SoonerLS

I'm pretty sure the F-Series was never "purely commercial," even if you consider agriculture to be commercial. If you want to limit that to Super Duties or F-350s and up, then maybe...

I've never really paid attention to anyone else's kids over this long of a time, so it may not be unique to them, but there are stages in their development where my brother's kids were dead ringers for each other. There are some pictures where you'd need to know the date on which it was taken to be sure which kiddo is in it. I'm not saying that they need to look like each other, just that some common design cues would help tie everything together--and you don't even have to use the same design cues across all models. Say you have someone who likes the Mustang but needs a sedan; if you have some of the Mustang styling DNA in a Fusion, they might be more apt to look at it instead of a Camcordima or Maliboo.

Not exactly, but they should carry some common design cues so they're both recognizable as Fords. They should be like siblings--when I look at my brother's kids, they're all distinctly individual (even the twins), but they're also instantly recognizable as siblings. When you have those common design cues, you build the brand and the individual models at the same time--as long as you don't beat them both with the same ugly stick...

It kind of goes with the territory when you're killing models; it doesn't matter to the end users if it's the right business call or not if you're killing the model they love. Nobody wants it, but there's nothing you can do about it if you want to stay in business--and if there really were that many of them, Ford wouldn't have killed their sacred cows in the first place...

Nah, I bought mine during the Great LS Fire Sale of '06; I was lucky to get seats in the car. Actually, when I bought, Lincoln was including the 6/70K PowertrainCare ESP with all new car purchases, so I guess they did throw in something, after all...

I'd say so--the fender flares stick way the heck out there, and at least half the tire isn't under the body. It certainly looks like it has a wider track than the F550 Duallies they're also listing. Given where that dealership is, I'd guess that F554 is aimed at the oil patch.

These gifts are for pre-ordering an MKZ; who knows if they'll still be offered after the MKZ hits the showroom. They might not make a difference to someone who's not seriously looking at an MKZ, but for someone who is seriously considering an MKZ, this could tip the scales and get him to order now. And I don't think they're all that cheesy; f'rinstance, the whiskey isn't just whiskey, it's a set of four whiskeys and an aging barrel for making your own blended whiskey. Maybe you can get four whiskeys and the barrel to do it yourself, but can you get those particular whiskeys? The same goes for the other gifts--maybe the exclusivity is in the particular items, not the types of items...

I don't think the interior space is the issue as much as the "look at my automotive hair shirt" styling is. That's where I think Ford has gone after the Pious, not in a size-for-size matchup. I think that's Ford's ultimate intention as they ramp up their hybrid powerpack capacity; in the meantime, they're just going for the biggest bang for the smallest incremental buck.

Dunno--I'd say that's exactly what they've done with CMax. Adding it to Focus would help go after the other Pious variants, but, IMHO, the CMax goes directly after the original Pious.

Did you notice something about the press release? It's not available on media.ford.com; you have to go to media.lincoln.com to find it: http://media.lincoln...rticle_id=33720 It's not something I would use, but I barely tolerate humans in the first place. (It's not that I'm a misanthrope, it's just that I don't like people. ) I would imagine that a lot of buyers who are looking at luxury cars would prefer that "human" touch, though.

Ironically, Automotive News is reporting that the Kuwaiti owner of Aston Martin is looking for a buyer... http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121109/OEM/121109865/aston-martins-kuwaiti-owner-approaches-potential-buyers-report-says

I'm with you. In a recent thread, Austin laid out a pretty thorough explanation of why Wixom will "never" produce vehicles again, plus, they've already started demolishing it and they're trying to parcel out the property.

This poem by Aussie "bush poet" John O'Brien seems oddly appropriate lately: SAID HANRAHAN "We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, In accents most forlorn, Outside the church, ere Mass began, One frosty Sunday morn. The congregation stood about, Coat-collars to the ears, And talked of stock, and crops, and drought, As it had done for years. "It's lookin' crook," said Daniel Croke; "Bedad, it's cruke, me lad, For never since the banks went broke Has seasons been so bad." "It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil, With which astute remark He squatted down upon his heel And chewed a piece of bark. And so around the chorus ran "It's keepin' dry, no doubt." "We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out. "The crops are done; ye'll have your work To save one bag of grain; From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke They're singin' out for rain. "They're singin' out for rain," he said, "And all the tanks are dry." The congregation scratched its head, And gazed around the sky. "There won't be grass, in any case, Enough to feed an ass; There's not a blade on Casey's place As I came down to Mass." "If rain don't come this month," said Dan, And cleared his throat to speak-- "We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "If rain don't come this week." A heavy silence seemed to steal On all at this remark; And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed a piece of bark. "We want a inch of rain, we do," O'Neil observed at last; But Croke "maintained" we wanted two To put the danger past. "If we don't get three inches, man, Or four to break this drought, We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out." In God's good time down came the rain; And all the afternoon On iron roof and window-pane It drummed a homely tune. And through the night it pattered still, And lightsome, gladsome elves On dripping spout and window-sill Kept talking to themselves. It pelted, pelted all day long, A-singing at its work, Till every heart took up the song Way out to Back-o'Bourke. And every creek a banker ran, And dams filled overtop; "We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "If this rain doesn't stop." And stop it did, in God's good time; And spring came in to fold A mantle o'er the hills sublime Of green and pink and gold. And days went by on dancing feet, With harvest-hopes immense, And laughing eyes beheld the wheat Nid-nodding o'er the fence. And, oh, the smiles on every face, As happy lad and lass Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place Went riding down to Mass. While round the church in clothes genteel Discoursed the men of mark, And each man squatted on his heel, And chewed his piece of bark. "There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man, There will, without a doubt; We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan, "Before the year is out." -- John O'Brien

FTFY.

Takes one to know one. :bag:

I think he's talking about why the LS failed in the marketplace, not why it was a bad business decision. If it had come out in the midst of the forthcoming Lincoln revolution, surrounded by new "not old man" products, with a new dealer experience, and built in a plant where it had a chance to be profitable, it's entirely possible that it could have been a successful product. The Mod Motors will fit in the LS's engine bay; they just had to be top-loaded, which made them a no-go on the assembly line. With the current management, that particular design flaw almost certainly would have been corrected, which would've helped a lot in the profitability arena...

I think this is borne out by the fact that Ford chose to puts its eggs in the C-Max basket instead of shoving it into "just another" Focus or Escape--it doesn't matter whether you can see the badge or not, the C-Max (like the Pious) is immediately recognizable as a hybrid because it is only sold as a hybrid.

World's Toughest Bridge: http://youtu.be/20MCxSFgrnc

Don't you mean "head of squishier Mercury?" :chairshot:

I think they did feature the new adaptive headlights when they debuted on the MKS, but that was five years ago. As akirby mentioned, the only new part of the headlight design is the lamps themselves, which is really a rather minor feature in an all-new car, so they may not have felt the need to prioritize that.

I found a cached partial copy of an article from February, 2011, that mentioned it, but I can't find the original articles that I read at the time (I'm almost certain they were in Automotive News, but it could have been AutoWeek). The sales personnel wouldn't have noticed it, because, as I understood it, Ford was simply reimbursing the dealers for what the sales personnel were already being paid.

Buick is going like gangbusters in China, so they can't exactly drop it entirely. There might be a good business case to drop it in NA, but it would be odd for an American company to sell an American brand overseas but not in its home market. Then again, Ford is where it is because they made the hard decisions...

There was something in the automotive press (maybe in Automotive News) a few months (maybe a year?) ago to the effect that Ford was reimbursing dealers for the time salesmen were spending on MFT training. IIRC, they said the training was helping a lot in improving the perceptions of Sync and MFT among customers.

For that matter, the dealer could make it an apprenticeship program--if you want to sell cars, prove that you can deal with customers by teaching them to use MFT.

I'd bet you can find qualified individuals for far less than the cost of a salesman's time (which is what they're effectively spending now). You don't need (or want) an IT professional to do the job, just somebody who can learn a system (which is not, in the grand scheme of things, overly-complicated) well enough to explain it to a customer--in fact, what you need is someone with people skills, not technological skills, because all you're really trying to do is overcome laziness or intimidation, not design and implement the system.