Ford Car Talk » Corporate

Lincoln opts for smaller cars and crossovers

Jeff — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:08:58 +0000

Lincoln is looking in a different direction and aims to produce smaller vehicles as sales figures of large units and the Navigator drop over time. You might be seeing the smallest cars donning the Lincoln badge in the near future. It will be a very bold move as other luxury car makers have veered away from rolling off small cars to a U.S. market which might not be ready for them yet.

Lincoln might have some surprises for its market in the near future to push the brand back to prominence. There is a loud buzz that the car maker is planning to release a compact which will be deriving its DNA from Ford. There hasn’t been any confirmation though if it will be used as the global platform for the Focus.

The car manufacturer have concept cars exploring the idea of providing smaller cars for consumers but these vehicles still need to go into production. Experts are not sure if Lincoln will roll the dice and take the risk to assemble these vehicles.

There is also a speculation that by 2011, Lincoln will be releasing a small crossover using the Ford platform. This compact crossover may change the image of the brand in the market giving consumers a hint that they can supply smaller cars with better fuel economy and lesser environmental impact.

Some of the current units like the MKZ sedan will have a redesign by 2012 or 2013. The MKS will have a facelift as early as 2011 and a major architectural overhaul is expected 3 or 4 years after.

The future of the Lincoln Navigator remains uncertain at the moment. It is not yet clear if it will get some revamp in design or whether the company will still retain it for its future lineup.

Ford sales figures rise for the first time in 19 months

Jeff — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:01:11 +0000

As sales reports come in this August, the auto industry is expected to report not more than 10 million sold units. Ford recently announced that its total sales are up by 2% and year-on-year jumped by as much as 9%. The improvement in the performance is partly attributed to the government’s Cash for Clunkers program.

The numbers of Ford looks solid and a lot of experts want to be as optimistic as possible to see a turnaround for the whole of the auto industry.

The 9% increase in retail sales from August 2008 to this year marks the first recovery of the figures since November 2007. Aside from citing the CARS, Ford also looks to the new and more fuel efficient members of their fleet.

What gives perspective to the jump up in sales figures is the projected 10 million units rolling out of dealerships. The volume prediction is about a 40% drop from the 2008 figures. The overall figure is seen to have risen 2% from the November 2007 sales reports.

The fleet leaders which brought about the turnaround is the Ford Fusion up by as much as 66%, Ford Escape (94%), Mercury Mariner improved by 71%, and Mercury Milan (60%). The hybrid vehicle of Ford unsurprisingly brought a 323% performance magic for the gas-electric units. Fuel efficiency and green cars are key words in today’s car market!

Ford was able to leverage the cash for clunkers program with appropriate preparations of their products and dealers. The car manufacturer was able to get the increase in sales even though they cut off some spending for consumer incentives.

The month of July also marked the roll out of the Transit Connect and the Ford Taurus.