Ford Sales Up In January, But Lincoln Is Still Lagging

To be fair, the Fusion Hybrid is really the competitor to the Sonata, not the MKZ, and by all reviews so far, the Sonata hybrid is a fairly lackluster offering. Regarding the MKS, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but most complaints about the vehicle seem to revolve around the FWD layout rather than overall build quality and attention to detail, which are more than class competitive. As far as pricing goes, it's priced far under similar models from BMW, Mercedes, and Audi while offering comparable levels of luxury and technology. That being said, the MKS could have been better, and Lincoln does need to do better to regain marketshare, just offering something that is similar to the competition but undercuts on price isn't going to do the trick. The key here is that the turnaround of Lincoln isn't going to happen overnight. Ford started it's turnaround in 2006 with the Fusion. For Lincoln you could look at the introduction of the Zephyr and MKX a couple years later, but I really think the MKS is the key 'were doing something new and exciting' moment. The MKS was the first new fullsize Lincoln in decades, and fullsize luxury cars are something Lincoln has always been associated with. Ford has been busy turning the ship around for the core Ford brand, but now that things are sailing in the right direction there, and that the mainstream sales are bringing in consistent profits, there is actually money and available brainshare to devote to righting the ship that is Lincoln. The MKS isn't perfect as it is ,but neither was the first gen CTS. The MKZ was an improvement over the Zephyr, the 2010 refresh was a big improvement over the first gen MKZ, and similarly the MKX improved over the Aviator, and the new 2011 MKX is ready to take on the SRX/MDX/RX/etc without having to apologize for anything. As long as each model is better than the last, there is plenty of reason for hope.