Wild-Ass Rumor Of The Day: Lincoln Is Going To Be Just Fine
About a minute into this clip, the auto industry’s most ubiquitous reporter John McElroy reveals that he’s seen three future Lincoln concepts and insists that they
definitely signal that a big change is coming.
What he doesn’t say: what they look like or what the “big change” is… which is enough to make any inveterate skeptic wonder whether McElroy is shooting straight or if saying what he did was a condition of being shown the “future products.” What McElroy does reveal is that Lincoln now has
its own unique design studio located within Ford’s product development center in Dearborn Michigan, with its own unique design team. That has not been done in modern times.
Unfortunately, as Cadillac’s recent history proves, new design is just part of the successful luxury brand equation. Unique platforms are another. Strong marketing is another. Lincoln may be taking the first steps in the right direction, but it’s got a long, long way to go…
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I would like to purchase a beautiful new Lincoln. Not a Taurus. If Ford/Lincoln want to attract customers like me who buy luxury cars, Alan Mulally has to get it through his head that we don't want pay $$$ for a Ford Taurus with a Lincoln emblem. Cost cutting doesn't apply to building successful luxury cars. That's why they are called luxury cars. At the very least, let's see the MKS renamed Continental, redesign the body panels to not resemble a jelly bean, and drop in the 5.0 V8. If Ford can't do this, they need to get out of the luxury car business, because it ain't that hard.
For a while now it's seemed like the two easiest moves Lincoln could make to help the brand are: 1. New grill. Hell, take the most recent Mercury grill. It's far better looking than the current whale smile. 2. Ditch the "MK--" in favor of actual names that people don't trip over, confuse, and ultimately ignore. Do these two things, and then maybe think about a RWD coupe or sedan.
Ed... love your work and think you need a rest. You're cranking out to much stuff these days! Find a beach and chill out for awhile. Let somebody take some of the load off. I did think your remark "new design is just part of the successful luxury brand equation. Unique platforms are another" is a bit hard on Ford. I mean, really...what car manufacturer does not spread the same platform through out the line up? Hell, IF you do NOT, you're dead these days…or will be very soon. The real truth is that this is going to be the ONLY way to survive and just watch how sneakily and brilliantly the future shows this! Pretty soon you are going to see plants set up to make subtle changes to platforms, yet see really wonderfully individual looking models come rolling off the end of the lines. To many notes in Jazz killed it for me...and to many parts in the storeroom will kill the manufacturer. New slogan in manufacturing and design...keep it simple, stupid.