ShockFX

It would make more sense to use the extra dealer network (w/o Mercury) to increase Mazda sales. As for a new Cougar, why attempt to make a sporty, young Mercury when Mazda already has a great foothold in that demographic? Drop the EcoBoost 2.0L in a RX-8 platform and target $22k top end.

/shrug, until I see a defined product plan for Mercury, I'm not changing my mind.

Regardless, if they strip all the Mercury functions out of Ford HQ and place it somewhere else, that cannot possibly bode well for Mercury. That, and the total lack of product. Anyone that thinks Mercury has a future is deluded.

You can't be serious that this is a good thing. Dealers never advertise a brand image, they'll just advertise deals. Mercury is going to turn into selling the deal not the car, if dealers even bother. No product, no advertising, and a dealer body that tied its future to Lincoln or other brands. Yeah, sounds really positive for Mercury.

I'm totally indifferent to this. I think Ford should sell a car to whoever wants one, and make donations to whatever organizations will support this. It's not like a small donation from Ford is actually affecting anything, it's just PR in those specific communities. The average gay person has a higher disposable income by the way. Ford is targetting more affluent consumers that have been ignored/discriminated against. They finally make business sense and they fail politically, go figure.

To elaborate on this a bit. With flexible manufacturing, a CAR being a failure isn't a big deal if the PLATFORM is a success.

I wonder if I can get a sweet deal on a loaded TL. I'd have to consider it even thought it's FWD, it's still a nice car.

10/10

Mel Gibson played Maverick, James Garner was his father. From dictionary.com, Maverick: 2. a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates. Kind of a whole, I'm unique like everyone else type deal that people eat up. I would have really liked the name "Rogue" but Nissan got it first. Fiesta sounds pinata-ish. Plus, I honestly feel people that are racists won't buy it. When illegal Mexican immigration is a serious problem, you don't use a Spanish name for a car, even if the word has largely become accepted. What's the term for a word that is the same in two languages? Co-something?

Not another "F" name. Seriously, it's not cute, it's freaking STUPID! Let's bring this brand new car here, then saddle it with an old ass name so people have preconceptions of what it's like. Festiva/Fiesta to me = little POS car. Right up there with Aspire. Also, no guy wants to say, "I drive a Fiesta." It's like cutting your balls off. I know I'm going to get called out here, but I'd go with the name "Maverick". I highly doubt anyone in the target market will know the name has been used before. Notice I'm not saying use the name because of Ford's history, I'm saying use the name because it fits perfectly into the demographic the car will be targeting.

Step forward.

They suck too, but it's irrelevant to Lincoln. CTS, STS, XLR, SRX. I guess the SRX kind of makes sense, since it shares sigma with STS, and X is used to mark SUV normally. XLR makes 0 sense in my mind.

Lincoln's name scheme is a bit less ordered than others. BMW 1, 3 ,5 ,7 are sedans, higher number = more expensive...ok, the 1 series is slightly suspect here. X3, X5 are suvs. Z4, Z8 are sports cars. 6 is a coupe, and rumor was the next 3 series coupe/convert were to be labeled 4, but they didn't want to change what's working for them. MB has A,C,E,S for cars. Adds in 'L' for coupe (CL500). Adds 'K' for convertible (SLK320). It's not perfect since you have a convertible SL55 and stuff, but it's close enough. SUVs are G, M, R. Audi has A3, A4, A6, A8. Is there an A5 coupe? Suvs are Q7, possible a Q5 coming. TT is outlier. Lexus is ES/IS, GS, LS for sedans. RX, LX, GX for SUVs. SC for coupe. Lincoln has MkZ and MkS for sedans. MkX for SUV. MkLT for the truck. I'd say Lincoln has the more confusing system. Granted, it's a much smaller sample, but there is no pattern in the Mk-fillinrandomletter system being used atm. I don't understand naming the cars in such a way that someone new to the brand will not pronounce the name right. MkZ is "Mark Z". You can't expect people to know that. I'd say the bigger confusion in the names is that the model designation is actually the THIRD LETTER in the name. To someone not familiar, if they hear "Mark X" and "Mark Z" they might assume the car is named "Mark". Another issue with the names are that they don't really allow for differentiation within the model. A 330i is different from a 335xi. Probably $15k different. 330i = MkZ. 335xi = MkZ AWD with Twin Force. In the same vein that Ford doesn't think people want new cars to look new, they don't think people want to be able to brag about how expensive the new car they bought is, but brag subtlety. This is honestly relevant because all luxury products are about status. I know this board will disagree, but consider this difference before you dismiss it as not important. You know someone with a 330i. You buy the 335xi. You can simply say, "Yeah, I got a 335xi this week, love that car." You've easily establish the status of the car you bought and roughly how much you paid for it. Let's apply this to Lincoln. You know someone with a MkS without engine upgrade or AWD. You bought the TF AWD MkS. So you have to say, "Yeah, I got a MkS this week, got the Twin Force engine and AWD, love that car."

I've argued the price and size issues in the past. I feel starting at $38k is reasonable though. A loaded MKS will fall around the base E350/ 530i. I feel that a top line 3.7L MKS with AWD, if it can be had at the same price as a base E350/GS430/530i, will be incredibly competitive.

Win.