Of ALL The Premium Automakers, WHICH Has SQUANDERED Its Opportunities MOST?

Lincoln without a doubt! Instead of focusing on FWD Ford derivatives, they should have had a bespoke RWD platform of their own long ago.

The Lincoln LS was a good starting point way back when but that went nowhere unfortunately.

I still hold out hope that we'll see a true Lincoln one of these days.

Certainly Lincoln on the domestic side. They had a great heritage to pull from but never really used it. For Europe I would say Jaguar leads the squandered opportunities pack. Cars like the X-type were big missteps and take a while to recover from. In addition they were not putting out enough new competitive products in any category nor meeting the luxury makers in many of the segments. It seems like they are making the right moves now but time will tell. Infinity is the squandered opportunities winner for the Asian car makers. Where to start...advertising, nice but substandard cars, slow product roll out/refreshes, renaming scheme...

Acura

I agree with Lincoln and Acura.

I think it is also worth mentioning that Cadillac, while trying to get to the next level from an engineering perspective, needs to change the 'face' of Cadillac. These cars still present the design language that makes me think only 'old people drive Cadillacs'.

Acura by far. Very half hearted attempts to standout in any area
Lincoln not too far behind
Cadillac is trying but faces and up hill battle.

Well I can tell you who the leaders are...Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Audi. The rest all have major issues.

Acura, Lincoln, Cadillac, and Infiniti. They've all screwed up in lots of ways. Personally I'd like Acura and Cadillac to succeed and the other two I don't care about, but that's my personal brand bias.

Acura and Cadillac seem to be the two that have had the most true opportunities to make impacts. For various reasons and with different types of products, both have put themselves in positions to truly challenge Benz, BMW, Lexus, and Audi, but seemed to have subsequently dropped the ball...sometimes very hard.

At the same time, I think they both have the most potential to get right back into the game, Cadillac probably in the nearer future than Acura.

Acura has never in a position to challenge The Germans. They've never had a car that was even remotely competitive apart from the entry level TL and now TLX. Beyond that they're they a NMFF.

I don't believe that's completely.

The first and second gen Legend were seen as good alternatives to the 5/E segment. Then they went and made it bigger and softer with the first gen RL. Then they made it boring and forgettable, with compromised interior space, with the 2nd gen RL. So what'd they do? They screwed up the intro of the RLX by premiering the FWD version first, with a very floaty suspension, then the SH-AWD version was delayed and never (and still not) promoted when it his dealership. And, its styling is questionable, to be kind.

The second gen CL was a solid alternative to the 3 Series coupe, even for a FWD car. So, what'd Acura do? They cancelled it in favor of the Accord coupe.

The first gen TSX was a solid alternative to any entry level A4 or 3 Series, again, even for FWD. It had tight, solid handling, was light on its feet, and had really good interior quality. So, what'd they do? They made it bigger, lazier, heavier, and uglier.

To add,the original NSX had the sports-car world on its toes, but never really gave it any significant upgrade in power/performance and it was forgotten as quickly as it was celebrated. Then, despite the new NSX promising amazing things, its intro and everything leading up to its premiere this year has been so much of a cluster, it's SMH material.

So, to your point, these cars may not have been able to beat their German counterparts, but had Acura taken the feedback and advanced their next generations appropriately, they could have heated up their respective segments and become contenders.

Acura because after the ugly designs, you still remember its a Honda underneath.

Atleast Cadillac has nice designs and eventhough you know its a Chevy underneath, you tend to forget it.
Same with Ford and Lincoln, the design makes you forget its a Ford.

Acura isn't premium.

Save for the Escalade, Cadillac shares no platforms with Chevy.

Impala and XTS share platforms.
New Camaro, ATS and CTS to share platforms.

Acura- ugly stick styling for the past 5 years, and not moving to RWD.
Infiniti- Bring out the Rouge. Need to fix their styling .Its getting too wavey and busy. Dont like the new car nomenclatures. The G37 coupe was not a great upgrade of the G35 coupe. In fact it was uglier. Nissan needs to make torquier engines for their cars.

I actually think Lexus has done a better job, and they usually are known for good leases, deals, and dealer ship experience. I dont think Lexus will break formula to try and beat the Germans.

Infiniti BY FAR and de Nysschen only made it worse

I second/triple everything Acura. Everyone always raves about the Legend (and the name versus letters) and how Acura started off just as strong as Lexus, perhaps there has been some exaggeration about that over the years?