Lincoln has announced that it is changing its name to Lincoln Motor Company. Lincoln will be highlighting its new name in Superbowl ads this year, which is an expensive way to let people know about such a minor change. The name change announcement didn’t mention any changes to Lincoln’s lineup, which hasn’t been particularly popular so far, so hopefully Lincoln is rationing the news and will be announcing some exciting new luxury cars soon.
A friend of mine was buying a car a little over a year ago and seriously considered a Lincoln MKZ. Of course, he did his homework and found out that the Mercury Milan and Ford Fusion were the exact same car as the MKZ. So he was faced with the prospect of buying the MKZ, or the Mercury Milan for a couple thousand dollars less, or a Ford Fusion for a little less than that. The only thing that really differentiated the MKZ from the lesser Fords for my friend was the air conditioned seats, since he had spent three years in South Florida. He ended up buying the Milan, since he wanted a fancier looking car than the Fusion and couldn’t justify spending thousands of dollars for one minor luxury.
That’s the problem with Lincoln right now. Ford is engaged in a luxury arms race that is making all of the features that you used to have to buy a more expensive car to get accessible to anyone. Rebadging cars was an OK luxury strategy when they offered more features in the Town Car than the Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis had, but now that the Ford and Lincoln are just wearing different skin, it would be stupid to buy the Lincoln. It’s like in Ghost, when Patrick Swayze’s ghost took over Whoopie Goldberg’s body and made sexy pottery with Demi Moore. Demi Moore knew it was Swayze underneath, and buyers know Lincolns are Fords underneath.
Source: The Truth About Cars.
