Lincoln going global, wants to compete with Lexus, Audi, BMW

people in developing markets who don't know much about cars are actually perfect Lexus customers.

It's about time Lincoln stepped up its game. Of course, considering its track record in the last few decades, I've got high hopes, but not so high expectations. Still, their recent leaps and bounds in design keep me optimistic.

Lincoln is already dead. This announcement is like a corpse evacuating its bowels for the last time. Sure smells like that to me.

Americans don't want Lincolns. And we buy a lot of crappy stuff.

Pushrod,
Great imagery!

Funny how Ford has good vehicles outside of the US. They'd rather export the crap than import the good stuff to the US. What gives?

But in Europe Lexus doesn't really matter, they have an insignificant market share.

Mullaly is wise not to send Lincoln into Western Europe, it fair worse than Cadillac....i.e. worse than terrible!

"LOL at bimmer blind fanboys pretending Lexus don't matter.

silly troll boy- even BMW execs admitted Lexus is their biggest competitor along with Mercedes."

LOL at toyota fanboys crawling from the woodwork in defense of lexus anytime they read anything that's not blind, loyal gushing praise.

silly troll boy- this isn't a BMW vs. toyota debate, so stop trying to make it one. He's right, Lincoln could easily take on lexus with their current lineup. Taking on BMW, though, without a single RWD performance car or a V8=bigger challenge.

I get the feeling that maffuk3r, or whatever his name is, is our newest troll.

I agree. It's about time to have some reinvigoration in the Lincoln division. They're not my type, but I'm really starting to respect their newer cars.

Respect what? Their small sedan (MK?) is a reworked Mazda 6, and their new large sedan (MK?) is a Volvo S80. Lincoln sucks.

Sorry, but BMW's biggest headache and competitor right now globally is Audi, not Lexus. In 2007, Lexus sold 39,000 units in Europe compared to 660,000 units for Audi and 672,000 units for BMW, and 720,000 for MB. That's more than Lexus sold total globally and that is one market. Be realistic please about Lexus globally at this moment.

If Ford wants to take Lincoln globally then that's what they're going to do and I wish them the best.

I don't understand. Ford had a perfect global luxury brand in Jaguar (style, heritage, prestige) but now they are selling it.

If Ford couldn't make Jaguar work, what chance to they have of taking Lincoln global? Not only does the Lincoln brand lack international recognition, but most Americans have (gladly) forgotten about Lincoln.

Ford doesn't own jaguar anymore.

and lincoln is their only "luxury" brand thats leftover, that is, if mercury gets the axe.

I do not doubt that Lincoln could compete with Lexus very effectively.

Audi and BMW would be reaching too far for them. Get the designs and engineering right and they could be a player.

I am pulling for them.

LMAO!

the problem with lincoln going global is that they don't have global funds or even close to global funds. Former BMW ceo Wolfgang Reitzle was employed by ford in 2002 and asked Ford for 2 billion dollars to getr rolling, he got about 750 million and realized Licoln could not become a global powerhouse. Maybe focus on the rest of the world outside of Europe, better yet focus on the USA.

"Maybe focus on the rest of the world outside of Europe, better yet focus on the USA."

+1!

They only have minimal success in their HOME market... what makes them think they'll be popular overseas? They need to do well here first.

Larry you a preachin' to the choir.

I couldn't agree more that the need to clean up their own house before the take on the world.

Alan Mulally is trying to keep up with Bob Lutz but he isn't Bob Lutz. Where as Bob Lutz is a true car guy (though we still don't forgive him for singlehandedly creating the SUV market)who actually liked creating cars that we as afficianados enjoy and has GM Financial backing him...Alan came from the land of Boeing and has no one backing him. Heck he has debt and loans backing him. Alan is a smart business guy( he turned a profit on Ford in the 2nd Quarter last year...but that was due to "downsizing"), good CEO and engineer, but he dosen't know step one about cars. Hopefully he has not been listening to the old board of directors to much...because they were the ones who put Ford in its current position.

Seems to me this "Lets take on the world" attitue, without a new lineup, is extremly premature. Especially since I havent heard of any new RWD Lincoln testing on the Nurburgring like Cadillac did.

I guess what we car afficianado's really need is Ford to fire Alan (and the whole Ford board of directors) and hire a Marine like GM did...to kick the crap out of the bean counters and stop making cars for this guy named Hertz.

yes lets heat up the competition

No one can compete with BMW.

I've always thought that Ford could've competed globally with Lincoln but, Lincoln was always kept "under" Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover and wasn't allowed/ encouraged to compete on those levels. those "in the know" know that the Aston V-12 started out as 2 Taurus v-6s welded together, so the engineering and the technical aspect is up to par. I think the marketing/ bean counters tend to piss away opportunities to shine hence the stupid "Me Too" naming strategy. The LS was a very good car for the time but it had a bad name and bad marketing. I think that all of the MK.... names will only confuse potential/ new customers. Fix that then think global.

Lincoln will have to do better than warmed over Fords to compete in the world market. Hell it needs to do more to get its sales going here in the US. They need to improve their home sales and all first. Perhaps China next. But Europe? I think they would laugh at it unless it truly got serious about car building and design. Sure it has new design direction, however, what will it be able to do performance wise? That is where it will be proven if they can compete or not.

To put it simply, their product lineup isn't strong enough. Lincolns are not that great to drive, nor are they nice on the inside, nor are they particularly stylish; they're not even priced very well. I certainly wouldn't buy one.

Sorry, Ford, but I'm rooting for Cadillac and GM.

If Lincoln wants to compete, they need to really step up their game instead of making Ford carryovers. A SUV derived from the Edge and a sedan based off the Fusion. Basically they look identical with no features that stand them apart when looked at closely. So for $40k you can get a small Lincoln CUV, but for $30k you can get the same car loaded from the Ford Edge.

I would think they would be smart and go after Cadillac more than the BMW. Caddy kinda sets it's own classes. The CTS is the size of a 3 series in most respects, but the CTS-V competes with the M5 and such in power. The DTS is closer to a 7 series in size but competes more directly with the 5 series. They kinda made their own niche's which is good to see. But Lincoln really needs to figure out what their doing. For one doing a tasteful remake of the Town Car and keeping the name, give it some more edges and crisp lines and change the powerplants a bit.

They need to think back to when they had the LS with the optional V8. Fantastic car to drive and really quick, but it was never marketed right. Then you had the Mark VIII. Another great car and one of the first to introduce HIDs to the US market.

This is the problem with a lot of these manufacturers. BMW and MB only make BMW and MB. Audi struggles a little bit with making a notable difference from VW, as does Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti, etc. So creating cars that don't have identity crisis' is tough as it is. So claiming that one car looks like another and comparing it to a 3 series is not valid. Comparing it to its look alike counterpart is completely valid, because you need to stand apart. If BMW made a general persons car like the Camry, I garuantee it would resemble the 3 in some aspects.

All in all it's a bold move for Lincoln but I think they need to work on their aesthetics first before just sending vehicles with the same powerplants as Fords with no tweaking, they are quick becoming the Buick of old.

"The CTS is the size of a 3 series in most respects, but the CTS-V competes with the M5 and such in power. The DTS is closer to a 7 series in size but competes more directly with the 5 series."

I agree with the bulk of your post, but...

?

The CTS is the size of a 5 Series, but only competes with the 3 in price.

The DTS is a FWD huge sedan that competes with the Lincoln Town Car. It has nothing to do with the 5er; it's the STS that competes with the 5 Series.

Lincoln can dream, it's ok.

WOW ford is really backwards, so let me get this straight first Ford wants lincoln to go upscale they place them in the PAG start to seperate them from ford and mercury and the dew98 LS is born on a new platform. Than they decide to take it out of the PAG and put it back with ford and mercury. Now all of their vehicles are just luxed up Fords, and now they want to take those cars upmarket and global lol. The MKZ would be laughed at, the European market Mondeo is a much nicer car than the MKZ, especially on dynamics. The MKS appears to not know where it wants to be with its almost LIncoln Towncar size, but sports sedan intentions, and wanting to compete with the CTS with an interior that would have looked merely adequate in a top of the line Ford or Mercury. Lincoln its ok to dream, but hey lets be realistic thats pure fantasy

Lincoln the car company will soon be as dead as Lincoln the president.

Ford does not have the money to make this happen successfully. They are trying to mimic the success of other brands already firmly established in these markets for years with billions of $$$ in investent already made. They can't just waltz into China or Russia and expect the same kind of success as GM, Audi, MB and a few others. They just bet the farm and leveraged the assets of the entire company to pay the debts they already have much less coming up with the money to implement a plan such as this.

I can't see this as a success. I mean, if Caddy is having such a hard time, it looks like Lincoln's ambitions of going international might be doomed.

Cadillac's hope lies not in Europe, but in Asia. They sell very, very well in China.

Lincoln... does not. And I think the Chinese would be able to see that Cadillacs are far superior to Lincolns. Even Chinese Buicks (which are also huge sellers) are better than Lincolns.

What is this? Joke of the month day? First BMWs make everything else look old. Now Lincoln is going to compete with who?

Nothing is impossible. I can say the same thing for Lexus being warmed up Toyotas which is a fact. Lincoln needs to improve their product line and make a profit in the US first. Once they have the extra cash and start to separate themselves from Ford while creating good cars then is when they should go global. For now just try to survive at home first.

Lincoln has EVERYTHING to do with Ford. They don't have a single vehicle on its own platform.

Lexus has four models on their own platforms (IS, GS, LS, SC). However, even three of their models that are on Toyota platforms (ES, RX, GX) look completely different from their Toyota counterparts inside/out. The LX is less similar to the Land Cruiser than the Town Car is to the Crown Vic, which have almost identical interiors and exteriors. The LX's interior is completely unique, as is its front end.

Furthermore, you can see the Ford in every Lincoln. The MKZ and MKX have the exact same side profiles as the Fusion and Edge. Take the chrome off the Navigator and you're left with an Expedition. The Town Car... I won't even go there.

That is what I'm trying to say Lincoln needs to seperate themselves. I guess the new MKS is the only model which isn't exactly like a Ford.About Toyota: In other countries there is the Toyota Harrier and the Lexus RX. The Harrier is exactly the same like the RX which why many people re badge their Harrier's into Rx's. The interior is the only difference otherwise they are exactly the same. Only in the US they appear totally different, but that is because it is their best market.