Continental. Zepher. Coronation. Lincoln has some great names in its history – much better than the MK-add-a-letter-here nomenclature of today. Actually, if your model naming scheme is best described as nomenclature, you’re probably doing it wrong.
I won’t bore you with the Lincoln history you already know. Wikipedia can do that for me. I just want to talk about names, anyway.
Yesterday, the news Lincoln may use proper model names was met with great joy amongst the Best & Brightest. And for good reason. The Continental has always been gorgeous in the most American way possible. It’s a massive barge of freedom; as much as 2.85 Imperial tons of freedom in the ’60s. That’s a lot of freedom.
But, what about every other model in the current Lincoln lineup? What other names from Lincoln’s past (or future…*dun dun dun*) could be used to rename its current set of cars and SUVs?
Also, don’t bother renaming the MKT. We’ll just assume it’s dead so this process is easier on all of us.
If Lincoln truly rediscovered its heritage, then it would launch the Model K and the Model L.
Aside from Continental, Lincoln doesn’t have memorable historic nameplates to work with. (A Town Car is something that you use to get to your high school prom, the airport or a funeral, so that won’t work.) Unless everything becomes the Mark Something-or-Another, the nameplate development team had better get busy.
Zephyr would be a good one from their past. They could also dip into the old Mercury names.
The problem is Lincoln name itself. So, if you name a car Lincoln Marquis – this is like democracy and monarchy in one name. But you need to make a name that would mean something.
I would name a large sedan Lincoln Manor
MKZ – Etiquette or Elegance
And the trucks will be
Small – Urbanite
Medium – Visitor
Large… hm… Navigator
I like “Elegance” and “Urbanite”.
Lincoln Whoremaster
*whores not included
When you have a car WORTH remembering, people will remember it.
The Navigator is the only car up there with a worthwhile name.
Name the “big Lincoln” the “Continental” and the next one down: “Town Car”.
Personally, I would build two main Continentals: one with a supercharged V6 AWD (ala Jaguar) and one with a supercharged V8 AWD. Call them:
Continental SUPER 6
Continental SUPER 8
Get rid of that “EGOboost” nonsense and make me a goddamed CAR.
Slap Super 6 and Super 8 on the Town Car as well. Everyone will understand it as soon as they see the badge.
Make an MKC with the Super 6 available.
Whoever put “Town Car” badges on the MKT needs to be FIRED immediately.
As for the MKC and MKT… The MKT is so ridiculously hideous it’s gonna sell whatever it sells based on whatever reason people buy it.
The MKC, they could name “Aviator” and it really wouldn’t change much. If not for those ridiculous Matthew Mcauneghey commercials, no one would even pay any attention to it – and would be in an RX or an Acura truck.
Super 8. Not a good idea to name a car after a cheap motel and an antique home movie format.
Navigator ——–> Log
The MkT makes a better Town Car, for the black car passenger, than an actual town car. I’d guess the operator’s long term ownership costs for the panther are lower though.
How about this:
MKC – Corsair
MKZ – Zephyr
MKX – Sentinel
MKS – Continental
MKT – Dead, replaced by an Explorer based SUV called Aviator
Navigator – Navigator
Seconded.
Make the MKS the Town Car in your list, so the Continental can be the flagship, and you nailed it.
I see where you’re coming from but I’m bowing to reality on this one. It looks like they’ve already made the decision to replace the MKS with ‘Continental,’ judging by the reports.
Off the top of my head, you could call the super-lux flagship ‘Constellation.’ A constellation is bigger than a continent and it harks back to this beauty:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constellation
Also, you could make a Ford version called ‘Galaxie’ to help amortise the costs!
Even if you solely sell said Galaxie in China, that’s not a bad plan.
Actually, I don’t think Lincoln should bring back the Town Car name anytime soon. It doesn’t fit with the other names, and it brings back memories of ancient, out-of-date panthers rumbling around the airport that just doesn’t jive with their current offering (for better or for worse). It’s been used too recently.
Close:
MKZ=Zephyr
MKS=Continental. Top level Continental should be Town Car, the way it used to be.
MKX=Aviator
MKC=Capri or Cosmopolitan (Two great names from Lincoln’s past that also happen to start with C)
Mark IX=Mustang-based coupe
No Versailles = NO SALE!
Versailles is almost as toxic to Lincoln as Cimarron is to Cadillac. Even if it’s a decent name.
Cimmaron has become the butt of jokes, look at a Yahoo list of worst/flop cars of all time and its almost always there. Versailles is not. People outside of nursing homes, LM fanbois, and sick people like us barely know what it is/was.
The term “Versailles” was not a bad name (though maybe a bit of catch-up with the Cadillac Seville), and the vehicle itself didn’t tank as hard as the Cimarron (mostly because it didn’t have the gall to compare itself to BMW). It was bad for Lincoln because it was only a mildly different Ford/Mercury, which set a bad precedent for the years to come.
“It was bad for Lincoln because it was only a mildly different Ford/Mercury”
Like now?
The irony of the Lincoln Versailles was that it was tacky extravagance marking the end of an era — just like its namesake. People don’t remember the tarted up Granada, maybe, but the original Versailles has been associated with excess for hundreds of years.
Good point.
Yes! Just like now! And the Versailles was what (kind of) started all that.
I also love how at Peak Brougham (1975 or so), all the “best” cars were named for exotic European locales–Versailles, Seville, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Parisienne, Calais…but if you went to those places, you’d see the general populace getting around in buses, trains, and little cars, with none of the “luxurious” Yank tanks to be found.
Another excellent point.
I like it.
I like you ideas but with a little twist
How about this:
MKC – Aviator
MKZ – Zephyr
MKX – Galaxy or Galaxie
MKS – Continental
MKT – Versailles or Villager
Navigator – Navigator
I would roll with PaulieWalnut’s suggestions but I would add “Senator” (which I believe is an Opel in Europe but not in N.A.) and “Republic” to the pool. Basically make some of the names a play on US “democracy”.
The new Lincoln Abdicator!
+1
Nice. Very nice. “Corsair” is just right. “Sentinel” might be the weak one, but it still works. Love it.
Looking at their wikipedia page I would say “take any of the historic names and arrange them however you please – they’re all good.”
FYI I would give Cadillac the same advice.
Agreed. Why oh why are we not calling the CT6 “Fleetwood”?
I would call a full size RWD Coyote powered sedan “mine”
You and me both. I might select the AWD option, but I don’t even care about a manual transmission. RWD Lincoln sedan + Coyote + 10-speed = me putting down a deposit.
Continental, with a stretch version called the Town Car.
Gotta have a Zephyr out of the current MKS or MKZ and get rid of whatever you don’t name.
And a Mark something – make that a coupe with a convertible option out of the current Mustang, but no turbo 4. Personal Luxury Coupe FTW!
Keep Navigator and ONE mid-size SUV and call it Aviator.
Real names? let’s see now:
Town Car, Continental, Mark.
Can’t think of any other Lincoln names that resonate with me.
I doubt I would ever buy a Lincoln-anything, but real-name recognition has value. I do really like what Lincoln is trying to do, and am impressed with some of their offerings.
A friend has a 1999 Town Car, and it is still one nice ride.
All the alpha-numeric jibber-jabber needs to stop, because most people can’t relate to them. Perhaps BMW can get by with 3 series, etc., but other OEMs – not so much, at least in the U.S.
I wouldn’t call “Mark” a real name when it’s followed by a number. And just using “Mark” is as odd as naming a car “George.”
I couldn’t think of any numbers at that moment, but you’re correct. Mark IV, Mark V would be nice! I should have added them.
Even abiding by “Mark C/T/S/Z” would’ve been preferable to today’s system. Similar to how Cadillac should insist that their naming scheme be pronounced “Cadillac Touring Six, Touring Four, Touring Seven.” At least its a throwback to the old storied Series names.
No Town Car. Save that for livery-spec variants of models, i.e. Navigator TC, Continental TC, etc. Too associated with black car service by this point and – unless its a squeaky RWD perimeter frame car with a chronically-problematic rear air suspension – wouldn’t be taken seriously as a ‘Town Car’ by retail buyers anyway.
Cosmopolitan is a great name, so is Premiere, and someone already mentioned Constellation as a great nameplate as well.
Fusion Premium. Taurus Premium. Explorer Premium. Escape Premium. Flex Premium.
Ding ding ding, we have a winner!
And no to Capri. It only recalls that little Mazda based drop-top of the early 90’s
What rhymes with Navigator and Aviator, but is appropriate for a CUV/SUV name?
I think Lincoln took the only two, looking at this list: http://rhymebrain.com/en/What_rhymes_with_navigator.html
In TV announcer voice:
Introducing the Lincoln TERMINATOR! Just think of how cool it will be to say, “I drive a terminator (or alternatively “TA-mah-na-TAR).”
Hey, Nissan sells the Rouge, and it is pretty much the most docile vehicle on the planet.
Introducing the all new Lincoln Chopper.
“Get to da Choppa!”
GET TO DA CHOPAAAAAA
Nissan sells no such vehicle called the “Rouge,” although you can get the *Rogue* in a particularly lascivious shade of red (they call it Cayenne Red).
Only call it the Lincoln Terminator if it has suicide doors.
“Equator” might work.
Too late, already used by a rebadged Suzuki version of the Nissan Frontier. Your lack of remembrance of such a vehicle is not any failing of your own intellect, but rather a commentary on the overwhelming mediocrity of said vehicle.
Lincoln Seeyalater? Nah…
Liquidator
Bloviater
Kelvinator
Discombubulator
Radiator…
Ah… here we go… Detonator!
Mark-
The MkT isn’t dead. Well, at least not in the sense that there will be a Lincoln SUV that shares a platform with the Explorer. Since it’s going to be called the Aviator, that name is off the board for anything else.
I still find it weird that they’re using the Aviator name for the MKT replacement when it was last used on the concept that became the MKX.
I think it’s because Aviator = Explorer.
MKC = The Mercury.
Lincoln emblems are fine, but only one word: Mercury. Just like 1939. That name has just as much power as Continental.
Do it right (nicer than an Escape, more turbo boost, etc) and every soccer mom with “The Mercury” will be the envy of their quasi-lux CUV counterparts.
The Lincoln-Mercury fanboi has spoken. Have a nice day.
And stuff an Intech 4V 4.6L in there? Coyote?
The MKC with the 2.3L turbo has plenty of get up and go. I was quite impressed with it, but I think Lincoln should have more safety features as standard to differentiate themselves from Ford.
Lincoln Archibald
Lincoln Cornelius
Lincoln Theodore
Lincoln Herbert
Lincoln Rosamund
Lincoln Estelle
and for the flagship model:
Lincoln Abraham
You know, I feel like Estelle would work surprisingly well!
You have quite a few Mercury nameplates that Lincoln could use. Currently, Lincoln has 2 CUV’s, and a full sized truck platform SUV. Navigator is a great name, and I would also stick to Aviator for their smallest CUV. But how about using Mountaineer for their Mid-sized offering?
Also looking back, there are some really great Mercury Names that need to make a comeback… Capri is one of them, Cougar is another. There is the Colony Park, which could be a luxury edition of any SUV, then there is the Marauder, the Lynx nameplate, the Milan nameplate, and even a super special S-55 Performance nameplate…
Capri was a Lincoln name before Mercury got it, but you have a good point.
I think the Mercury thing could work *if* you went back far enough that the association with Mercury wasn’t so strong.
A few that might work:
Montclair
Park Lane
Meteor
Monarch
well I am approaching 40 and a lot of the names put out there mean absolutely nothing to me. Continental definitely. Navigator definitely. Mark IX definitely. Beyond that, I don’t know that Lincoln has too many great names that will resonate well across a broad age base. Town Car is a well known name, but more so for rentals and hired cars.
Mark II
Mark III
Mark IV
Continental
Town car
There are two Lincolns:
1941 Lincoln Zephyr
1956 Lincoln Continental
The rest are imposters.
Just to be pedantic, the ’56 Continental wasn’t actually a Lincoln. It has no Lincoln badging. Ford started the short lived Continental division to make it.
I don’t find this fact pedantic, its actually an important note. Ford was trying to create a product of excellence, an American Rolls as it were. I believe the lost money on every one even though its sticker price was $10K in a time when a Cadillac ran $4K.
http://www.lincoln-club.org/sketch1.html
Here we go, make sure to include the vinyl roof and velour interior! Some names are timeless, like Continental. Versailles is best left in the malaise era where it died.
I’d like to see them come up with some new nameplates instead of rehashing old ones. I like what Cadillac has done with the naming of their concept cars, vaguely meaningful but emotional names.
Agreed, if they have to go with non-alphanumeric names, then come up with new ones, versus rehashing ones that don’t have much cachet left. Continental is the exception, but like I said below, how long has it been that they’ve made a car worthy of the name? Far as I’m concerned, the last truly good Continental rolled off the line in the 1960’s, and the ones after were either rolling bordellos or glorified Tauruses. Unfortunately, people in the target market for the vehicle – folks in their 50s and 60s – are going to remember the same thing. They may not even be enough of a car buff to remember the great ones from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.
All this would probably be irrelevant if the new Continental were a truly great car, but it looks to be a redux of the late ’80s version, which was a stretched and optioned-up version of a FWD family sedan. It’ll sell on looks, but I don’t think it’ll get many conquest buyers from Lincoln’s competition. I see this as Son of Town Car. Is that worth spending the Continental name on? I don’t think so.
The rolling bordello Lincolns of the 70’s were the right cars for the time. They sold well and at very high prices, which is what Lincoln could only hope for today. Those days are gone though. The modern American luxury car needs to be redefined.
Well, I’d say it was during the “rolling bordello” period that the problems began. That might have been OK for 1976, but that’s when the definition of a luxury car began to change. That’s when you saw inroads being made by brands like Mercedes and BMW. Ten years later, Lincoln was still making pimpmobiles. Fifteen years later, you had Lexus and Lincon was still making (slightly less pimpy) pimpmobiles and fancied-up Tauruses. As late as 2011, it was still pimpmobiles and fancied-up family sedans.
So, yes, mid-70s product was “right for the times” but the times changed VERY quickly after that, and Lincoln never did. I get why, but it nearly did them in. And based on the fact that the new Continental will not be truly competitive mechanically – sorry, to be truly competitive at a $60,000 price point, you need a RWD based platform – I think it’s the same story from the ’70s all over again. Lincoln hasn’t changed…not really.
I agree, it would be much more fun if they came up with new names. And there are so many untapped areas.
How about Greek mythology? You could have the Lincoln Gorgon, Scylla, Charybdis, and Minotaur!
Or what about Roman emperors? Who wouldn’t want to buy a Lincoln Augustus? They could sell a van as the Caligula!
Maybe, in a nod to the Versailles, they could name Lincolns after deposed kings? You could have the Lincoln Louis XVI, Charles I, and Khadaffi!
Great Emancipator.
They’re still trying to beat a dead horse. No amount of renaming is going to bring this horse back to life.
I think they can succeed, but harking back to the “glory years” won’t work when they ended 40 years ago, and few besides car buffs remembered them. It needs to build from the ground up, where it is now.
Maybe in some time, after the brand regains some cachet, THEN go with “proper names.”
FreedMike, today’s Lincolns are just gussied-up Fords suffering from visions of grandeur.
Lincoln used to be different, better, a cut above Fords, something Ford-lovers could aspire to.
I would be surprised if Lincoln will ever succeed again. For most new car buyers, today, Lincoln isn’t even last on the list.
Well, how about Park Avenue, Centurion, or Lucerne?
Whoops, wrong brand. Amazing how easily I confuse Lincoln with Buick these days.
Seriously, here’s the problem: do any of those “classic” Lincoln names really have any cachet with someone who didn’t die five years ago at the age of 82?
Town Car? It’s the car my grandpa drove. Zephyr? That was that badge-engineered Fusion (yes, I know there was another Zephyr, but wasn’t FDR in office when it was made?). And then we have Continental, which refers back to a line of truly classic cars, but the last truly classic one that bore the name rolled off the line in the 1960’s.
I’m 51, and my experience with Continentals as a consumer, not a car buff, is that for my entire adult life, they were either malaise-era pimpmobiles, or glorified Tauruses. And, lo and behold, the new one is also going to be based on a FWD family sedan. It’s 1988 all over again, except with a nicer looking product. The difference is that 27 years ago, you could get away with selling a luxury car based on a FWD family sedan. You can’t anymore. Ask Acura and Cadillac.
Am I somehow an outlier? I don’t think so. Folks my age and a bit older are the prime market for Lincolns, and unless they’re car buffs, I doubt they’ll associate Continental any differently than I do.
The problem with name equity is that if the name doesn’t have any RECENT equity, it’s not worth reviving. There ARE classic nameplates with great equity – Corvette and Mustang are two – but those are on truly exceptional cars. There was nothing exceptional about “Continental” after the late 1960’s (or the mid-’70s Mark IV, if you want to stretch it).
So, I’m going to be the lone heretic here and say Lincoln should stick with alphanumeric names. Make a fresh start. Or, if they insist on “proper” names, come up with new ones. Perhaps the new Continental should be the exception. But referring back to the glory days isn’t going to be a winner for these guys when the glory days ended when Nixon was president.
In that case, why not Lincoln Grand Marquis? Clearly, this topic is designed to extract input from ttac readers to give the boys and girls in Marketing at Ford some fresh ideas. But the goods are still the same old same old by any other name.
How about a Lincoln version of the ford flex. They can call it the Lincoln Space Station.
Continental isn’t so bad because Bentley also uses it.
The rest of these names are just nostalgic nonsense that appeal to angry boomers on the internet who won’t buy one, anyway.
And someone who is actually going to buy a $60,000 car is impressed that it shares its name with a Bentley?
I don’t think so. People with this much money to spend know the difference. If they drive a Mercedes E class or BMW 5 (or Cadillac CT6) they’ll see the difference quite clearly.
People who know what the great Continentals were are going to find the name to be silly, at best, and the ones who don’t will only know Continentals as fancy Tauruses, like the ones they made in the ’80s and ’90s.
The car will sell fairly well (better than the MKS, anyway) because it’s good looking, but I don’t think it’s going to do much for the brand as a flagship. This poor car is going to be born good-looking but mechanically outclassed, which will make it a modern day Town Car. That’ll drive sales but not brand growth – it’s more of the same.
Continued evolution of the MKZ, MKC and MKX are what the brand needs.
…all of which are reskinned Fords and can only grow/mature as the Fords they are based on.
Lincoln will/has become what Lexus has become (and what I suggested for Cadillac), a smaller brand allowing higher margin products sourced from the parent brand with hopefully one or two more unique models tossed in.
@28:
If Lincoln intends to be Lexus, then it needs to straddle two markets – the entry luxury market and the high end market. Right now, Lincolns are basically Ford-built Buicks, and I don’t think the Continental will open any doors for them in the high-end market.
Now, if you could somehow meld the Continental with the CT6’s chassis…then you’d have something that could play in the $60,000 and up market.
The next step, Continental wise, is to have a RWD Continental. There isn’t a platform avialable yet.
Lexus straddles those markets with things like IS (and upcoming NX) on the “low” end and LS and LX on the high end. The same principles could apply, Zephyr and MKC on the low end, new Conti and Navi on the high end.
No, the point is that the Continental name has some integrity because it isn’t dated and it hasn’t been sullied. Most of these other names only resonate with the eight remaining Lincoln fanatics in America.
I resemble that remark!
PCH, if you’d driven one of the last-gen Continentals, you’d know the name was well and truly sullied (or at least badly diminished). That’s my point. People in the Lincoln target demographic are 45-60 or so (i.e, angry boomers), and they probably remember the last ones as being lame. I do.
I’m saying that the other marque that used the Continental name — in this case, Bentley — kept it current and didn’t damage it. The other names are old hat.
FreedMike-
It’s been 15 years since Lincoln last sold the Continental. No one will remember. If they do remember, they won’t care.
Same thing with Aviator. If Lincoln builds a stylish, RWD based, version of the Explorer, it will sell enough to make FoMoCo some money.
bball, I think more people than you realize will remember, but that’s my opinion, of course.
Personally, I think they’re better off making a clean re-start and saving the Continental name for some thing really special. If Ford can make something as good as the current Mustang, then they could definitely make something that’s more worthy of the Continental name. Again, my opinion.
@FreedMike
If the Continental had ended with the D186 3.8 version from the first Taurus, I would agree with you because it was sad. However the revised D186 Contis were pretty fracking sweet for the time (95-97, 98-03) their most notable drawbacks being: air-ride, transmission, and to a lesser extent being FWD. Put a decent transaxle in the platform and lose the air ride I think you’d still see these on the prowl more often.
Spy shots from a CD4 Conti:
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1097944_2016-lincoln-continental-spy-shots
@28:
I had a revised Conti with the 32 valve V8 as a rental. Certainly luxurious, but big honkin’ V8 + FWD = gobs of torque steer. Not to say that wasn’t entertaining, but you sure as hell wouldn’t find it on, say, a Mercedes E class or BMW 5 series, which went for similar money as a loaded-up Conti, but the other cars were radically superior in almost every conceivable way. Even a Lexus LS wasn’t all that far off price-wise, and that was a pretty magnificent car in its day.
So, not a bad car, but lame compared to anything but a Caddy.
I would say its primary market competition were FWD Cadillacs and Chryslers and from what I recall the D186 V8 Contis did have a severe torque steer problem compared to the LH and E/K-body. Lincoln really didn’t have a model at the time to compete with Mercedes/BMW or a Lexus LS, the FN-10 Mark VIII would have been the closest thing but it wasn’t really in league with a 5-series or E-class. I think the LS was intended for this purpose and had it been executed better it may have had a shot (sort of).
I imagine FoMoCo will come up with some new names to go along with Continental and maybe one more LM recycled one. I think the point of all of this is they realized MKwhatever was fruitless and stupid.
I don’t know, 28, have you seen the sales numbers? Not so good for this year so far, but the trend is definitely upwards, and they have a key new product (MKX) coming out that looks quite nice.
Personally, I think it’s a mistake to ditch this when they’re finally starting to get some traction with the new models.
Someone in one of the previous articles quoted a 90K sales figure last year. For a tarnished brand of near rebadges from a parent company which nearly went bankrupt *before* 2008, that’s not too bad. Ford may try to sell Lincoln in China but it doesn’t appear to want to take the brand global as it does with Ford. I argue it doesn’t have to as long as most of the Lincoln models remain reskinned Fords. Acura makes money for Honda using the same reskin model, I don’t see why Ford cannot as well.
I would add to your last point in saying before MKC launched they should have renamed it first and retained any excitement/equity the McConaughey commercials won (or relaunch the McConaughey ads proclaiming the new name and may be have fun with it) . The rest of the models were not being helped by the odd naming scheme.
MKX production is basically nothing right now. That is typically Lincoln’s 1st or 2nd best selling product.
Changing the MK formula isn’t going to hurt anything. They’ll do it slowly as products are redone.
MKC – Continental3
MKZ – Continental4
MKX – Continental5
MKT – Continental7
MKS – Continental8
Navigator – Continental9
The comments about long-dead names not carrying enough significance to sway today’s buyers is correct. They cannot rely on past glory to sell new cars.
Rather, they can use those past names if the word itself stirs something emotional (unrelated to their history as car names). Old names will be no different than new names, and each will have to build their modern reputation on the quality of the modern cars.
Aviator and Constellation are great. Coronation is a bit too Toyota-y. Zepher is a good replacement for MKZ. Capri isn’t bad, but is limited by the image of Capri pants. If used, it would need to be a small, open, fun vehicle. They may be able to sell the MKC as such, but I don’t think Lincoln should venture into the small car segment.
Written before I read what others said before me.
Navigator stays the same.
MKT:What was wrong with Aviator?
MKX: Mariner or if the Mercury association is too strong…Pasha – shoot for the Desi market why dont we…or Duchess
MKC: Cougar – a great name and the MKC aims at the same demo. or in a nod to the suburban moms who will own them…aviatrix
MKS: If it’s gonna die like the Taurus Grand Marquis sounds good – with a ‘unique’ versatile LATCH system option for those special occasions. If they don’t like that one how about the Lincoln Town Car. If ya got it baby use it!
MKZ: Williamsburg
How ’bout a little Lincoln named Marky!
Oh,you mean the “Marky Mark 1”?
That would be a Beastie of a car.
If FoMoCo can set aside ego, it can sell fifty thousand more Flex a year by adding a formal trunk, reskinning the rest with Lincoln styling cues, providing a TRULY luxurious back seat (think leather La-Z-Boys) and naming it the Town Car. A partition between front and rear would be the piece de resistance. Lincoln would OWN the livery and VIP fleet market. Cabinet Secretaries, CEOs and Governors want to enter/exit vehicles with dignity, and enjoy a fine ride en route. They don’t give a damn about FWD vs RWD.
“Zepher”? Seriously? It’s the second word in the article.
Scraping the barrel of Ford history — what about a Vendôme?
Hell, with those huge sunroofs they seem to like why not steel one from GM and go with VistaDome?
No one wants to own a Futura?
Too “80s futuristic”.
But it was the Batmobile!
Ah there was a LINCOLN Future in the 50s, my mistake. I was thinking of the Fox body Ford Fairmont variety.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Futura
The Fusion was supposed to be the Futura, but apparently the abandoned trademark got picked up by Pep Boys for their tire line. So it’s a no go.
Duh; Lincoln Assassination.
What, too soon?
Since i can’t really tell the models by their names (though I think their styling is pretty nifty) and I’m not in the mood to google each one of them, I think Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3 would suffice by showing which one is bigger than the next. You would get that cold, surgical, luxury feeling of engineering code names and you could even add a touch of “tech dazzle” with each new generation. So after the Mark 1, there’d be the Mark 1.1, then Mark 1.2, till it all started again after Mark 1.9. And people would just say, “I have a Lincoln”. Win-win all around.
Marcelo, Lincoln sales are not the only slowdown Ford is experiencing right now.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-lay-off-700-workers-220800858.html
Most small cars aren’t selling well and the Focus is 4 years into this model. It;s not really a cause for concern. Ford can’t build CUVs, SUVs, and trucks fast enough.
Take a Flex, slap some nice wood trim on the sides, and bam! The Lincoln Log.
Other than this, honestly, I don’t care. Just gimme a product worth owning, and a name that the majority of owners might be able to remember.
That be fake wood.
It rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs, and rolls over your neighbor’s dog! It works as a snack, and fits on your back. It’s Log, Log, Log!
Lincoln Patriarch.
Followed by the classic from the ’50s era, the Flatliner.