Tag Archives | Lincoln

Is Lincoln Abandoning the Luxury Segment?

By on September 10, 2010 in Editorials

By Charles Krome

Surprisingly, the answer is “yes”—at least if you believe Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing, sales and service. Farley was providing some hints about Lincoln’s future direction in a recent Automotive News interview [sub req'd], and he had plenty to say about how the loss of Mercury will be Lincoln’s gain.

The focus will be on providing stronger differentiation between Ford and Lincoln products, a longstanding and ongoing problem exemplified today by a quick comparo between the division’s crossover cousins, the Edge and the MKX. Even with the 2011 models, with their vastly different grille treatments, there’s no disguising their shared roots. And the situation with the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ isn’t that different. (Note that in the accompanying photos, I’m showing a 2010 Fusion and a 2011 MKZ; it was oddly (?) difficult to find similar profile shots of each from the same model year.)

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It’s Official: Mercury Production to End Q4 2010

By on June 3, 2010 in News

By Chris Haak

Well, as expected, Bloomberg for the most part got it right.  Ford Motor Company announced yesterday afternoon that its Mercury brand would cease operations this year.  Production of the last Mercury vehicles will end in the fourth quarter of 2010.

As we reported the other day, Mercury’s current four-vehicle lineup was already slated to shrink by two when the redesigned Explorer drops its Mercury Mountaineer clone this September, and when the Palm Beach, Florida favorite Grand Marquis drives off into the sunset in the left lane at 35 miles per hour with its left turn signal on after the 2011 model year when its plant closes.  Still standing were the Milan midsize sedan and Mariner compact SUV.  The Milan is still fairly fresh into its product cycle, having been renewed for 2010, but the Mariner likely would not have been replaced either, when the next-generation Ford Kuga crossover replaces the Mariner’s twin, the Ford Escape.

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Reports Say That Ford is Ready to Kill Mercury

By on May 28, 2010 in News

By Chris Haak

Since Mercury’s new-product fountain seemingly dried up several  years ago, there has been speculation from time to time that Ford was considering shuttering its Mercury brand.  Each time, Ford denied that the rumors were true and promised that Mercury’s future plans would be clarified at some point down the road.  According to a report that first surfaced from Bloomberg, Mercury may now have reached that fork in the road where its future must be decided, and the future may not be bright for the brand that once brought personal luxury to Ford, and now brings marginally tarted-up Fords with waterfall grilles to the market.

Meanwhile, the maintenance of the Mercury brand appears at its face value to be contrary to Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s strategy of focusing most resources on the core Ford brand worldwide and divesting itself of distracting niche brands such as Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and most recently, Volvo.  Although Ford announced just this past January 2010 that Mercury would receive a new Lynx based on the 2012 global Ford Focus, the brand’s current lineup is about to shrink to two cars after the demise of the geriatric Grand Marquis and unloved Mountaineer SUV.  The remaining models will be the Milan midsize sedan (a rebadged Ford Fusion) and the Mountaineer crossover (a rebadged Ford Escape).

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2010 Lincoln MKZ AWD Review

By on April 13, 2010 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

There has been a lot of buzz over the past year about Ford’s updated-for-2010 Fusion midsize car.  The Fusion – now with an excellent Hybrid model as well – has deservedly been winning accolades from buyers and reviewers alike for its clean design, array of powertrain choices, reasonable pricing, and upgraded interior with state-of-the-art technology and connectivity.  Less heralded are the Fusion’s corporate cousins, the Mercury Milan (which is basically a Fusion clone), and the Lincoln MKZ. The MKZ was called the Lincoln Zephyr in its first model year, before Lincoln swapped real model names for the MK_ convention (except for the Navigator, which, like its arch-rival Cadillac Escalade, hung onto its real name).  I’ve always been fond of the Zephyr name (in spite of the unfortunate 1978-83 Mercury version of the Ford Fairmont that carried the name).  It means “west wind,” which is nearly odd since there’s little wind noise to speak of inside the MKZ, particularly in the updated 2010 model, with its new sound-absorbing laminated windshield glass.

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2010 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost Review

By on February 17, 2010 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

02.17.2010

2010 Lincoln MKS with EcoBoostAfter having just spent a week in a Taurus SHO, and finding that car to be expensive, somewhat cramped, but fast as heck, I was looking forward to investigating its luxury-car cousin, the Lincoln MKS EcoBoost.  Would the Lincoln flagship sedan – which shares a platform, powertrain, and many other parts with the SHO – be a more-luxurious SHO?  More importantly, would it be a credible luxury offering, and would its substantial price premium over the SHO be justified?  I was champing at the bit to find out.

The MKS is an attractive-enough car.  It doesn’t have proper luxury car proportions thanks to the limitations of its front wheel drive-based architecture (all wheel drive is optional on the MKS, and standard on the MKS EcoBoost model that I tested).  The car’s front overhang is unfashionably long, but at least the car’s grille and headlights are (to my eyes) the most tasteful and successful implementation of the new Lincoln family face first seen on the lovely MKR concept of a few years ago.  The MKT crossover, in contrast, has a similar front-end design but doesn’t pull it off as gracefully as the MKS does.

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iFordbot – Helping Future Lincoln Owners Pay Less Attention While Driving

By on January 4, 2009 in News

By Kevin Gordon

01.04.2009

Visual of Active Park AssistFord announced that it will be releasing an exclusive new technology called Active Park Assist. According to Ford’s press release, this ability is in response to the ‘often stressful and frustrating task of parallel parking.’ Before we go through the details, I have to wonder. Will it be more stressful for the average Lincoln owner to parallel park, or letting their car take control of the steering when hunting for a parking space on the street? One way or another, it is good to see a U.S. auto manufacturer developing leading automation technology. Active Park Assist will be available in mid-2009 as an available option on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and the new Lincoln MKT crossover.

Ford’s Active Park Assist differs from Lexus’s technology by using ultrasonic-based sensing instead of camera based technology. It also takes advantage of Ford’s new Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) to control the vehicle’s steering. The Ford system relies on the driver to control all throttle modulation and gear selection. In summary, here is the process a driver goes through to use Active Park Assist:

  • The driver turns the system on with a button. This activates the ultrasonic-sensors to look for a possible parking space.
  • The driver is prompted and must accept assistance.
  • The system then takes control of steering, but relies on the driver for gas, brake, and shifting.
  • While in this process, audible and visual cues provide the driver information on distance to other cars and provides instructions.
  • At any point, the driver can take control of the system by grabbing the steering wheel.

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2009 Ford Flex Limited AWD Review

By on November 8, 2008 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

11.08.2008

By now, most everyone has seen the ubiquitous commercials or magazine ads for Ford’s all-new Flex crossover.  In case you haven’t, they’re catering to a young, urban, upwardly-mobile clientele.  Jim Farley, Ford’s well-regarded head of marketing, didn’t want to limit the Flex’s appeal to only families with children, so Ford’s launch strategy for the Flex was to basically market the vehicle as an image-booster to younger adults without children, then assume that the people with children would latch onto its practicality, and the vehicle’s advertising-driven image would close the sales.

Unfortunately for Ford, the Flex has struggled to crack through the noise of an ever-crowded crossover segment, in spite of its unique (boxy, overgrown Mini Cooper-esque) shape, comfortable interior, and efficient-for-its-size powertrain.  The Flex’s lack of initial sales success probably has everything to do with the unfortunate timing of its mid-2008 launch – you know, when gas prices were spiking to $4.00 per gallon and above – as consumers abandoned large vehicles in droves.  I can, in fact, testify to the fact that there’s nothing wrong with the Flex that should harm its sales.  And I’m not even going to gloat about how I predicted more than a year ago (July 10, 2007) that I didn’t buy into the hype about the Flex’s prospects for success. Continue Reading →

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Check Your Mirrors

By on September 5, 2008 in News

Odds and ends about cars and car business

By Brendan Moore

09.05.2008

DAIMLER and RWE (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG, until 1990), a German utility company, have revealed plans to offer charging stations for electric vehicles in Germany by the end of 2009. RWE is quick to point out that this development is only a market test, and will only be offered in Berlin initially. “This is a pilot market and more will follow. Then we will see how this does in practice,” RWE CEO Juergen Grossmann told reporters. The reason Daimler was involved is because the company intends to produce a limited run of lithium-ion battery powered Smart minicars in 2009. There will be other production EVs or PHEVs for sale in Germany by 2010, though, most notably the Honda Insight, the Toyota Prius, the Bollore-Pininfarina EV and Nissan’s as-yet-unnamed EV.

GM plans to show a production version of the Volt this month (speaking of electric vehicles). Speculation was rampant that GM would debut the production version of the Volt at the Paris Auto Show, but GM says the first showing will be at an internal GM event for employees at which some media will be present. September 16 is the 100-year anniversary of General Motors and the Volt is expected to be shown at that event. Bob Lutz, Vice-Chairman of GM worldwide, told reporters at Automotive News Europe that pre-production models of the Volt will be built next year and 2010 ahead of the final production version in 2010. A European version will follow in 2011. “Everything is looking good,” Lutz said. “We have quite a few running around now in old Chevy Malibu bodies, so we can modify the engine and battery configuration.” It’s not an overstatement that the Volt EV is highly anticipated by the public, industry analysts, and GM itself. Lutz himself has referred to the Volt as GM’s most important model launch in the history of the company, and he views the Volt as one of the crowning achievements of his career. Continue Reading →

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