How is Lincoln still around?

Two reasons: just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're not selling anywhere, and low volume doesn't mean low profit. Looking at US sales numbers, Lincoln, Cadillac, and Acura are all in the low-mid 100k/year range. Mazda, BMW, VW, Audi, and probably a few others are mostly in the 2-350k range which really isn't tremendously more. Porsche is well under 100k/year and is basically printing money. "Luxury" and SUVs/trucks in general are where the money is. I'd be willing to bet that cadillac or lincoln makes more profit now than pontiac or saturn did in their best year ever.

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

I think that they have the best looking lineup, on average, of any of the non-exotic brands. 

Have you seen Buicks recently? They’re hitting it out of the park!

Those and a Volvo wagon the other day surprised me with the well styled simple front end 

ShawnG said:

Lincoln has been out of touch for a while now. 

The new luxury car display at Pebble beach in 2016 showed it clearly. Every manufacturer had their best, top tier concept sedan there. Lincoln showed up with a tarted up kid hauler platform.

Good job guys, thanks for coming out.

I dunno, looking at how high the floor is, that is a car jacked up on stilts.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Gotta put those batteries somewhere.

ShawnG said:

People insist on using "Merc" for Mercedes when it's been used for Mercury since forever.

Only in North America.  Plus, Mercury has been dead for a decade.

In reply to P3PPY :

I hate the Encore, it looks like a 12V kids car on steroids. Encore GX not much better.

Envision looks good.

Enclave is nice too, but feels so heavy and big. It's pretty comfortable, but it just feels slow, even when doing 90MPH. (Rented one last year for an 1,100 mile round-trip). It looks ok, just not a fan of the bubbly look. It looks better than a lot of newer SUVs, but that's not saying much.

This is a Merc. End of story. 

I thought Ford killed him off in a theater 156 years ago?

Folks, remember to tip your wait staff like they are your grown kids that you don't want back home.

I'll be here all week unless you pay me enough to go away sooner...

I see MKX and MKZs around quite a bit, but they don't really stand out since most smaller SUVs in that segment all kind of look the same. Bluej on here has one of those and it's pretty sweet for a gussied-up Escape :)

Also, oddball Matthew McConaughey commercials...

Actually, he looks kinda bored. 

I think they are really struggling (and seem to be failing) to shake the grandpa/grandma brand image. Which is a shame because their latest SUV's with Ford's turbo powertrains and seriously nice interiors seems like a winning formula to me. Some friends have a Nautilus ute with the 2.7 Ecoboost and the fancy Black label trim package, and it's impressive. I'd take that any day over an X3 or Audi Q5 at probably 80% of the cost. And to me, the Cadillac small utes seem pretty weak in comparison.

All the Limos work owns (or leases) are the Big Lincoln SUVs

In reply to mad_machine (Forum Supporter) :

That's a bus.

When you make a truck bigger and put lots of people in it, it's a bus.

mad_machine (Forum Supporter) said:

All the Limos work owns (or leases) are the Big Lincoln SUVs

that's gotta be how it is profitable; I see a lot of these around airports being run by shuttle/transportation services.

I have always found it interesting that Lincoln had the original baller SUV with the Navigator, but Cadillac ended up stealing the show and Lincoln never really got it back. Cadillac certainly has done a better job of building distinctive cars that visually appear luxurious than Lincoln has, especially in recent years. A Continental or Navigator doesn't have the visual presence of a CT6 or Escalade, though I can't say I really like the styling of either.

These brands exist because the margins on a tarted-up version of an existing platform means more margin for the manufacturer. Pontiac, Mercury, Oldsmobile, etc. didn't have that extra margin to validate their existence, and instead were just cutting into the economies of scale of the manufacturer's other brands.

the XT6 is pretty sharp though, if I'm being honest. XT6 vs Aviator:

MadScientistMatt said:

I kept wondering if Lincoln's "MKT" truck was supposed to be pronounced "Lincoln Market".

Pretty sure that's what they had in mind.  It looked to make a perfectly fine grocery-getter.

secretariata (Forum Supporter) said:

I thought Ford killed him off in a theater 156 years ago?

Folks, remember to tip your wait staff like they are your grown kids that you don't want back home.

I'll be here all week unless you pay me enough to go away sooner...

Before you made that joke, it hadn't occurred to me - but now I have to wonder if Ford really did pick the name Lincoln for the cars because of the Ford Theater connection.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Lifted verbatim from the wiki:

"Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland, naming it after Abraham Lincoln. In February 1922, the company was acquired by Ford,^[5][6] its parent company to this day. Following World War II, Ford formed the Lincoln-Mercury Division, pairing Lincoln with its mid-range Mercury brand; the pairing lasted through the 2010 closure of Mercury.

Interestingly, Mr. Leland founded both Cadillac AND Lincoln.

MadScientistMatt said:

secretariata (Forum Supporter) said:

I thought Ford killed him off in a theater 156 years ago?

Folks, remember to tip your wait staff like they are your grown kids that you don't want back home.

I'll be here all week unless you pay me enough to go away sooner...

Before you made that joke, it hadn't occurred to me - but now I have to wonder if Ford really did pick the name Lincoln for the cars because of the Ford Theater connection.

I never made the connection until just now. Explains the dirty looks I got at the car show when I asked about the Ford Lincoln booth.

1988RedT2 said:

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Lifted verbatim from the wiki:

"Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland, naming it after Abraham Lincoln. In February 1922, the company was acquired by Ford,^[5][6] its parent company to this day. Following World War II, Ford formed the Lincoln-Mercury Division, pairing Lincoln with its mid-range Mercury brand; the pairing lasted through the 2010 closure of Mercury.

 

Interestingly, Mr. Leland founded both Cadillac AND Lincoln.

And Cadillac was created from Henry fords first company. It's been said the main reason ford bought lincoln and forced Leland out was revenge for Cadillac.

They took the best names. Corsair. Nautilus. 
Friends mom leased one. Her last 3 tank SUVs were German. 

Lincoln is doing fine/great.  The Navigator has consistently been rated the best Large Luxury SUV since it's 2018 update.  It is now "old" and still is being rated over the new Escalade and it's German competition.  

The Rogue is one of the most popular vehicles....am I to consider it a good vehicle because it is everywhere?

In reply to ztnedman1 :

I never said Lincoln made bad cars. A company can make great cars but if they don't sell then it calls into question how viable that company is. 

Seems like Caddillac saw the writing on the wall in the mid 90s and started to turn away from floatly luxo boats to try to compete with the Europeans. Northstar engines, than came the V series.. Lincoln was left in the dust and has been playing catch-up ever since. 

We were in Naples FL last week and saw a lot of Lincolns, mostly driven slowly by really old people

Funny, the day after I saw this thread, I'm heading to work and I'm right behind a new MKZ. Then 2 minutes later I'm next to a new Corsair, which I had never even heard of before. Both were driven by men about my age (mid-40s), surprisingly.