The Handler

The face is a bit strange, but the rest looks very nice and premium.

You might be right. He certainly was not a terrible executive, especially if you study his tenure at Mazda.

Agreed. My '09 Explorer still looks and drives like new. The 2002-2010 Explorers have aged very well from an aesthetic point of view. There are very few new designs out there that can stand the test of time. Almost everything looks angry, bloated, and chaotic. I keep my vehicles for a long time so I try my best to pick vehicles that will look good for years to come.

Interestingly, most of those old Cadillac names originated from the pre-war era of coachbuilding. Brougham, Coupe de Ville, and Town Car were types of bodies. The Fleetwood name was taken from Fleetwood Body.

Hilarious. The DLR from the $30k Honda they copied doesn't have a fake window.

It must be nice getting paid a lot of money to come up with incredibly stupid ideas with no accountability. Only at GM.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2019/03/11/ford-ceo-hackett-tells-employees-2019-turning-point/3129344002/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdSziIIs6t8

In those days, you did not have to spend over $40k to get a nice-looking truck.

The Continental Mark II is still the most exquisite post-war American luxury car ever produced.

It's not easy designing a utility vehicle to be graceful and elegant, but it could be done. The Maybach concept is an example of why the three-box layout is difficult to use on a tall-bodied vehicle. It would take an even shorter decklid to eliminate the stubbiness, which would end up being a bustle-back. That's basically what Rolls-Royce did with the Cullinan. They even call it a "three-box SUV".

They could transform the Continental into a '40s tall sedan-type ultra-luxury crossover. That's basically what the MKT Concept was. Too bad it had FWD proportions and an overly laid-back a-pillar.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1121044_2019-lincoln-continental-coach-door-edition-is-sold-out

It's just another one of Borg's pity ploys. Nothing new.

There's also FX4 Max.

https://www.autonews.com/world-congress/toyotas-lentz-sees-car-sales-stabilizing-evs-languishing

Insiders seem 100% certain Lincoln's two CD6 sedans were cancelled. I remember seeing leaked Zephyr sketches on here a few months ago, though. Perhaps they're counting the next-gen MKX/Nautilus, a subcompact, a BEV, and a "whitespace" utility?

That's what happens when you put a lot of careful thought into your product strategy.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2019/01/11/ford-kumar-galhotra-lincoln/2519565002/

Very nice Suzuki XL-7!

Mulally was so obsessed with econoboxes during that time, completely ignoring the fact that increased fuel efficiency for trucks and utilities was right around the corner. Imagine where Lincoln would be today if those pointless MK- cars never happened and the Navigator received proper attention. Plus, Lincoln could have had a new Aviator years ago if they hadn't wasted time and money on the MKT. Those had to be the worst years in the history of product planning at Ford.

I also believe what we're seeing is blowback from the Mulally era.

All mid-priced brands had one foot in the grave when the ladder strategy started to collapse. The trim level concept is obviously far more cost effective than splitting hairs with several mainstream brands. Ford tried to find a niche for Mercury, but it was just too late.

I can still remember Mark Fields saying a Mercury is for the type of person that owns an iPod. ?

Most of the "respected" names cater to Hollywood's nouveau riche and the wannabe rich posers. They apparently make a lot of money by slapping their name and logo on high tops and hoodies....