Lost Lincoln

Photo by msvg via http://www.flickr.com/photos/msvg/5356078140/

My weekday morning routine consists of browsing through the day’s news while I avoid eating breakfast. I start with international headlines, move to national, check business and financial, look at media and marketing trends, and finish with automotive. Yesterday, unlike many other days, there was an odd thread that held them all together. Lincoln, not the President but the company, kept showing up everywhere I looked. The question on everyone’s mind was how Ford will rebrand Lincoln for the future.

Lincoln has tried to stand on its own feet as a luxury car manufacturer ever since it stopped making aircraft engines in the 1920s. Even back then it faced difficulties trying to convince the public it was a true luxury car maker. Lincoln did do rather well beginning in the late 40s and had continuing success through the early 60s. Then in the 70s it decided to start making the world’s largest cars and continued doing so for more than 10 years. On a side note if you ever need metal to build a shed or a barn consider using the scrap from a late 70s Lincoln, you might even have enough to build one for your neighbor. Lincoln continued selling cars to little old ladies and retired couples who had good memories of the Lincoln brand and recognized it as a genuinely fine piece of automotive Americana. Then they died, the old ladies that is, and the family sold their grandparent’s land-yacht-Lincoln to someone with a taste for ridiculously large wheels and sagging pants. Which meant to people with a brain that Lincoln was a big fat zero on the cool scale of 1 to 10. Even Kia is a 3 and they’re absolutely terrible.

Photo by daveseven via http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/5255840704/

The fact is, Ford is losing the luxury race and isn't classy enough to compete ever since they unloaded their entire Premier Automotive Group portfolio. So what they want to do is make Lincoln competitive with… I've been practicing saying this with a straight face…Mercedes-Benz. I remember a few years ago spotting a billboard that advertised the new Lincoln Town Car starting at $18,995. Selling a luxury sedan that cheap is something Mercedes would have never done…ever. To compete as a luxury car you have to be priced like one, nobody would trust a clear stone sold as a real diamond for $15. But then again they couldn't really charge more because the Town Car was just a comfy cop car with chrome. The Town Car simply didn't offer much of a reward over the Crown Victoria other than the dying brand’s name. Throwing leather and heated seats at this problem would not make it go away. Mercedes learned this lesson with the Maybach 57 and the S-Class Mercedes, which is possibly the reason Maybach is closing up shop. Bentley and Rolls Royce are built away from BMW and Volkswagen, while the Maybach and Town Car were built in the same factories as their cheaper cousins. This made Lincoln seem generic, fake, and a bit like a Ford with lipstick on.

Photo by 30998987@N03 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/30998987@N03/6974884603/

But wait! Lincoln says they have the answer. They want to make a completely customized luxury buying experience. They want to “be the alternative choice for a personalized product” and make the dealer’s seem more like “neighborhood tailors” who can make the buying experience more personal. Funny, that sounds a lot like not-so-luxurious Scion’s plan ten years ago. Let’s be honest though, one very serious problem is their products. The thing that makes Mercedes great is not only luxury, but performance as well. Traditionally, however, when an American car company thinks of performance they simply add more horsepower. When a German company thinks of performance they think of the weight, suspension, aerodynamics, handling, grip, response, user controls, safety, and power. Also a car company that exudes performance and luxury usually does so hand-in-hand with a coupe or sport model. Take for instance the fact that the M3 sedan is still pretty good compared to the M3 coupe. That means “Frank the Family Man” can buy a 3-series sedan knowing that he isn't castrating himself like the other minivan dads he parks next to at lacrosse practice. He then thinks more highly of his brand, and will stay loyal, knowing they build cool cars such as the Z4 and M3. He knows that they have a fancy test track, a room full of engineers who sweat day and night over small details, and (importantly) a professional race team. The same can be said for Mercedes and Audi. It is what makes them cool, what makes executives want to own them, and kids have posters of them. If Lincoln wants to play hardball with the best they need to separate their image from Ford. They need a performance car and a program like AMG, M-Power, or Quattro. There is a lot Lincoln needs to learn if they want to take a shot with the big boys. These companies are a group driven by utility and take themselves very seriously, as Lincoln should. 

But the problem isn’t just the brand’s neglected image; sadly the issue goes even deeper. This week Lincoln’s CMO said their goal isn’t to be number one. Let that sink in for a moment. A man who makes a lot of money to help steer a backsliding company into a successful future doesn’t want it to be number one. Well congratulations Lincoln you achieved that years ago. This is business, it isn't middle school soccer where everyone gets a trophy for just showing up. And see there, that right there, is how deep Lincoln’s troubles go. The German mentality is to be great, always. Don’t want to be great? Auf Wiedersehen loser, enjoy second place. Take for instance Mercedes-Benz’s logo, it was founded to represent domination of three points; Land, Air, and Sea. Not observation of land, air, and sea. Can you imagine the horror we’d be in if Audi didn’t want to be number one and never developed Quattro technology? Do you think BMW said, “Wait! Stop everything! We need to stop building the 3-series because then we will beat Mercedes for the top spot”? No. No they didn’t. They built the 3-series like mad. Lincoln has a lot of homework to catch up on if they want to compete with ze Germans. Although it is possible for a US company to rebrand successfully and become competitive again, just look at the good job Cadillac did. They did it by focusing on performance, luxury, the V-series, and mentioning Nürburgring in every advert. Hopefully Lincoln can turn it around and be great like they were in the 60s. I wish them the best of luck and maybe one day I’ll even drive….no, no I won’t.