Lincoln, Mercury, Land Rover, Volvo U.S. Sales Stink; Jag Up
The Ford Motor Company must be engaged in some serious back patting on the Land Rover front, as May sales stats reveal just how big a bullet the Blue Oval Boys dodged. Land Rover has bought the farm, down 23.5 percent in all. The LR2 (-51.2) and LR3 (-63.5) have dropped off the radar, while the Range Rover Sport (+5.6 percent) is cannibalizing the higher profit Range Rover (-21.4). Volvo's hurting, too. The XC90's 28.4 percent hit looks good– compared to the S40 (-42.1) and S60 (-66.7). Mercury's Milan (+36.9) and Sable (+39.8) helped limit the brand's losses to "just" 23.4 percent. Lincoln did only slightly better, dropping 22.5 percent in total. Don't even ask about the Navigator (-37.3) or Mark LT (-53.9). On the positive side, the MKZ is doing OK (-2.6). And the XF has basically saved Jag from oblivion. On the back of the new model (1170 units), Jaguar's U.S. sales gained 27.4 percent for the month, from 1757 to 1379. As the numbers indicate, the XJ (-27.8) and XK (-39.5) are a drug on the market. Note to Ford: it's the products, stupid.
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Richard, A Fusion Hybrid is all but a done deal, so building a hybrid MKZ would be easy-peasy. It would also give Lincoln a leg up on Lexus (there's no ES hybrid, despite the fact its kissing cousin the Camry is available as a hybrid).
Ford is working on a v6 hybrid powertrain. and the Escape Hybrid's powertrain will be in the 2010 Fusion in January.
Ouch for L/M. But it makes sense. Dead Mountaineer + Nobody buys the Grand Marquis = huge reduction. As for Lincoln, an announcement about axing the Mark LT has gotta hurt sales. Navigator seems about right, and the MKZ has probably hit its peak in the product cycle. A refresh can't be more than a year off, two tops.
Please get all the body-on-frame vehicles off the Lincoln line-up right now and get it over with.