Lincoln: Dead Brand Walking, or Signs of Life?

[Ed753]

Not in my neck of the woods. You can stand next to the MZK and be within spitting distance of a Fusion.

For Lincoln to buy into the 'It's a Lincoln' catchphrase and demand a better premium for their vehicles, it needs a real flagship and halo car to let people know what a Lincoln can be.

Its MKZ, but yeah.........

Sure the the 2012 Fusion/MKZ were easily identified as close relatives, the Lincoln badge isn't free, most Fusions sold have ATP much, much lower than where a Lincoln MKZ starts, so...........anything but a brief lot-shop, is going to be a deliberate and much more expensive transaction.

Now if someone is at the Ford Store, and gets sucked in on a loaded up version, and decided to hit pause and head to the Lincoln Store, I'll say OK that is possible, but IMHO very rare.

[djhogie]

The kicker here is that as I scroll through the blog post on Motor Trend I am struck by the fact that I still, to this day, like the LS better then anything currently offered.

I agree with this statement 100%. Ford should have stayed with Mercury. May have had a better shot. I will never forgive Ford for this!

[T'Cal]

I agree with this statement 100%. Ford should have stayed with Mercury. May have had a better shot. I will never forgive Ford for this!

It seems Ford isn't going upscale enough with the latest Lincolns so maybe keeping Mercury would've been the better move. The MkZ would've been a better Milan while the MkS looks more like a Sable than a Continental or similar. They could move the Flex (with a substantial body update) as both a sedan and crossover to Mercury as the Grand Marquis and Colony Park, respectively. These Mercurys would go toe to toe with the current Buicks.

[Andrew L]

I agree with this statement 100%. Ford should have stayed with Mercury. May have had a better shot. I will never forgive Ford for this!

Lincoln has way more history than Mercury does. I really don't see how killing Lincoln and keeping Mercury would have helped. Would you pay for a 50k Mercury Milan?

[TaurusSHO]

Lincoln has way more history than Mercury does. I really don't see how killing Lincoln and keeping Mercury would have helped. Would you pay for a 50k Mercury Milan?

As much as I would love to see Mercury come back I have to agree with this. Making the MKZ a Mercury wouldn't cheapen the price at all, the Lacrosse can already get up to 49k.

[LincolnFanFl]

I really don't see how killing Lincoln and keeping Mercury would have helped. Would you pay for a 50k Mercury Milan?

Exactly. So if the MKZ is still consider to close to the Fusion (for whatever strange reasons), how would a Mercury be more distinct? That makes no sense at all. If there was a "gussied up Ford' in the past, it certainly was a Mercury...

[MaxLegroom]

The MKZ is nice enough for what it is. Besides, there's still that Lexus ES to be dealt with, anyway. Actually, should I return to driving a hybrid, I've kind of made up my mind that the MKZ is it, even though I've yet to drive it.

That said, I'm not that crazy about the rest of the current Lincoln lineup. Audi may get away with using FWD as a basis for their AWD cars, but their design is to minimize the weight distribution problems and such of the FWD basis. Lincolns, even with AWD, look like FWD cars. I'd sooner see some RWD Lincolns, if for no other reason that this is how the much of the rest of the world does luxury sedans.

That said, there's going to be a bit of a problem with dealerships. One Lincoln dealer was closed down recently, to have the franchise reappear down the street at a Ford store, which is building a new showroom for Lincoln when the previous Lincoln dealer had a standalone store right down the street. One Lincoln dealer in the area is doubled with a Kia franchise. That one also advertises its ability to work on heavy trucks on a big vinyl sign that is visible from the expressway. Real class, that.

They're going to need luck and something more than that to pull this off. But can the necessary pieces be pulled together in time?

[ZanatWork]

Exactly. So if the MKZ is still consider to close to the Fusion (for whatever strange reasons), how would a Mercury be more distinct? That makes no sense at all. If there was a "gussied up Ford' in the past, it certainly was a Mercury...

Because Lincoln is labeled as a "luxury" brand, not the in-between segment that Mercury shared with the Buicks and Oldsmobiles of previous days. The point is, and will remain, that if there's going to be a "gussied up Ford" division, Mercury had a storied history with racers and hot rodders, and had a competition history far more recent than Lincoln's last real claim to fame...the suicide door Continental.

If you disagree with that statement, did you miss the Lincoln's big heritage display at the L.A. Show only went to the early sixties? Yeah. Since then, Mercury won the Daytona 500 (2 or 3 times), then various SCCA and IMSA races, mostly with Roush Racing. Lincoln? Made barges and pimp-mobiles in the 70's, largely forgettable smaller barges in the 80's (excepting a few entertaining years of Mark VII with the better 302s), slightly more entertaining barges and the Mark VIII in the 90's, and the one exceptional product of the 2000s was the LS...that the company refused to develop.

People don't seem to understand that if Lincoln were being supported as a true luxury division, myself and others of similar minds would be thrilled...because Lincoln would finally fulfill its potential, Ford would finally give the division a clear mission...and if Ford wanted a division for entry lux/sport models, we might get our Mercuries back.

Everyone would win, and there'd be room...as Lincoln isn't seemingly pursuing a "performance enthusiast" image.

[Logans Run]

People don't seem to understand that if Lincoln were being supported as a true luxury division, myself and others of similar minds would be thrilled...because Lincoln would finally fulfill its potential,

Exactly...I want Lincoln to succeed, but my idea of success is not making a profit selling Fords with better options and unique sheetmetal. Lincoln needs to be making models that teenagers would hang a poster of on their wall, and that adults would download a wallpaper for their computer.

[LincolnFanFl]

Everyone would win, and there'd be room...as Lincoln isn't seemingly pursuing a "performance enthusiast" image.

Your last sentence sounds like you were in favor of keeping Mercury AND Lincoln. This is not what my post was about. I said that it wouldn't have made much sense to kill Lincoln instead of Mercury.

The "performance enthusiast" image for Mercury was dealing with the same issue as the "luxury" image for Lincoln. Both had their origins in the past and I highly doubt it makes a difference how recent it was - at least not after the "paint wears off" - and that obviously happened to Mercury as well.

The recent Mercurys sold (or should I say, the final) had even less in common with "performance" than the current Lincolns have with "luxury". Mercury was even more abandoned than Lincoln - if you want to point out the glorious past. So getting either of them off life-support and back in business would/will be a difficult task - no matter which brand you choose.