Lincoln to be Renamed?

[RichardJensen]

Is this just an excuse to call it a 'new' franchise and therefore weed out franchise points they don't like?

I can't see how on earth they could make that case.

[PREMiERdrum]

I have serious reservations about the 80% Ford dealers willing to build stand alone Iincoln stores.

 

I thought that it said 80% of Lincoln dealers were willing to build stand alone Lincoln stores...

[campbell53]

I meant Ford-Lincoln dual dealers.

[campbell53]

I can't see how on earth they could make that case.

Never underestimate the motivation of the factory. When times are bad we are their 'partners'. When times are good they try to dictate all phases of the game. Every 10 years or so they do something self serving..i.e. Ford owned dealer groups. Imagine if all those wasted millions had been spent on Lincoln vehicles.

Edited October 24, 2012 by campbell53

[SoonerLS]

Never underestimate the motivation of the factory. When times are bad we are their 'partners'. When times are good they try to dictate all phases of the game. Every 10 years or so they do something self serving..i.e. Ford owned dealer groups. Imagine if all those wasted millions had been spent on Lincoln vehicles.

Not to put too fine of a point on it, but the dealers bring a lot of this on themselves. I've dealt (or tried to deal) with six Ford dealerships in my area, and of them, I would only do business (again) with two of them. I am a dyed in the wool Blue Oval loyalist, and those other four were bad enough that I almost swore off dealing with Ford dealerships altogether--and that was after I'd bought cars from two of them. One of them didn't even make it through the negotiations before he pissed me off so badly that I got up and walked out--which worked out well for me and my local dealer (one of the two good ones), because within an hour I closed the deal on a better car for a much better price.

 

Now, I'm sure you're an honest, hard-working dealer, and I have no doubt I'd get a square deal from you (or Dean), but the Ford dealer batting average around here hasn't exactly been stellar...well, unless they were playing baseball, where a .333 is pretty darn good.

[jpd80]

I have serious reservations about the 80% Ford dealers willing to build stand alone Iincoln stores. There was such push back on modifying existing buildings to suit Lincolns new standards that most of it was scrapped. No one from Ford asked me but that the dealer body just suddenly rolled over for a $1m+ investment in Lincoln sounds sketchy. I do, however, have reservations about this so called name change. Is this just an excuse to call it a 'new' franchise and therefore weed out franchise points they don't like? The Lincoln meeting next month in Las Vegas just got a whole lot more interesting.

Ah, i started this mess by misinterpreting the quote of 80% of dealers as meaning 80% of all Ford dealers when they meant 80% of all Ford-Lincoln dealers.

 

Even for existing Lincoln dealerships, finding the money for new dedicated premises is a huge leap of faith, I'm starting to see the signs with Lincoln

that were there at the start of Ford rebuilding, everyone from top down is now committed to make it happen and th fram work is being put in place.

It's now up to someone or some people with true vision to point Lincoln in the right direction, pick suitable parts of the Luxury market and get going.

[campbell53]

 

Ah, i started this mess by misinterpreting the quote of 80% of dealers as meaning 80% of all Ford dealers when they meant 80% of all Ford-Lincoln dealers.

 

Even for existing Lincoln dealerships, finding the money for new dedicated premises is a huge leap of faith, I'm starting to see the signs with Lincoln

that were there at the start of Ford rebuilding, everyone from top down is now committed to make it happen and th fram work is being put in place.

It's now up to someone or some people with true vision to point Lincoln in the right direction, pick suitable parts of the Luxury market and get going.

 

But you can't kick to the curb the Lincoln dealers that have stuck thru the shit product (MKT anyone?). I don't want to spend a million dollars on a new facility because I can't make that back on current Lincoln offerings. And I haven't made much on past offerings either. I deserve to take part in the future success of the brand (assuming there is one) and not get slowly squeezed out by ever changing Lincoln Committment rules. Since I'm not one of their "150" dealers I feel left out and expendable. Not the way to make your dealer body warm and fuzzy.

[akirby]

A new dealership experience is a key part in the Lincoln turnaround plan. You can't just make good luxury cars any more - you need great service and sitting in the Ford service waiting room ain't gonna cut it any more.

 

I understand your hesitance to make that kind of investment, but try to look at it like you were offered a Lexus dealership. That would take a similar if not even larger investment.

[silvrsvt]

The important thing is not that he "tweaked" the grille, it was that Ford let him move hard points to do it. That says not only that they have enough sense to trust the guy they poached to do the job they hired him to do, but also that they have the commitment to follow up on what he's doing.

 

Going back to what I said before...what that article said basically described the pre 2013 MKZ and not the 2013 MKZ...I also remember seeing spy photos where the MKZ had two different types of grills and I don't see any major hardpoint changes between the MKZ and Fusion...different sheetmetal, but how they attach to the unibody is the same.

[RichardJensen]

The hardpoint change was in the front subframe, and was done to accommodate the MKZ's headlights. That may have been done under Wolff, or it may not have been.

[SoonerLS]

The hardpoint change was in the front subframe, and was done to accommodate the MKZ's headlights. That may have been done under Wolff, or it may not have been.

My reading of it was that Wolff's changes to the nose required the hardpoint changes; regardless, the fact that Ford allowed anyone at Lincoln to change them at that stage of the game is another strong piece of evidence that Ford does have the commitment to move Lincoln forward (IMHO).

[akirby]

My reading of it was that Wolff's changes to the nose required the hardpoint changes;

 

Correct.