Lincoln, once “your grandfather’s brand”, is enjoying a revival thanks to new products and a new emphasis at Ford on rebuilding the 86-year-old nameplate perhaps best known outside North America for being the basis of ‘stretch’ limousines imported privately from the continent.
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Lincoln is launching its new flagship sedan, the MKS, at the Los Angeles motor show today but, Ford still has a tough road ahead educating consumers and re-establishing Lincoln as a brand with meaning and cache, industry analysts have told the Associated Press (AP).
“Lincoln does have brand baggage, and when you couple that with unfamiliar model names, you’re really up against a lot of marketing challenges,” Global Insight auto industry analyst Rebecca Lindland told the news agency.
AP said Lincoln sales rose 15% in the first 10 months of this year – more than any other luxury brand – largely on the strength of the new MKX crossover while the Navigator sport utility vehicle and the MKZ sedan each surged 8%, helping cover double-digit declines for the ancient [body-on-frame construction, rear-drive, V8] Town Car sedan [basis of the aforementioned ‘stretch’ limos] and Mark LT pickup.
The report said Lincoln hopes to extend the upward momentum with the elegant MKS. Peter Horbury, Ford’s executive director of design for the Americas, told the Associated Press the company used design cues from Lincolns of the past, including a distinct double-wing grille from 1941, to give the MKS its clean, confident look.
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By GlobalData“We think we have a strong entry here to really entice folks,” Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, was quoted as saying at a recent media preview for the MKS in Dearborn, near Ford’s headquarters. Fields reportedly said Ford is trying to redefine Lincoln as a brand for those who appreciate understated luxury.
“It’s not the person who wants to shout, ‘I made it,’ but wants to celebrate that,” he added, according to AP.
The news agency noted that Ford’s real hope is that the MKS will aid Lincoln’s quest to capture younger buyers – the average age of Lincoln buyers is 61, Lincoln marketing manager Mike Richards, reportedly said, while buyers of the stately Town Car sedan are over 70 though newer models have been bringing the brand’s age down. The average Navigator buyer is 49, he told AP, and the company is targeting 48 as the average age for the MKS buyer.
Art Spinella, president of automotive research firm CNW Marketing Research, told the Associated Press he’s seeing more consideration for Lincoln, especially among young buyers. After nearly collapsing a few years ago, Lincoln is on its way to a brand revival similar to that of Cadillac in the late 1990s, Spinella said.
However, Global Insight’s Lindland told AP Lincoln has been hurt by an “alphabet soup” of new vehicle names. The MKX sedan was originally called the Zephyr, while Ford was expected to call the MKZ the Aviator but changed course. It’s an echo of the problems at the Ford brand, which scrapped the Taurus name only to bring it back for the 2008 model year, the news agency noted.
“There’s a lot of confusion on the consumer end with all the name changes they have,” Lindland told the news agency. “They’re having to start over with so many vehicles instead of building from a foundation. It’s very expensive and it’s very time consuming.”
Lindland also said Lincoln should focus on its heritage, since that’s something Asian competitors like Lexus and Acura don’t have.
