nruggiero

Cheese? That's interesting. A dealer 35 miles north of me is a standalone dealer but also sells Subaru under the same roof. They haven't upgraded their showroom yet. I guess they're going to have to build a new showroom. New Orleans currently does not have place to buy Lincolns. They should probably relocate to New Orleans or sell the franchise to somebody else. The town they're in is pretty small. There's not enough wealthy people in that area to support a fuller Lincoln. It will be interesting to see how it all goes. Even if it doesn't work out, at least they didn't bet the farm like GM did with Cadillac.

It will take a very long time to transform their dealer network into Lexus'. Most Lincoln dealers are under the same roof as Ford, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. The Baton Rouge dealership sells Lincolns under one roof, but the Ford and Lincoln showrooms are separate. Lincoln's dealer network will definitely be better than what it was before, but it will not be as good as Lexus'. I doubt Lincoln will ever be a Tier 1 luxury brand. I think the safest and sound thing to with Lincoln is to keep positioning it as a value brand for Ford customers. It's possible they have no plans to actually play in the Tier 1 category, anyway. Their plan is perfect if that's the case. Like I said, if you want be a Tier 1 player, you must have a very unique, strategic plan put forward otherwise you're wasting a lot of money.

You could say both. Lincoln won a reliability award five years ago.

Finding new franchises is easy when you have a very unique plan. It's obvious Lincoln still hasn't found its niche. So far, they added a "democratic" bespoke program and upscale sound systems. That's somewhat unique, but it's grasping at straws. It wouldn't take much work for Mercedes to expand their Designo program and upgrade their sound systems. I personally don't see Detroit luxury making a return, anyway. Both brands want to take the derivative route. They're either afraid of being creative or they just simply cannot come up with new ideas that will stand out in today's luxury automobile market. Even bringing all of those great things they did in the 20th century into 21st century won't work. Lexus is known for their excellent customer service. Mercedes-Benz is known for their seductive sedans and roadsters. BMW is known for their ultimate driving machines. Cadillac? Lincoln? What can they do to make themselves famous for the 21st century?

It's an excellent but very expensive marketing strategy, but it's necessary if you're building bespoke, handcrafted vehicles. I'd rather see Lincoln be more aggressive (if possible) about improving their awful dealer network in the US. Lincoln obviously did not have the opportunity to start fresh, so it will be interesting to see how their plan works out. I personally believe Ford should have discontinued Lincoln right around the same time they dismantled PAG. It's much easier starting a luxury brand from scratch, rather than working with a dysfunctional mess. 1. Discontinue Lincoln-Mercury. 2. Replace Lincoln-Mercury with Platinum & Titanium Fords. 3. Revive Lincoln later on after Ford gets healthy and strong. 4. Start fresh with an all-new, five star dealer network targeted at the world's wealthiest markets. 5. Start off with signature, image building products (Continental and Mark IX) to showcase the brand's DNA. 6. New Navigator. 7. New Aviator. 8. New midsize sedan. 9. New midsize crossover. 10. New compact sedan. 11. New compact crossover. 12. Niche vehicles (if necessary). Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda.

I'm quite confident we'll see GM go bankrupt again.

It's way overdone. It has great proportions, though.

http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/Jan/naias/buick/0111-avenir-concept.html

More crazy talk: http://blog.caranddriver.com/johan-de-nysschen-cadillac-diesels-in-2019-possible-911-fighter-in-a-decade/ GM is playing the same game with Cadillac as it did with Oldsmobile, and we all know how that saga ended.

http://bp3.ford.com/2016-Ford-Explorer?branding=1&lang=en#/ChooseYourPath/ The Platinum starts at $52,600, which is more than a base Audi Q7 and Infiniti QX60. However, the Explorer comes with more standard features. There's really no point in doing a Lincoln Aviator. If they did, I'd expect it to be around $60-$65k. That's too much for a Lincoln, IMO. You can get a Range Rover Sport for that kind of money.

Nevermind. https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/multimedia.html"]https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/multimedia.htm I'm surprised Autoblog didn't catch this.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/04/ford-mustang-king-cobra-spy-sema-2014/

Josephine Ford had one, too. http://www.conceptcarz.com/events/eventVehicle.aspx?carID=7531&eventID=1292&catID=3275

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140609/OEM03/306099998/ambition-drives-lincolns-design?cciid=email-autonews-weekly&r=6778I4196356B9Z

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140417/GLOBAL03/140419824/lincoln-maps-out-china-strategy-sees-learning-lab-for-world