Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Crossovers/CUVs, Ford, Lincoln
MKF? Lincoln to get a version of the Flex?
FoMoCo never chromed out the Freestar and sent it to the Town Car division, but a version of Ford's new large
The Ford Flex will bow first, of course, and be allowed to hold court for about a year. The other version could be held back a full year, allowing Lincoln's seven-passenger alternative to vandom to get a solid footing. We're not sure what to think. A Lincoln version would definitely absorb some production capacity, but will it sell, or will Lincoln have a taste of the R-Class mystique? We think a better way to share the Flex would be to go retro and create a modern-day Volvo 245 GLT. A blacked out egg-crate grille, some different lights, throw in that force-fed V6 and there you go.
[Source: Car and Driver via Winding Road, Photo: Winding Road]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Larry 8:01AM (1/03/2008)
LINCOLN: What a luxury car USED to be!
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TheOne442 11:19AM (1/03/2008)
Hope everyone gets a chance to say goodbye to Mercury before he leaves the party.
Tool 11:24AM (1/03/2008)
Yep, just slap a big ugly grille on it, charge $5,000 more and call it a Lincoln.
Yet another BOLD MOVE from the geniuses in Dearborn.
3cubed minus 3squared plus1 11:46AM (1/03/2008)
There not just going to slap a Lincoln grille on this on.
The Lincoln version has a more curved body than the boxy Flex.
500 1:29PM (1/03/2008)
It's hilarious how everyone thinks that's the actual vehicle. Great autoblog visuals - love the '88 Continental grille.
Polly Prissy Pants 7:13PM (1/03/2008)
We get a Lincoln Flex (shudder) and Europeans get a kick arse Focus ST. Yea, that's fair. And why even bother? This Flex thing whether it's a Ford or a Lincoln will flop. I guarantee it. The Flex is so foul you're looking at Freestyle 2.0 here. And I really like(d) the Freestyle! It truly pains me to see a great company like Ford make such glaring, eventually crippling mistakes that anyone with even a trickle of automotive blood in their body could see coming a mile away. Oh well, maybe Ford 2.0 will do better.
Avinash machado 8:07AM (1/03/2008)
At this rate I will not be surprised if Lincoln even starts selling a rebadged Focus. Considering how GM has successfully reinvigorated Cadillac as a luxury brand why don't the guys at Ford try a similar strategy?
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John R 8:07AM (1/03/2008)
pass...
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Steve 8:14AM (1/03/2008)
You're in for a pleasant surprise.
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The Other Bob 8:17AM (1/03/2008)
I thought the Flex was to be built alongside it's platform mates in Chicago which I thought spelled doom for the Freestyl...er...Taurus X.
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C.W. 8:17AM (1/03/2008)
i have seen the Lincoln version of the Flex. let's just say it looks nothing like the Ford and it is one of the most stunning vehicles that you have ever seen. Sorry to disappoint Larry, but Lincoln is on track to be as strong as ever, with the best luxury product in the market. stay tuned.
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jgp 8:24AM (1/03/2008)
More like Lincoln WTF.
Lincoln is becoming what Mercury was 20 years ago.
First the MKFusion, then the MKEdge, then the MKTaurus, and now the MKFlex. They're not bad cars at all (and I particularly like the design of the MKEdge...it looks far, far better than the real Edge), but they shouldn't be Lincolns. They should be Mercuries.
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Daniel Cowan 4:49PM (1/03/2008)
The MKS may not be a rebadged Taurus. It doesn't even look like the Taurus. However, I would put the "MKFlex" in Mercury to look at what it could do. But as for the MKS, it may not be a rebadged Taurus.
MemphisNET 8:36AM (1/03/2008)
Ford is too cash-strapped to do anything huge like dedicated platforms and truely unique vehicles. Which is a shame. As said above, GM turned around Caddy. Hopefully Lincoln and Chrysler can do the same with sometime.
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compy386 8:50AM (1/03/2008)
As a few of the other posters have said, the Lincoln will look nothing like that picture. I've seen pictures of the Lincoln version and it looks much better (IMO) then the Flex. If Ford didn't publicize so much of this information, it would be hard to tell the vehicles are from the same platform.
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Paul P. 8:58AM (1/03/2008)
It looks nice (a lot better than the Ford Edge/MKWhatever), but with that said I can't see myself buying one. It doesn't really offer anything that screams "buy me."
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DanMan 9:02AM (1/03/2008)
The Leyland Brothers must be doing back flips in their graves.
But seriously, Ford, you want your luxury brand to have a higher volume of sales than your "near luxury" brand? Does that sound backasswards to anybody else?
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SGV 10:25AM (1/03/2008)
1. The name is Leland not Leyland.
2. Why? 99% of Lincoln's glory came from its days under the Ford Motor Company. What Henry bought upon Edsel's insistence was an insolvent car company.
3. What Leyland (sic) brothers? It was the great and wasteful engineer Henry Leland and his useless son Wilfred who sold Lincoln to the Ford Motor Company. Father and son, not brothers.
If you are going to invoke history I would recommend to learn some basic info first.
DanMan 10:55AM (1/03/2008)
Sorry, I'm actually a history teacher so I've been a lot more concerned lately with conquistadors and Native peoples. I used to obsessively know that stuff when I was a mere high school lad.
I do remember however that the father and son team also is responsible for Cadillac. Of course William Crapo "Billy" Durant drove the team away with his management style. I'm sure I've left out some other relevant facts but please don't crucify me for it. ;)
I always thought it was hiliarious that the two major Detroit luxury brands had the same "parents."
SGV 11:24AM (1/03/2008)
You still haven't responded number two. Why would they be flipping on their graves? :) They weren't that involved in Lincoln (roughly 5 years) and had nothing to do with such Lincoln greatest hits as the Zephyr, the Continental, the Continental MKII, the "Suicide doors" Continentals of the 1960s, the Lincoln Continental Mark III and the Lincoln Navigator that created the profitable luxury SUV segment back in 97.
Also don't forget that the founder of Cadillac was Henry Ford and that the original name of that company was the Henry Ford Motor Company. ;) Leland basically got rid of Ford only to loose the company to GM years latter, so the purchase of Lincoln and outing of the Lelands was probably also an act of revenge.
I responded so forcefully, first to set the record straight and second because I thought that your original comment was needlessly mean and baseless. I assume (something I hate to do) that you haven't see the real car, have you?