The current plan is now that Cadillac is going into BMW land, to have Buick take it's old place. Do you think Lincoln should have it's sights set on Buick now? Think about it...Buick has the Ranier and Rendevous which are the top models on thier respective platform. The new LeCrosse will be an upscale version of the new Grand Prix and likley carry 260 HP. Meanwhile Linclon is talking of Mazda6 based cars...

What is everyones opinion?

 

I thought Cadillac was already in BMW territory and now moving more into high-end BMW/Mercedes-Benz arena. It seems Lincoln would line up against Buick and the other luxury imports.

 

Buick and Chrysler, I'd guess... but even Chrysler is making a more defined effort to move upscale, though retaining some of their current cars prevents that, IMO (Town & Country, Sebring Sedan/Coupe, etc...)

 

Buick was my first thought.:blah:

Jeff

 

Ford needs to do with Lincoln, what Gm did with Caddillac.

Lincoln needs to seperate themselves from mercury. They need to compete with cadillac and mercury needs to go at the imports. I know moving lincoln upscale would interfere with jaguar and aston martin, but it is that or kill off lincoln or mercury. I don't see them surviving the way they are now.

 

Lincon should go upscale

Mercury = Buick/Acura

Ford = Chevy/Pontiac

 

I think Ford has no clue as to what to do with Lincoln.

Lincoln had a rock solid plan, 3 billion to spend, and the excellent LS chassis to start off with. Now everything they have has been slashed to next to nothing, a series of cars that was scheduled to start hitting the streets next year is shelved, the guy who led Lincoln has been reassigned, and Ford yanked Lincoln from the Premiuum Automotive Group down the road here, where some of those premium brands most certainally would have rubbed off on them.

In it's place, Lincoln can look forward to yet another Town Car reskinning, a reskinned LS likely to be called the Continental, a Mazda based Crossover, and a cancelled Mark 9 coupe that may never see the light of day.

Meanwhile, Chrysler is going where Lincoln-Mercury used to be. The top cars are going to be honest up to date luxury cars, the rest of the Chrysler line is getting it's own identity and style, and with higher quality standards becomming a part of all new Chryslers as they are introduced, I think Chrysler has the potential to replace Lincoln Mercury as America's luxury car line, since Cadillac is moving upscale, and I've yet to see a Buick concept (a good indication of their design direction) that isn't ugly.

 

I agree with guionM.

I like what chrysler is doing with the 300 by putting the hemi in it.

To me everything outside of Ford and the PAG is in flux. Ford needs to decide real fast where mercury and lincoln are heading or GM and the imports are going to eat them alive. Well more than they are now.

 

Gotta be careful saying that PAG is on-track - you've got Volvo which doesn't fit well within Ford and may be sold at some point, and Jaguar which is building great luxury cars but is in serious danger of spoiling its reputation with the X-Type.

Lincoln can probably simply set its sights on a reborn Buick as Cadillac moves up-market. It'll be interesting to see what happens now that Lincoln and Caddy aren't battling for the unoffical US luxury sales crown - I think it'll do both companies a lot of good. I see a good upcoming battle between Lincoln, Chrysler, and Buick. If Lincoln fails, it will be because of a lack of proper execution, and not because there's not a good spot in the market for them.

The big question is "where does Mercury fit in?" If you ask me, they need to deep-six that brand.

 

I knew Ford was having issues with Volvo. While SAAB is simply turning into a division, Ford seems to be trying to keep some type of independence with Volvo & the rest of PAG.

I felt that with Lincoln being developed in the same building around the same people who work with Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover, & Volvo would no doubt bring the Lincoln brand up pretty far, as opposed to be stuck working along side the same people developing standard regular issue Fords.

 

I think its going tp be fun to see Caddy run with the likes of BMW and Benz. As will it to see Buicks battle Chrysler for the middle class luxury crown. However one can clearly see the heavy influence from benz on chrysler. Those cars look more german every year, i like it. Lincoln and Mercury are in some serious trouble i think. Lincoln having a bit of an identity crisis and Mercury being almost completely worthless. Especially now that they have dropped the only unique Merc on the market in the Cougar.

 

For a while, it looked like Ford would put out a CTS-V caliber Lincoln Ls. It was rumored to have a 400hp S/c'ed 3.9L like the Thunderbird concept from a year ago. For a while, it looked like Ford would go through with it. It also looked like Ford wanted to actually invest in Lincoln. What happened?

I doubt Ford/Lincoln would try or keep up with Cadillac's aggressive changes. The funds most likely aren't there and Ford isn't willing to invest as much $$$ as GM did with Cadillac. Another thing is that Ford also has the more upscale Jaguar brand to worry about as well. Whereas Cadillac is GM's top/single luxury car brand, that isn't the case with Ford.

The next few years should be a good indicator of where Lincoln is headed. I think Ford would better off killing Mercury and investing the money in Lincoln.

 

Buicks line-up is pretty solid. When Rainer hits the streets alot of Roadmaster/Wagon drivers will be trading in for it since the V8 is what they've been waiting for from Buick. A regal replacement is coming soon and a new LeSarbre is also coming. What Buick needs is a V8 powered Park Avenue and they would be set to take Caddys former place.

Back in my mind I keep wishing to see a new GN from Buick, but I think Buicks performance days are over.

 

This thread is about 2 years to early.Lincoln is doing fine with the 2 vehicles it cares about.The LS is going to be overhauled here soon (remember Caddy came to the party 2years late with the CTS) the Town car will be getting new sheetmetal.The Navi will be getting either VCT or a V10 3v in the near future.The Navi isnt short of features either but on the same note it isnt short on price.

Quite honestly Caddy is as much a BMW fighter as Lincoln is.What happened in the last year that made Caddy "so great" the CTS!?!?!?!?!

 

I think Lincoln should make the LS a 12 second car and comete with the corvette. After tht Ill just go along with what you guys have said