of my '97 T-bird that's actually keeping me from buying a new car right now. I guess Ford "can't win for losing" sometimes...

Well, to be fair I did say that Ford "talked" with BMW because I couldn't recall if it was about a "merger" or "merger-takeover". So if that's what it was, thanks for setting me straight. At any rate, my point was if there were compelling reasons back then, they are no longer relevant and BMW is in a much stonger position of strength today (at the very least, I doubt Ford could ever get away with uttering the word "takeover" today).

But that's just the problem - What does Ford have that BMW wants? Unlike Ford, which has unsuccessfully tried to support too many "luxury" brands to the very detriment of the one they started with, I doubt BMW sees much value in the Lincoln franchise, or anything else. BMW would be content to let Lincoln die on its own, which means more market for themselves. Now perhaps Ford has trucks and a distribution network, things of value, but there's so much deadweight that I doubt BMW is interested. Unlike Mecedes-Benz, BMW hasn't tried to be all things to all people, so trucks are of little use to them, especially in a declining market for such. Didn't Ford talk with BMW for a while back in the days when DaimlerChrysler was just coming to be? As I recall, the Family wouldn't relinquish control, and that was a non-starter to BMW then. So then Nasser went on a buying spree and thus Ford is where they find themselves today, while BMW remains as strong as they ever were. BMW doesn't need Ford.

I tend to agree with Traveler, above. Ford just doesn't have the reputation for turbo sixes needed to cement instant cachet with a new Lincoln of unknown pedigree. As a buyer, I would be suspect of a new (unproven) 3.5 being hastily turbocharged (twice) for a new (unproven) alphabet-soup Lincoln that may or may not be the best Lincoln can offer. Remember the 89-95 T-Bird Super Coupe? Exactly - very few do. It was good for more power and torque than the 5.0s and 4.6s they finally shoehorned into that sled, but by the mid nineties they couldn't give the SC away (and contrary to belief, the poor MN12s were good for 100K sales units right till the unceremonious end, during the nascent SUV craze). Maybe it was the price. Maybe it was the realization that underneah all that fancy supercharging lurked the same 3.8 timebomb that nobody misses. Maybe it simply was the wrong car in a changing market. Point is, the Thunderbird enjoyed a good run in those years, the SC did an admirable job of holding the pedigree... and yet it still flopped. And history has not been kind to the SC. Granted, 14 years can change a lot. We know that Ford CAN build a respectable 'charged motor (2.3 turbo) when they want to. I really want to believe they've learned from their mistakes and the 3.5 will not (lord knows it cannot) be another 3.8. And if they have to start somewhere, then God bless 'em for trying - I hope it sticks. This dare to be different thing and all of that. But asking people to plunk some serious bank for an unproven platform with a dubious pedigree may be asking too much. The TBird SC was a car that lived to a pedigree and even it floundered. The turbo 4's of the 80's have become sought after in hindsight but this isn't the 80's. There are more competitors now who've been nailing the luxury game much better than Lincoln. A V8 would offer a proven conmfort zone befitting a Lincoln, while the TT6 would be an excellent option to test the waters and offer a high0water mark, Sort of like what the Shelbys are to the Mustang. Now if the decision has been made in stone then bitching about it won't help. But they better nail the execution on this one. After that, it's up to the market, and I hope for the best.

Ahh, I saw that on the other thread - Best damn post I've seen here, for all the right reasons. Sheesh, finally convinced me to sign up just to say that, no less. BTW I know you were being sarcastic. Keep the faith, Rich.