Lincoln needs a farewell address, not a new marketing plan

[2005Explorer]

Personally I don't think new sedans using the re-skin a Ford, offer a slightly different engine option, and add a few features formula will ever really turn around Lincoln. If there is a turn around it will be after Ford can get some new Lincoln CUV and SUVs on the showroom floor. A CUV or SUV buyer is much different from a performance luxury sedan buyer and the using the re-skinned approach should work quite well on the CUV/SUVs.

 

If Lincoln had a new MKC and MKExplorer (instead of the hideous MKT) along with a new MKX I think they could easily turn things around. Yes if we are only looking at the sedans then Lincoln is pretty much finished, but they have a good chance picking up some nice marketshare with new utilities.

Edited April 10, 2013 by 2005Explorer

[NickF1011]

Personally I don't think new sedans using the re-skin a Ford, offer a slightly different engine option, and add a few features formula will ever really turn around Lincoln. If there is a turn around it will be after Ford can get some new Lincoln CUV and SUVs on the showroom floor. A CUV or SUV buyer is much different from a performance luxury sedan buyer and the using the re-skinned approach should work quite well on the CUV/SUVs.

 

If Lincoln had a new MKC and MKExplorer (instead of the hideous MKT) along with a new MKX I think they could easily turn things around. Yes if we are only looking at the sedans then Lincoln is pretty much finished, but they have a good chance picking up some nice marketshare with new utilities.

What is the next new model Lincoln is launching? And the one after that? Pretty sure they are both CUV's.

Edited April 10, 2013 by NickF1011

[BORG]

What is the next new model Lincoln is launching? And the one after that? Pretty sure they are both CUV's.

 

 

All I know is that when my lease is up, I have two brilliant options to pick from, MKC and MKX.

[NickF1011]

 

All I know is that when my lease is up, I have two brilliant options to pick from, MKC and MKX.

Hoping the MKX looks a little more masculine than the MKC. I might be convinced to upgrade my Edge.

[BORG]

Hoping the MKX looks a little more masculine than the MKC. I might be convinced to upgrade my Edge.

I actually thought the MKC looked fairly brawny, although the production version may loose some of that depth. I'm actually not that hot on the MKC's design, but I'm waiting on a production version.

Edited April 10, 2013 by BORG

[NickF1011]

I actually thought the MKC looked fairly brawny, although the production version may loose some of that depth. I'm actually not that hot on the MKC's design.

A little too much curviness to its hips in some way I guess. I don't know. Could also just be the color they showed it in. I've always thought pearly whites look feminine.

[BORG]

A little too much curviness to its hips in some way I guess. I don't know. Could also just be the color they showed it in. I've always thought pearly whites look feminine.

I'm sure most Lincoln cars are targeting women (as they always have), although that's sexist to declare.

 

The MKC is a little too shapely looking, while the car's architecture is fairly conventional. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of an Evoque, which would have fit with the MKZ's extreme design. But Lincoln is pretty much hamstrung by what they can do with an Escape which is something that will limit how far it can go.

Edited April 10, 2013 by BORG

[NickF1011]

I'm sure most Lincoln cars are targeting women (as they always have), although that's sexist to declare.

 

The MKC is a little too shapely looking, while the car's architecture is fairly conventional. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of an Evoque, which would have fit with the MKZ's extreme design. But Lincoln is pretty much hamstrung by what they can do with an Escape which is something that will limit how far it can go.

Well, I'm certainly glad they didn't go the Evoque route. 1) It's already been done. 2) The more I see them the less I like them. The MKC, at least, does look pretty unique in its surface treatment.

[RichardJensen]

Ugh. The Evoque. Let's not talk about that again. Tata adopted the offspring of an Edge and an Escape and put it in Range Rover clothes.

[jcthorne]

It appears that in preparation of the MKC, Ford has decided to de-content the Escape Titanium to create more space between the two. No longer included in a Ti Escape are the 2.0EB, HID headlamps, LED driving lights and MFT. All of that is now optional. The sport bucket seats which were also standard in the Ti are no longer available at all, just the base seats with leather trim.

 

So rather than improve the MKC, they just move the Escape down market to create room.

[NickF1011]

It appears that in preparation of the MKC, Ford has decided to de-content the Escape Titanium to create more space between the two. No longer included in a Ti Escape are the 2.0EB, HID headlamps, LED driving lights and MFT. All of that is now optional. The sport bucket seats which were also standard in the Ti are no longer available at all, just the base seats with leather trim.

 

So rather than improve the MKC, they just move the Escape down market to create room.

Oooooor Ford is simply adjusting available content based on buyer feedback. It sounds like many of those features will still be available, just simply no longer standard, which makes the initial price of entry for the Titanium model more attractive.

 

Looks like the MKC will offer most/all of the features the MKZ does, so I don't see where there's any lowering of the bar going on here.

[RichardJensen]

It appears that in preparation of the MKC, Ford has decided to de-content the Escape Titanium to create more space between the two. No longer included in a Ti Escape are the 2.0EB, HID headlamps, LED driving lights and MFT. All of that is now optional. The sport bucket seats which were also standard in the Ti are no longer available at all, just the base seats with leather trim.

 

So rather than improve the MKC, they just move the Escape down market to create room.

 

In the same way that comparing prices without comparing equipment is illogical, so too is comparing equipment without comparing price.

 

The Escape is losing a trim level and gaining an option package.

 

http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/53349-2014-ford-escape-changes-sel-axed-16l-now-standard-on-titanium/

 

Also, the discontinued buckets may not have been popular with customers.

Edited April 10, 2013 by RichardJensen

[silvrsvt]

So rather than improve the MKC, they just move the Escape down market to create room.

 

If you paid any attention to the Escape Launch and Pricing, you would have known that a fully loaded SEL model costed more (with less available options) then a base model Ti Escape.

 

I'm willing to bet that the SE/SEL/Ti overlapped too much and eliminating the SEL was the most prudent course of action.

[ZanatWork]

...aaaaaand Lincoln's futre, pipeline products, etc. are all costing, not contributing, until they can provide some sales and perception improvements.

In other words, in the present...entirely irrelevant.

Aaaaaand none of that has anything to do with the Lincoln vehicles that we already know are in the pipeline (or have just been introduced). The current lineup minus the MKZ (and even that wasn't a start-to-finish Lincoln effort due to timeframe restrictions related to its launch) is entirely irrelevant to any discussion about Lincoln's future, as they are obviously only remnants of Lincoln's past.

MKC is the first true "Lincoln" of the new Lincoln Motor Company, and most everything we've seen of it so far looks pretty impressive. They just need to make sure it launches smoothly. Might be a tall order, but all we can do is wait and see.

[NickF1011]

...aaaaaand Lincoln's futre, pipeline products, etc. are all costing, not contributing, until they can provide some sales and perception improvements.

 

In other words, in the present...entirely irrelevant.

...aaaaaand can't anyone have the patience to see what those products actually do before condemning the plan as a failure?

 

Heck, where were all of these articles speaking of Lincoln's irrelevance and impending death prior to the start of the recovery plan? You know, back when their entire lineup was irrelevant and outdated, not just most of it?

 

The fact that the media is talking about it now means Lincoln is relevant again.

[RichardJensen]

In other words, in the present...entirely irrelevant.

 

If the future is irrelevant, then so is the past.

[NickF1011]

I mean seriously. Did the media have the impression that once the 2013 MKZ was introduced that sales of the MKS, MKT, and Navigator would suddenly skyrocket as a result?

[BORG]

I mean seriously. Did the media have the impression that once the 2013 MKZ was introduced that sales of the MKS, MKT, and Navigator would suddenly skyrocket as a result?

Well, they did launch a new ad campaign targeting the MKX and MKS, yet sales slipped in a growing market. That can't be the results they were looking for.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MEJF8kVYTU

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8XJ-qxNVfo

[NickF1011]

Well, they did launch a new ad campaign targeting the MKX and MKS, yet sales slipped in a growing market. That can't be the results they were looking for.

Edge (-4.2%) and Taurus (+14.2%) sales have been relatively flat also. They are aging products. They aren't going to gain any significant sales without incentives. (Though I think the Taurus's '13 refresh did a lot more for it than the '13 MKS's did for it.)

 

MKX isn't down drastically though (-5.6%, about the same as Edge) and I can't imagine any scenario where the '13 MKZ isn't cannibalizing MKS sales.

Edited April 10, 2013 by NickF1011

[jpd80]

...aaaaaand Lincoln's futre, pipeline products, etc. are all costing, not contributing, until they can provide some sales and perception improvements.

 

In other words, in the present...entirely irrelevant.

And as we've heard, Ford is investing a billion on seven new or refreshed products...

The kind of amount other luxury brands consider barely adequate for a good MCE.

 

Apart from the new MKZ, every other Lincoln product has been on the market for

several years now and even at those lowish volume levels, the transaction prices

asked ensure that all are profitable to Ford even though they haven't succeeded

in raising the perception of Lincoln brand.

 

Consider that MKZ has much lower development costs compared to the ATS yet

the transaction prices asked are considerably more, I have a feeling that this

situation will be repeated with future Lincoln releases.

[Edstock]

But I think the big issue is that Lincoln is taking a very measured and marginal approach to business

 

You say a lot of things with no explanation.

 

What do you mean "marginal approach"? Explain in detail. THe approach is measured (duh), but in what ways is it "marginal"? Or do you know? Or were you having a tantrum?

[Fordowner]

I have seen the MKX commercial but had not seen the MKS commercial until now. MKX and MKZ I'm ok with, but that MKS is not good. The woman floating backwards for the massaging chair is bad as is that silly ending. And trying to link it to the Mark name seems almost like they couldn't think of anything else to say about the car. I mean all the car's and cuv's ar MK's .

 

Anyway, I agree the AOL article is not a good one. Lincoln is a great name, lets just hope they can deliver the new product. And the faster they move from those vertical grills the better. Though that MKS quick replacement job wasn't an improvement. Thank goodness they went horizontal for the MKZ.

[Anthony]

Yeesh. That MKS commercial is simply horrible.

[PREMiERdrum]

The MKX ad works, and works well.

 

The MKS ad, well, not so much. One or two of the more obscure elements mixed with a better structure would have worked. I especially like the Mark progression.

[ZanatWork]

That is nonlogic. The past teaches and gives points of reference. The future is utterly unproven in positives and negatives.

Not apples to apples whatsoever.

I'm not saying the future product will or won't be brand-saving...I'm just pointing out that the extremely tired argument of "...just wait 'til" is empty until "'til" not only happens, but accomplishes something on ledger sheets.

You're all about proof. The future, by its very definition, cannot provide any.

If the future is irrelevant, then so is the past.