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Does FOMOCO Think We're Morons?


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What the heck is it with Ford and thier stupid naming conventions?

 

First, its Land Rover. They kill a really great SUV name like Discovery in favor of LR3 (its still Discovery in the rest of the world). Rumor has it the next Freelander will be LR2.

 

Now, its the Mercury Zephyr being dumped for MKZ and Aviator for MKX.

 

Do they think consumers are so dumb they can't remember a friggin' name? We need to have letters and numbers. What the heck is wrong with "real" name on a car?

 

I'm not even gonna start on the stupid F, E and M naming convention. :angry:

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They're trying to build brand-awareness. By changing from 'Lincoln Aviator' to 'Lincoln MK X,' people will focus on the Lincoln name instead of the individual models. I think it definitely works in either situation it could be used in: introducing a new brand to the market (i.e. Lexus or Infiniti in the early 90s) or reinventing a brand (Cadillac).

 

How many times have you heard people say, "I drive a Lexus" or "I drive a BMW?"

 

I have found myself even saying it when people ask me what I drive: I say 'Scion' not 'xB.'

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I think the brand-awareness idea is spot on. Also they need to break away from the older cars to refresh its entire image. Just like Ford needed the Taurus to disappear from lots to make people aware there are new cars here. Everyone searching for a midsize sedan saw Fords Taurus with footnotes about how outdated it was, by changing the names/dropping them entirely nothing but all new product shows up on the shopping list. If the letters bother you, why didn't every one freak out when they came out with the "LS"?....

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Don't question the all-knowing Bill Ford and his Gang of Enlightened Ones. After all, Ford has done so well under his leadership the last 5 years.

 

I got another great idea - let's push our customers to NOT buy one of our profitable Panther platform cars, and instead convince them to buy a crackerbox Escape Hybird, on which Ford loses money on every one sold!

 

Also, lets' rename the Zephyr after 6 months, and drop the Town Car. Both of those moves will fix Lincoln.

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Don't question the all-knowing Bill Ford and his Gang of Enlightened Ones. After all, Ford has done so well under his leadership the last 5 years.

 

I got another great idea - let's push our customers to NOT buy one of our profitable Panther platform cars, and instead convince them to buy a crackerbox Escape Hybird, on which Ford loses money on every one sold!

 

Also, lets' rename the Zephyr after 6 months, and drop the Town Car. Both of those moves will fix Lincoln.

 

I spend a good deal of time on several detailing forums, where there's quite a few people who either own BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, etc, or like them. Cadillac won a lot of them over with their alpha naming convention (CTS, STS, DTS, SRX), and a good many who stated they liked the Zephyr and/or the Lincoln MKS, also said if Ford doesn't dump the Town Car, then they're not going to see the MKS be well received. No one who sees the Lincoln Mk S as their kind of luxury car wants to buy a brand that is still associated with Grand Dad's pseudo luxobarge Town Car, so get over it. Town Car's time, as a retail vehicle, has come and gone.

 

On and BTW, Lincoln MKS is pronounce Lincoln Mark S, Lincoln MKX is pronounced Lincoln Mark X, etc. Visually, they want the customer to put their attentoin on the Lincoln name, and then in speaking about the vehicles, they want to trade on Lincon's heritage with the Mark name. Assuming htat the Town Car gets either dumped or sold to fleets only, then this sounds like a good plan to me.

 

As far as the rest of the Panther cars, I get better gas mileage, with a larger trunk, in my Montego than I could ever get in a Panther car, and I have all wheel drive to boot. Crown Vic/Grand Marquis's time have come and gone too.

Edited by Len_A
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Don't question the all-knowing Bill Ford and his Gang of Enlightened Ones. After all, Ford has done so well under his leadership the last 5 years.

 

I got another great idea - let's push our customers to NOT buy one of our profitable Panther platform cars, and instead convince them to buy a crackerbox Escape Hybird, on which Ford loses money on every one sold!

 

Also, lets' rename the Zephyr after 6 months, and drop the Town Car. Both of those moves will fix Lincoln.

 

 

*yawn*

 

Wow, aimless negativity is SO original...especially online!

 

Let's look at this...

 

In the last 5 years, Ford's quality is raising due to solid launches of the 500 and Fusion...has the hottest coupe in the market...still has the #1 truck...still a huge force in a shrinking SUV market. Boy, what slackers compared to 5 years back with ignored car lines, outdated Panther/Mustang/Taurus, and a Focus setting recall records. Oh, yeah, much better.

 

(Psssst...that was sarcasm. Some can't figure that out.)

 

Of course, I'm certain many people cross-shop the rwd, ancient car platform, rwd Town Car with the smaller, far less expensive, and modern crossover platformed Escape hybrid! Wow, those vehicles are practically twins in the market!

 

(Sarcasm again...is it obvious enough?)

 

As for the Zephyr...well, it could be excluded from Lincoln's new naming system-that'd make sense! Golly, it's such a huge marketing risk to take a vehicle with barely 4 months on the market and give it a mechanical, styling, and name freshening! It'd do much better, sticking out like a sore thumb in 2008 when most or all of Lincoln will be renamed per the new approach!

 

(...you get the idea.)

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  • 1 month later...
How many times have you heard people say, "I drive a Lexus" or "I drive a BMW?"

 

I have found myself even saying it when people ask me what I drive: I say 'Scion' not 'xB.'

 

Thats because very few people know what an AFR382 is... ...I mean yeah. I usta own a beemer, and I would tell people that. I never told people that it was a 325i... ...because most people dont know what that is, especially non BMW owners. Same thing with Lexus and Infinti... ...My mom has had several... ...and yet, I still cant tell you which ones they were because I cant remember the stupid letters and numbers... ...just that it was an over priced Toyota and Nissan.

 

Also, I would tell people I drove a BMW... ...and never tell them I drove a Ford. I would tell them, "I drive a mustang." No offense to anyone here, but "I drive a mustang", speaks more than "I drive a ford." Tell people you drive a ford, and they'll think youre too ashamed to speak of the model. They start assuming its an old escort, festiva, or fiesta.

 

A great example of this is the show Married With Children. What did they drive? a dodge. I dont think they ever covered what model it actually was or not, but they always refered to it as "the dodge." And because of this, we assumed, it was a run down piece of junk. It could have been a charger for all we know... ...but that never crossed our minds.

 

This stupid number/letter game definately makes the company name more vivid. However, by making the Make a stronger word, youre hurting the Model. Right now, the only Saturn that I can actualy name is the Ion... ...why? because I dont remember stupid random letters and numbers. May as well name the vehicle after your liscense plate.

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  • 1 month later...

I didn't like the letter-names for Cadillac, and I don't like them for Lincoln either. Hey...is that a CTS, or a CXS...no wait, it might be a MKS, or could it be a MKS? There's no identity to those letters...at least in my mind.

 

My wife drives a Mercury Cougar XR7. We never call it a Mercury, and I doubt that she even knows it's an XR7...it's 'the Cougar'. Now...if she drove a Cadillac XLR, we'd most likely call it 'the Caddy'.

 

If that's what Lincoln is trying to do, it might work.

 

MR

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What the heck is it with Ford and thier stupid naming conventions?

 

First, its Land Rover. They kill a really great SUV name like Discovery in favor of LR3 (its still Discovery in the rest of the world). Rumor has it the next Freelander will be LR2.

 

Now, its the Mercury Zephyr being dumped for MKZ and Aviator for MKX.

 

Do they think consumers are so dumb they can't remember a friggin' name? We need to have letters and numbers. What the heck is wrong with "real" name on a car?

 

I'm not even gonna start on the stupid F, E and M naming convention. :angry:

 

I couldn't agree more, should they rename the Mustang too? Maybe they could call it the MS? Shit, I shouldn't give them any ideas.. :nonono:

 

I always loved the names Land Rover used, Discovery, Defender, Freelander, they were simply some of the best in the business, and they throw them away for stupid LR3, LR2 crap. You can goanywhere in the worldand tell somebody you have a Discovery, a Mustang, a Corvette, and they'll know what it is. Hell I still get confused which ST whatever is which Cadillac, which number is which Lexus, and which MK is which Lincoln.

 

If anything I think "brand awareness" is bad for Lincoln, they should not be highlight their new cars being Lincolns, the random person that doesn't know what a Zephyr is might be interested in the car, if the random person hears you own a Lincoln MKZ they'll probably not be interested because they already associate Lincoln as old and crappy. Fix the brand before highlighting it.

 

I always thought that was something the American companies had over the foreigners, great legendary names, now they are copying them :censored:

 

The Japanese and the Europeans WISH they had Mustangs, Vettes, and Thunderbirds.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I spend a good deal of time on several detailing forums, where there's quite a few people who either own BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, etc, or like them. Cadillac won a lot of them over with their alpha naming convention (CTS, STS, DTS, SRX), and a good many who stated they liked the Zephyr and/or the Lincoln MKS, also said if Ford doesn't dump the Town Car, then they're not going to see the MKS be well received. No one who sees the Lincoln Mk S as their kind of luxury car wants to buy a brand that is still associated with Grand Dad's pseudo luxobarge Town Car, so get over it. Town Car's time, as a retail vehicle, has come and gone.

 

On and BTW, Lincoln MKS is pronounce Lincoln Mark S, Lincoln MKX is pronounced Lincoln Mark X, etc. Visually, they want the customer to put their attentoin on the Lincoln name, and then in speaking about the vehicles, they want to trade on Lincon's heritage with the Mark name. Assuming htat the Town Car gets either dumped or sold to fleets only, then this sounds like a good plan to me.

 

As far as the rest of the Panther cars, I get better gas mileage, with a larger trunk, in my Montego than I could ever get in a Panther car, and I have all wheel drive to boot. Crown Vic/Grand Marquis's time have come and gone too.

:blah: :blah: :blah: :blah: :blah: :blah:

 

The panther will still be a better car at the end of the day. For instance, it has passing power, front leg, with similar fuel ecconomy standards to the D3. For all the money that was wasted on the D3 it barely matches, in terms of sales and performance, the panther. For a car that was only introduced a two years ago, it's barely outselling a car that has been relatively unchanged since 1992 and at what cost did this program run the Ford Company? Probably in the range of several billions. While the Towncar retail may be gone, the Grand Marquis and Crown Victoria must live on. For both fleet and retail. No real panther fan will trade in for a 500. I'd buy a 300 before I buy that before I buy that over grown piece of FWD Euro trash. I like having a full frame and RWD. They outhandel, outlast, and out perform the 500 in every aspect. For all it's worth as far as fuel ecconomy well I hope the 500 would be better considering it has the options of both CVT and a six speed auto. The Vic is still using the same 4 speed it has had since 95' 96'. I should hope that the D3s do better, even though, it's only marginally better.

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