The
automotive industry here in the United States has drastically changed in just a
few years. We are used to seeing models
come and go but now it has become more and more common to see brands themselves
close down. We haven’t seen this exodus
from the market since the Great Depression.
Chrysler itself looked dangerous
of closing its doors completely. General
Motors lost many brands. The once cash
cow Hummer is gone. The brand of the
future, Saturn seems like a sad failed experiment. Saab
was sold off and at the moment I am writing is out of business. Pontiac was done away with despite some
strong offerings like the G8 sedan. Ford
Motor Company has looked the strongest in this bleak time due mostly to a
strong European offering. However, Ford
is not immune and it too sold off Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and super car
maker Aston Martin. Long time Ford owned
brand Mercury was slowly put into the ground.
Now Ford is looking to possibly do the same to the Lincoln brand.
This
year Lincoln is pushing out a new ad campaign to bring more buyers into the
leather seats of Lincoln. Does this
really have a chance to work? There is
no doubt a successful car brand needs a successful marketing plan. But, that cannot be the only change to be
made. Currently the range of offerings
from Lincoln are truly overprices luxury versions of Ford cars. Make no mistake the new Ford cars are top of
the line. If you are looking to buy a
new car you should stop by a Ford dealership.
Just stay away from anything with a Lincoln badge on it because you are
over paying.
I
cannot actually remember the last time I saw a new Lincoln and even thought “wow
that’s an interesting car”. All I see is
a lot of badge engineering. If Lincoln
is to change their current image it will take more than a smart marketing
ploy. In the last decade Lincoln rival Cadillac
has done much to improve its image from that of cars for retirees to drive under 45 miles per hour, to exciting
and fresh cars that youthful buyers are drawn to. How did they do it? Well a
big part of the credit goes to the Escalade which was being bought and shown
off by countless hip-hop artists and professional athletes alike. It was a correctly cool Cadillac that hadn’t been
around since maybe Elvis drove a Cadillac. Cadillac also went racing. In order to bring excitement to its new
performance sedan the CTS, a racing program was built from scratch. And when the CTS-V came out, all of sudden
Cadillac was winning on the track and the showroom.
So
should Lincoln go racings? Hardly. It
might work but I think the buyers have already seen that and they are smart
enough to know they want something different.
Some have said Lincoln and Ford in general needs a rear wheel drive
sedan in order to compete against European rivals like BMW. Ford executives and leaders have stated the
reason we won’t see a sedan like this because Ford is focused on fuel
economy. That’s what Lincoln needs to
do. Lincoln does offer hybrid versions
of its line because the Ford counterparts the Lincolns are based on offer
hybrids. I think Lincoln needs to
engineer a brand that is the most fuel efficient brand in the United
States. Lincoln isn’t going to be a best
buy or the most luxurious brand but it could be the leader in fuel
mileage. This would require a lot of
money invested into the brand but it would also show the buyers that Ford is serious
about this.
Lincoln
will not survive without major change.
It cannot be just talk and overpriced Ford cars. The buyers aren’t dumb. Lincoln right now is a middle of the pack car
brand if I am being nice. In the
automotive industry if you aren’t leading then you might as well be in last
place. Lincoln isn’t leading at anything
right now. If Ford wants to rebuild this
brand and be known as the most fuel efficient company in the industry then make
Lincoln the example. If Lincoln was
number 1 ahead of Toyota and ahead of Honda it would turn the industry on its
head and prove to customers Lincoln will be for real from now on.
No comments:
Post a Comment