Lincoln Confirms Plans For Two New Models

[AM222]

On 9/4/2024 at 10:14 PM, Andrew L said:

I suggested in another thread a Lincoln based on the Bronco with a fixed roof. I think they could pull it off and go after the G Class and Defender. The only thing hurting them is those 2 have a long history where Lincoln has 0 history there. But have to start somewhere.

That's why that segment is handled by Ford with the Bronco. 

 

Lincoln should probably focus on comfy more road-biased models. 

[Dequindre]

23 hours ago, T-dubz said:

Here are some quick AI generated Lincoln broncos I did for a similar post on 6g. I’d love to see it, but don’t think it would happen.

 

I swear... AI designs better looking vehicles than actual automotive companies do these days. This isn't the first time that I've seen AI-generated automotive designs that look better than real production models. 

[morgan20]

On 9/3/2024 at 4:11 PM, DeluxeStang said:

I'm not opposed to more lincoln SUVs, but they have everything pretty well covered, everything from Corsair, to Navigator, and it's all pretty competitive.

 

Lincoln doesn't have anything in the small SUV category and is completely MIA with EV SUV.

 

Volvo Cars just announced its new modular SPA3 platform for EV, which they described as like an automotive Lego set that can be used for every upcoming Volvo EV, small, medium and large. Will Ford have something like this from the skunkworks?

 

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, morgan20 said:

 

Lincoln doesn't have anything in the small SUV category and is completely MIA with EV SUV.

 

Volvo Cars just announced its new modular SPA3 platform for EV, which they described as like an automotive Lego set that can be used for every upcoming Volvo EV, small, medium and large. Will Ford have something like this from the skunkworks?

 

But with these small luxury products punching down in price, and a lot of mainstream brands moving in a more upscale direction with some of their products, there's a bit of overlap here. There used to be a clear price separation between brands. 

 

Now, you can buy a new Mercedes or BMW in the 30s, and a new Ford explorer costs 60k with options. There's a ton of overlap now, and it's working. I just don't see a small, compact Lincoln crossover really working, because once you go small, and cheap enough, it no longer feels like a premium product. The Mercedes CLA or whatever it's called, no-one respects that piece of junk, everyone views it as a clown car, because it has the Mercedes badge, but not the Mercedes elegance and premium presence.

 

I just feel like of Ford's gonna fight in the 20 to 35 grand compact crossover segment, continuing to invest in the bronco sport, and these upcoming CE1 EVs is the better option than a small, cheap Lincoln. 

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, morgan20 said:

 

Lincoln doesn't have anything in the small SUV category and is completely MIA with EV SUV.

 

Volvo Cars just announced its new modular SPA3 platform for EV, which they described as like an automotive Lego set that can be used for every upcoming Volvo EV, small, medium and large. Will Ford have something like this from the skunkworks?

 

Doing some quick research, the Corsair starts at about 40k. So a smaller, cheaper Lincoln model would have to be 30-35 grand at most to help it stand on its own feet. I just don't see how a Lincoln once you add in all the nice materials, tech, and rebody expenses, that sells for 30 grand, I don't really see how that could be profitable for ford. 

 

If the solution is to dumb down everything, replace the nice leathers with hard plastics to make it profitable at that price, well then it no longer feels like a luxury product, and it resets all the progress Lincoln has made over the last decade when it comes to improving its image. 

 

As for the ev thing, Lincoln buyers are old man, there's no way to get around it. I mentioned a few years ago back when Lincoln had all of these ambitious EV plans, how I didn't think it would appeal to their current buyer demographics that much. Turns out, I was right. 

 

The best thing to do is get younger people excited about the Lincoln brand. As stated before, this is where a Lincoln mustang thing, Ford's take on a lc500 fighter, would appeal to a lot of people, especially younger buyers who want those sportier products. Draw younger buyers in with the fun stuff, and then release the EVs once the average age of your audience has dropped, and you're marketing to people who are more likely to buy EVs. 

[rmc523]

Except maybe Lincoln EVs would give them an opportunity to appeal to a different market.

that said, I don’t see a Lincoln Bronco moving the needle

[morgan20]

3 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

Lincoln buyers are old man, there's no way to get around it. I mentioned a few years ago back when Lincoln had all of these ambitious EV plans, how I didn't think it would appeal to their current buyer demographics that much. Turns out, I was right. 

 

The best thing to do is get younger people excited about the Lincoln brand. As stated before, this is where a Lincoln mustang thing, Ford's take on a lc500 fighter, would appeal to a lot of people, especially younger buyers who want those sportier products. Draw younger buyers in with the fun stuff, and then release the EVs once the average age of your audience has dropped, and you're marketing to people who are more likely to buy EVs. 

 

Yea, good summary of the challenges that Lincoln faces. It's a geezer brand with no fun stuff in its product lineup, and nothing in the pipeline. You mentioned "a few years ago back when Lincoln had all of these ambitious EV plans", well at least they had a plan back then but the previous head honcho big shot at Lincoln left before putting the plan into action. The new head honcho big shot, some lady name Dianne, doesn't even have a plan.

 

Since Lincoln isn't going to get fun or sportier products, or rugged products like a Lincoln version of Bronco, if they want to get younger people excited about the Lincoln brand, they have to figure out how to combine Lincoln's theme of smooth and quiet performance with unique and elegant designs. Apply that to the Gator as the flagship including an EV version to compete with Slade IQ and introduce new unibody EV in SUVs in small and medium sizes using a modular platform like what Volvo is doing with SPA3

[Harley Lover]

20 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

As stated before, this is where a Lincoln mustang thing, Ford's take on a lc500 fighter, would appeal to a lot of people, especially younger buyers who want those sportier products. 

 

This is exactly what Cadillac tried with the various 'V' products. They didn't move the needle sales-wise, even though the products were well reviewed by the motoring press. In fact, they were pretty much a failure in terms of appealing to "a lot of people". Given this reality, there's no reason to think a Lincoln redux of the Cadillac failure would produce any different outcome.

[silvrsvt]

36 minutes ago, Harley Lover said:

 

This is exactly what Cadillac tried with the various 'V' products. They didn't move the needle sales-wise, even though the products were well reviewed by the motoring press. In fact, they were pretty much a failure in terms of appealing to "a lot of people". Given this reality, there's no reason to think a Lincoln redux of the Cadillac failure would produce any different outcome.

 

Not to mention the market is greying...the average of a car buyer is just going up and younger people aren't as interested due to a host of different reasons. People really need to take a different mindset with all the changes that are happening demographically. 

[DeluxeStang]

14 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Not to mention the market is greying...the average of a car buyer is just going up and younger people aren't as interested due to a host of different reasons. People really need to take a different mindset with all the changes that are happening demographically. 

I wonder what it will take to bring down the average age of new car buyers significantly. Lower prices of course, but I think one of the biggest issues these days is a lot of people in my generation aren't really car people. I don't know what can be done to change that, if anything. 

[morgan20]

8 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

I think one of the biggest issues these days is a lot of people in my generation aren't really car people.

 

A lot of people in all generations still alive aren't really car people. It's been that way since the automobile was invented. It's up to the big shots at car companies to figure out how to market their products and services to people who aren't really car people. That's especially important for brands like Lincoln whose current products don't even show up on the radar of car people, but the head honcho Dianne lady at Lincoln doesn't have a clue

Edited September 8 by morgan20

[twintornados]

Maybe they will import the EV Capri from Europe and give it a Lincoln makeover?

[Chrisgb]

9 hours ago, DeluxeStang said:

I wonder what it will take to bring down the average age of new car buyers significantly. Lower prices of course, but I think one of the biggest issues these days is a lot of people in my generation aren't really car people. I don't know what can be done to change that, if anything. 

I'm about the same age as Cubby the Mousekateer (Google it). As a young boy riding my Schwinn down the street past the postwar through early Sixties traffic, cars were king. The wonderment of  being able to walk to the garage and theoretically drive anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, Darien Gap notwithstanding, was PFM. (Pure, uh, Fantastic Magic). The automobile was then the most sophisticated machine yet devised that middle class people could own. Nowadays we have VR devices, dashcam vloggers, we fly anywhere more than about 300 miles from home, and rightly or wrongly, the automobile has been homogenized and sanitized into socially responsible blandness. 

I am one of the few HFCV boosters on this Forum, begrudgingly observing the e-world evolve. but I hope that charging times and gross weights can be brought down to rational levels. Maybe then aero won't be such a big deal and a new generation of Dick Teagues, Virgil Exners and Bill Mitchells will rise up and improve how the traffic looks, and not just how it flows.

[Harley Lover]

1 hour ago, twintornados said:

Maybe they will import the EV Capri from Europe and give it a Lincoln makeover?

 Ford won't be doing any development of the VW-derived chassis. It's dead man walking.

[twintornados]

1 hour ago, Harley Lover said:

 Ford won't be doing any development of the VW-derived chassis. It's dead man walking.

 

Kinda figured.....one guess would be that Capri and Explorer EV will move to GE2 once the Ford/MEB experiment is over.

[DeluxeStang]

1 hour ago, Harley Lover said:

 Ford won't be doing any development of the VW-derived chassis. It's dead man walking.

It's not gonna happen, but a proper Capri or escort rival, by proper, I mean an actually hatchback/sports coupe based on CE1 might be something worth considering. It sounds like CE1 is gonna be the kind of platform where almost anything developed on it is gonna be super profitable from the get go almost, so it unlocks the door to a bunch of new ideas ford wouldn't have entertained 5 years ago.