REPORT: Lincoln and Mercury's new direction involves downsizing
Lincoln Concept C - Click above for high-res image gallery
If The Blue Oval boys intend to keep buyers filing into Lincoln and Mercury showrooms over the next few years, each brand's product portfolios are going to need a bit more than a simple nick-and-tuck to compete with the best from around the world. To that end, expect Lincoln to continue making the switch from large, rear-wheel drive SUVs and old-tech luxury barges to smaller, more nimble premium models akin to the next-gen Focus-based compact Concept C that was introduced earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show. Around the same time, the very last Lincoln Town Car will roll ingloriously down the assembly line, replaced as it's already been in most buyer's minds by the newer MKS.
Don't expect to see a replacement for the aging Lincoln Navigator SUV any time soon, but joining the MKX and MKT mid-size crossovers may well be a new compact 'ute based on the underpinnings of the next-gen Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner and Ford Kuga (for Europe, at least). Speaking of Ford's interplanetary brand, it's reportedly finally confirmed Mercury has a future products in the pipeline. Starting small – which seems to be a definite theme for Mercury and Lincoln – Mercury should get its own version of the next Focus, probably as a 2012 model.
A year later in 2013, the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ are all scheduled to get a new front-drive mid-size platform that will thankfully share its guts with the European Ford Mondeo. The Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape twins along with the expected Lincoln crossover should show up late in 2011. Finally, the body-on-frame Grand Marquis and Mountaineer will make the long, cold walk to the automotive graveyard within the next few years. Somehow, we doubt many will miss their absence.
Gallery: Detroit 2009: Lincoln C Concept Live
Gallery: Lincoln Concept C
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
dwightB 3:07PM (7/27/2009)
Good call.
Reply
Cody 3:32PM (7/27/2009)
"Somehow, we doubt many will miss their absence."
Have you seen the sales numbers in Florida the past 20 years for Grand Marquis and Town Cars???
dwightB 3:35PM (7/27/2009)
I love in Florida. On the Gulf Coast in fact. You'd be surprised just how many older couples are moving AWAY from land yachts and into smaller more "realistic" vehicles.
dwightB 3:35PM (7/27/2009)
Wow, I seriously just typed "love" instead of "live" lol!
geo.stewart 3:56PM (7/27/2009)
concept C still looks like an automoblox
Mr.Oak 4:39PM (7/27/2009)
Geo: Kind of agree with you there. This is nothing more than their interpretation of the PT Cruiser, just with a luxury flair. This is a niche market car, an expensive one at that. Will meet the same fate as:
VW Bug - How Many of these does VW even sell anymore?
PT Cruiser - Dead Man Walking.
dwightB 4:47PM (7/27/2009)
@ Mr.Oak,
Audi A3?
Mini Cooper?
BMW 1 Series?
Volvo C30?
upcoming Lexus hatchback?
These things may not be sales giants, but they don't need to be. They DO sell though. Not to mention the fleet average MPG impact they have on CAFE standards for the brands.
So, like I originally stated, good call.
Gregg 5:07PM (7/27/2009)
Mr Oak, pardon me, but are you insane? The Beetle and PT Cruiser are retromobiles, ones that filled a niche and perhaps overstayed their welcomes. The Concept C is not retro at all, but it is a little luxury car with big car room. It would find a market, especially once people find they can have their stretch out room in something easy to park and easy on gas.
Shiftright 5:33PM (7/27/2009)
@ Mr. Oak: , Gregg is so right. The Concept C is a thoroughly fresh and innovative design whereas the Beetle and PT Cruiser are shameless retro rehashes, although that's not to say they don't have their charm . I was quite shocked buy how avant garde it was when I first saw it. I would buy one in a second.
Mr.Oak 6:00PM (7/27/2009)
Hey folks back off. I didn't say that I don't like the car, just don't see it having longevity. This model will be a Probe, Merkur, MX-6 etc. One and DONE. Okay the Probe has 1 1/2 models.
Mr.Oak 6:11PM (7/27/2009)
The Probe HAD 1 1/2 models.
I considered the original probe a 1/2 half model, because it was not conceived as a Probe. I was supposed to become the next Mustang. Public outcry put a stop to that.
nardvark 3:09PM (7/27/2009)
Or more accurately, now that they've launched the MkS, and soon the MkT, their developers are moving away from the gigantic things they've just created to the smaller things they haven't yet created. I fail to see how this represents a shift away from large vehicles to small ones.
Reply
Jamarr 3:34PM (7/27/2009)
Or even more accurately, they created the giant profit makers to generate the cash to produce smaller less profitable brand booster uppers.
Alex 3:11PM (7/27/2009)
But do more than just rebadge them and throw on some slightly different sheet metal. A Mercury Focus (tracer? mystique?) that only has a few visual tweaks is a waste of time. Give them redesigned and upgraded interiors, nicer sound systems, standard tech bits and the like. Make it worth going up market.
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Farmboy 3:19PM (7/27/2009)
It will be called the Tracer. It is to be based off of the next-gen Focus/Mazda3 C platform.
Farmboy 3:15PM (7/27/2009)
Mercury has obviously become a badge-brand, as I like to say, and not a very good one at that. However, in my opinion, Mercury was once a great, well-polished brand, that unfortunately was dropped into the muck of failed designs. Mercury, in all honesty, just needs some cleaning up to become nice and refined once more. Mercury has a lot it could use. Mercury should focus from sub-compact to mid-sized, yes this even includes SUVs and crossovers. Although I would like to see a full-sized crossover with a Mercury badge on it, it wouldn't be necessary. Mercury should have 2 coupes. A smaller segment (similar in size to the Miata) and call it the Marauder and a mid-sized and name it the Cougar. Have a sub-compact called the Madrid, a compact called the Munich (bad name I know...), the mid-sized sedan, Milan, and a different model, a mid-sized wagon/crossover, the Monaco. Keeping the Mariner would be nice, since it offers a bit more of a refined offering of the Escape (my grandpa has one, and it is nice).
Lincoln is doing fine. A compact might be questionable from Lincoln. Not sure if they could pull it off. The current theme of Lincoln is beautiful, and I can't wait to see the new MKX!!!!
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Farmboy 3:23PM (7/27/2009)
I meant to mention this. Ford needs to bring over the Mondeo and call it the Milan and bring over the Kuga and call it the Mariner.
Jared 3:23PM (7/27/2009)
Mercury a great brand? When was that? It has always been a rebadged muddle.
Mercury is dead. Put a stake through its heart and bury the poor thing.
Protzenegger 3:28PM (7/27/2009)
First they need to give the Kuga a more Mondeo-like interior. The current one is yawntastic.
Farmboy 3:37PM (7/27/2009)
Actually Jared, during the 40s and 50s, Mercury had its own designs. The brand was also working to distance itself from Ford models throughout the 70s.