lincolnman Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Recently two Lincoln Dealerships in the Atlanta area have closed and merged with Ford Dealers. One of the Lincoln Dealerships has been in the same location for about 30 years and was rebuilt several years ago. Is this the future for LM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLPRacing Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 It happened here in Arlington, Texas too. Don Davis L/M moved into Don Davis Ford. Weird... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suv_guy_19 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 It happened here in Arlington, Texas too. Don Davis L/M moved into Don Davis Ford. Weird... I would say its a good thing...it allows customers more choice and consolidates cost...and it creates more car sales per dealer...like ford is aiming for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchdevil Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I would say its a good thing...it allows customers more choice and consolidates cost...and it creates more car sales per dealer...like ford is aiming for. It happened here in Gastonia NC as well... The L-M dealer (which was across the street from a Chevy-Cadillac Dealer was moved into a Ford dealer 4 miles away and the old L-M dealer was converted into a Kia dealer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Recently two Lincoln Dealerships in the Atlanta area have closed and merged with Ford Dealers. One of the Lincoln Dealerships has been in the same location for about 30 years and was rebuilt several years ago. Is this the future for LM? Which ones? I live in Atlanta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe771476 Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys in the same dealership will spell disaster! Why should anyone buy a Lincoln/Mercury when they can get a Mercury/Ford for a lower price?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InTheDriversSeat Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 It happened in the north suburbs of Chicago too. Highland Park Lincoln-Mercury bought Highland Park Ford, and consolidated the 3 brands in the Ford building. The Lincoln-Mercury building is now empty. Strange to see this combination in a metropolitan area. I thought this was normally done in rural areas. http://www.suntimes.com/classifieds/autos/...-ford29.article I have also noticed about 10 dealerships that have closed in the past year around Chicago (both Ford and Lincoln-Mercury). Some were in high traffic areas. Is Ford going to keep the Mercury brand? Presently there is not one exclusive model in the Mercury lineup. Every model is a rebadged Ford. Now that Ford dealerships in metro areas are allowed to sell Lincolns in the same showroom, makes me wonder what's going to happen to Mercury? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincolnman Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 akirby, They were Courtsey in Decatur and World (Snellviile L/M) in Snellville. I am more surprised with Courtsey. They used to to be Southern LM. I purchase several L/M from them over the years. Courtsey was also located in "Automobile Row" in Decatur and was a fairley new building.You could eat off the service department floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys in the same dealership will spell disaster! Why should anyone buy a Lincoln/Mercury when they can get a Mercury/Ford for a lower price?! Styling, options, features, service? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BORG Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 My Lincoln dealership was going to move into Huntington Ford before they were bought out by a dealer consortium. I don't know how long it will stay Lincoln, but I will probably be going Caddy in December anyway. I think Lincoln/Mercury/Ford is good for business in generally, not necessarily great for the brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 My Lincoln dealership was going to move into Huntington Ford before they were bought out by a dealer consortium. I don't know how long it will stay Lincoln, but I will probably be going Caddy in December anyway. I think Lincoln/Mercury/Ford is good for business in generally, not necessarily great for the brand. Having Ford and Mercury together will eliminate the need for rebadging Fords to keep the L/M dealers in inventory. If Lincoln has the right products then I don't think it matters whether they have stand alone dealerships or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sranger Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I would guess that it would hurt Lincoln and Mercury sales and help Ford sales. Many people who visit a Lincoln/Mercury dealer would never go to a Ford dealer and realise the the Lincoln and Mercury are simply slightly tarted up version of the Fords. When you put them side by side, it makes it much harder to justify the cost difference. For example, if you put a MKX beside a loaded Edge SEL Plus, it is very hard to justify the extra 8-10K for the Lincoln. However, the Lincoln MKZ might fair a little better in a direct comparison because it has the 3.5L engine. In my opinion ( and we know what they are worth ) unless the Lincoln/Mercury brands are differentiated by drive line and suspension upgrades, it would not be a good thing to merge the dealerships. When the only thing that differentiates the brand is the interior and badges, it is a tough sell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I would guess that it would hurt Lincoln and Mercury sales and help Ford sales. Many people who visit a Lincoln/Mercury dealer would never go to a Ford dealer and realise the the Lincoln and Mercury are simply slightly tarted up version of the Fords. When you put them side by side, it makes it much harder to justify the cost difference. For example, if you put a MKX beside a loaded Edge SEL Plus, it is very hard to justify the extra 8-10K for the Lincoln. However, the Lincoln MKZ might fair a little better in a direct comparison because it has the 3.5L engine. In my opinion ( and we know what they are worth ) unless the Lincoln/Mercury brands are differentiated by drive line and suspension upgrades, it would not be a good thing to merge the dealerships. When the only thing that differentiates the brand is the interior and badges, it is a tough sell... You vastly underestimate the typical American consumer....they buy more along the lines of looks alone then saying oh this is the same thing as Ford product...if it looks ritzier, people will still buy it. People like shiny trinkets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 I would guess that it would hurt Lincoln and Mercury sales and help Ford sales. Many people who visit a Lincoln/Mercury dealer would never go to a Ford dealer and realise the the Lincoln and Mercury are simply slightly tarted up version of the Fords. When you put them side by side, it makes it much harder to justify the cost difference. For example, if you put a MKX beside a loaded Edge SEL Plus, it is very hard to justify the extra 8-10K for the Lincoln. However, the Lincoln MKZ might fair a little better in a direct comparison because it has the 3.5L engine. In my opinion ( and we know what they are worth ) unless the Lincoln/Mercury brands are differentiated by drive line and suspension upgrades, it would not be a good thing to merge the dealerships. When the only thing that differentiates the brand is the interior and badges, it is a tough sell... Stop exaggerating - it's not 8-10K more. It's 6K. I know - I priced both of them. My wife looked at the Edge and MKX side by side at the auto show. Hated the Edge interior - loved the MKX and the extra features. She has already said she wants the MKX over the Edge even if it's 5k more. She did the same thing with the Aviator - looked at the Explorer, Mountaineer and Aviator side by side and still picked the Aviator based on styling and features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TStag Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 2 questions: -If Ford are merging L/M dealers with Ford dealers then why not sneak PAG into town and give them right of first refusal? -How will a Ford dealer persuade a Lincoln customer to buy a car that is almost identical to a Ford? Lincoln won't survive like this. They are trying to compete with BMW and co buy selling a Ford as a Lincoln because they can't afford to develop a competitor with the budget they have. BMW can afford to spend 2 billion dollars on one model alone because they generate revenue from global sales. Lincoln is only selling cars in one market. Personally I think Ford is slowly winding down Lincoln and replacing it with PAG..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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