#Lincoln

Carnewschina spotted this Panther with a – shall we say – unique paint scheme in Shanghai. Black was not enough for this Town Car. Gold was not enough for this Town Car. It needed to be orange-gold on black. Use eye protection, and don’t stare at the picture for too long.

“MR2turbo4evr”, today is your lucky day: you suggested that someone would appreciate my critiques on Lincoln products, and maybe you are right. But this self-proclaimed Lincoln-Mercury fanboi was pissed when his favorite version of Ford’s CD3 platform, the Mercury Milan, bit the dust. But I digress: what to do when you are a designer tasked with making every Lincoln look like the MKR concept, even if that ridiculous grille maybe (MAYBE) works on a sedan with Town Car levels of decadent proportioning, and no other Lincoln?

If you worked on the 2010-2012 MKZ, I suspect you bit your tongue, did your job, cashed your paycheck and told your family how much they meant to you. This applies to the MKZ more than the re-skin of the MKS, MKX and the all-new MKT. Or maybe working on such a half-hearted design isn’t so bad for a car designer, because job satisfaction is a relative term. That’s where fanbois who’ve lost their way get lost in their own thoughts.

A few days ago, we talked about rumors of Chinese production of Lincoln cars, rumors which Ford denies. Chinese media are blasé about the Dearborn denial. New reports are coming out, and Carnewschina says there is more meat to them. The new reports still insist on a start date in 2015 at Ford’s new Hangzhou plant. And they claim to know what cars will be made, including a new Lincoln ‘compact SUV’.

Rumors of Made-in-China Lincolns have been swirling for a while. The Lincolns never came, but the rumors are back. Carnewschina has picked up rumors in Chinese automotive media that whisper that by 2015, Lincoln cars will be made in China.

TTAC Commentator tresmonos writes:

Sajeev,

I recently wrote you about my dilemma of m y dying cavalier and should I purchase a ST Focus when they come out. My question is: how easy is it to convert a v belt to a standard ‘grooved’ serpentine belt? My ’84 Diesel Fox body has mostly sat since I’ve started my new job, but back when I had time and excellent southern weather to work on it, I had rebuilt the alternator, rewired the main line from the alternator to the battery (removed the high voltage line from the main loom) and was messing around with different pullies to see if I could solve the age old dilemma that plagues these diesels: thrown v belts.

The v belt drives the alternator and the water pump. Diesel Fox’s are rare as those v belts get tossed, octogenarians would limp their beloved Lincoln home, then crack their Ford meth inspired, paper thin, specific head to a BMW M21. Sad grandma and grandpa.

That split-grille that graces the front of the 2013 Lincoln MKZ? Don’t look for it on every single Lincoln product going forward.

Ford wants to rekindle old flames and hopefully find new beaus and babes for its geriatric Lincoln brand. One item to make hearts beat quicker will be a retractable 15-square-foot moon roof, a must have for lover’s lane. If that’s not enough to entice buyers to a little make out (of a check,) Lincoln will invite them on a real date.

Here’s the 2013 Lincoln MKZ, and just as many of us suspected, the Ford Fusion is the much nicer looking car. Redundancy, thy name is Em Kay Zee.

If it weren’t for a Manhattan nightclub shooting in 1999, there’s a very good chance that it would be Cadillac, not Lincoln, that would be undertaking a costly showroom upgrade program, a brand “reboot” to shed a mushy identity and a hail-mary attempt at saving the ailing luxury division.

TTAC commentator DougD writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I put the snowtires on Dad’s 2007 Kia Rondo yesterday, and right on cue we’ve got snow today. While we worked we talked about cars, of course. My parents are in their mid 70’s, Dad bought the Rondo new and there’s a lot to like about it. Upright seating, good ingress for seniors, easy to park in the condo parking spot. It’s been reliable and still looks good, so the Rondo’s held up well.

There was a time when the Lincoln Navigator was the hottest SUV going, an epoch that coincided with the “shiny suit era” of rap music. From a peak of nearly 39,000 sold in 2003, Lincoln sold just 8018 in 2011.

In 1992, the Ritz-Carlton chain won the Baldrige Quality Award for its excellence in customer service. Their idea was to write all customer preferences down, to feed them in a database and to henceforth deliver as expected.

Twenty years ago, I pointed this out to Volkswagen. I was VW’s customer service guru at the time and thought it was a swell idea. Volkswagen enthusiastically adopted the program. It was a failure, what do you expect from a company that retains me as a guru. Also, VW did not want to spend the money on a database. Instead, the Ritz-Carlton ended up running the hotel at Volkswagen’s Autostadt, and giving the occasional seminar to car dealers who still roll their eyes over the “gottverdammte Unsinn.”

Twenty years later, “Ford draws on luxury hotel experience for Lincoln overhaul,” writes Reuters, reporting that “in the plan to overhaul its luxury Lincoln brand, Ford Motor Co is embarking on a new approach, leaving behind the routine ideas of the auto industry and instead taking cues from the likes of high-end boutique hotels.”

Before that happens, Ford is reducing its dealer network to boutique size.

Ah, personal luxury! It’s hard to imagine anything more personally luxurious than a 4,906-pound two-door with 460 cubic inches under its 50-foot-long hood and an interior done up in classy brown-and-cream two-tone.

Lincoln’s free-falling sales will apparently be remedied by allowing customers to watch their cars get serviced via smart phone, if you can stomach the party line coming from Ford marketing boss Jim Farley. Also outlined were Lincoln’s idea of “luxury” and powertrain details for the upcoming MKZ

The next Ford Fusion is set to debut at next week’s North American International Auto Show, and while details are still embargoed, the blokes at Auto Express have given us a preview of the next Mondeo. Which is essentially the next Fusion.

(Edit: Here’s a “leaked” look at the car)