In 2005, Ford design chief Peter Horbury, fresh from an extreme makeover of Ford's Volvo brand, stood before Bill Ford Jr. and asked to do the same with Lincoln. By 2010, however, dealers are still questioning the Lincoln strategy.

Reports the Detroit News, "Lincoln was supposed to overtake its sister brand, Mercury, become the dominant partner and ultimately eliminate the need for Mercury. Instead, Mercury continued to outsell Lincoln, and Ford now plans to add a small car to the Mercury line-up for 2012" ('Ford struggles to remake Lincoln,' Bryce G. Hoffman, Detroit News, February 16^th, 2010).

Indeed, Ford Global Product Chief Derrick Kuzak confirmed, in July 2008, that Lincoln would receive no small cars, as Mercury, whose cars are sold alongside Lincoln, was repositioned as an entry-level premium brand.

Horbury's presentation back in 2005 juxtaposed the planned next-generation models of every Lincoln product - differentiated from their Ford brethren largely by grilles and few bends in the sheetmetal - with iconic car such as the 1941 Continental Cabriolet and the 1966 Continental. This, Horbury said, could be the future of Lincoln - if Ford would pay for it.

Ford did - and Bill Ford stood in front of the new Lincolns at Detroit 2010, remarking, "in the early days, everybody knew what Lincoln stood for... a Lincoln was simply luxury on wheels.

"Today, as it was in my grandfather's day, when you look at today's product line-up, there is simply no question about what makes a Lincoln."

Bill Ford should know. His grandfather, Edsel Ford, persuaded his father, Henry Ford, to buy the Lincoln brand in 1922.

Lincoln did comparatively well in 2009, with demand falling 22.8% in the economic crisis while sales in the luxury segment overall fell 24.5%. Yet, as the Detroit News notes, "the rocket-like resurgence executives expected when they ordered a complete redesign of the brand in 2005 has failed to materialize."

The company sold more Lincolns than Mecurys to retail customers in 2009, and says that new models are attracting younger buyers and winning converts. Half of MKX crossover buyers, for instance, are trading in competitors' vehicles (most notably, Lexus and Cadillac models).

However, as the Detroit News reports, "exclusive features such as automatic parallel parking and EcoBoost engines, which offer the power of a bigger engine with better fuel economy, were supposed to distinguish Lincolns in the luxury market but are migrating to Ford products too quickly.

"'It's hard to sell a $48,000 MKS when the Ford guy down the street has a Taurus with the same features for $10,000 less,' says Dave Knittel, General Manager of Charlotte County Lincoln Mercury in Punta Gorda, Florida."

Although they support Ford's plans to revitalize Mercury, dealers worry that the core Ford brand has taken precedence in the company. While Jim Farley, Ford's global head of marketing and sales, points out that a solid foundation has been built for Lincoln, and while Ford Americans President Mark Fields cites the cohesion of Lincoln's new line-up and its common DNA, dealers point to the fact that a separate Lincoln-Mercury standalone division, with its own leadership team, no longer exists.

Peter Horbury has since returned to Volvo, but his replacement - Moray Callum, brother of Jaguar designer Ian Callum and formerly with Mazda - has promised to continue Lincoln's transformation. The Ford Americas design chief says that Lincoln will offer the understated luxury he thinks is in line with the times.


The Lincoln LS is the closest Lincoln ever came to building a car in the European idiom. Luxury + Performance = Lincoln LS, says Lincoln of its new rear-wheel-drive charge in 2000, emphasizing design and engineering to appeal to a customer on whose shopping list Lincoln would not ordinarily have figured.

At its death in 2006, it remained among the best sports sedans America has ever produced, in need of a design freshening inside and out, but with a deft and supple chassis that begs to preach to the unconverted.

Unfortunately, the LS never receives those upgrades. In its place comes the Ford Fusion-based, front-wheel-drive Lincoln Zephyr (now MKZ). The MKZ's interior is fantastic - perhaps best-in-class - but, like its front-wheel-drive Lexus ES and Acura TSX/ Acura TL rivals, it cannot hope to match the LS' moves.


Lincoln was founded on January 26^th, 1920. Two years later, it was acquired by Ford Motor Company.