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For Ford, Fusion was right car at wrong time


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That's been my thought for months now too.

 

I'd even argue that Fusion still is the right car (in desperate need of an update), but that it would be more accurate to say it's the right car that's a victim of poor planning.

 

If they hadn't cancelled the new Mexican plant, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now, as there'd be room to produce all these new models without having to cut others.

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They build the 5 door hatch Mondeo in Valencia Spain...it will continue to be built there...

..It seems unclear to me whether Lincoln will or can continue to make the MKZ (under that name or another moniker) by itself. It seems unlikely the math adds up to make it possible for Lincoln (only) to continue making a vehicle of that basic type/design without the greater number of Ford Fusions also being produced.

 

Does anyone here really think Lincoln would continue making the MKZ (by that name or another name) by itself? I am interested in knowing what the people on here think about that.

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Since Fusion is built for and sold in Mexican and South American markets at the Hermosillo plant and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, I would believe that MKZ / <insert new name here> will continue to be produced for Lincoln in the North American market...

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They build the 5 door hatch Mondeo in Valencia Spain...it will continue to be built there...

 

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Since Fusion is built for and sold in Mexican and South American markets at the Hermosillo plant and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, I would believe that MKZ / <insert new name here> will continue to be produced for Lincoln in the North American market...

They’re not going to keep making Fusions in Hermosillo after 2020. They need the capacity for new vehicles.

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MKZ will most likely move to CD6 and be built at Flat Rock. Rumors are it will have a 4 door coupe shape.

Interesting. If so, I hope it will have more back seat leg room and be at least as good (or even better) than the current MKZ, which is a very good vehicle in my opinion.

 

For those of you who know about these things: What, exactly, are the benefits of moving it to the new CD6 platform?

 

I know very little about the design and mechanics of automobiles. I am an aviation enthusiast and can talk until sundown about airplanes but, cars?, not so much. With cars, I just know what I want...comfortable, quiet, reliable, decent gas mileage, safe, nice-looking, and with enough bells and whistles to keep my inner little boy satisfied, but I do not know much about cars, which is why I appreciate the bits of knowledge I pick up here.

Edited by 1984Poke
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If a CD6 sedan is coming for Lincoln, the inside people I know at Ford don't know about it yet...I can tell you that much. If we are expecting a successor to MKZ by 2020, we should see some evidence by now unless it's going on hiatus which is certainly possible. Remember Aviator and Corsair are 2020/2021 vehicles and we certainly know those are coming and have seen them.

 

There's no way of getting around the fact that any new Lincoln sedan will be met with fewer and fewer sales so I don't think it's smart to continue investing at this point when they are struggling to establish themselves in a shrinking business. There are some outstanding CD6 utilities coming however, I think a flagship CD6 utility could easily wear the Continental name and compete with the Q8...although that's probably a little optimistic. I would certainly be in on that personally, Aviator is nice but there's certainly room for more adventurous coupe styling. I think the biggest problem with Lincoln is that continues to follow trends instead of set them, it's one of the reasons they remain so anonymous and forgettable, they need a fleet of stylish utilities as quickly as possible instead of trying to bring back what they missed out on.

Edited by Assimilator
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Actually Venza sold really well.

 

I'm not sure the reason why Toyota didn't replace it but poor sales is not the reason.

 

Its top sales year in the U.S. was 2009 with 54,410 units sold. By 2015, sales were 21,351 units. I would not characterize those numbers as "really well" - although they are better than some Ford/Lincoln products that are still on sale.

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Actually Venza sold really well.

 

I'm not sure the reason why Toyota didn't replace it but poor sales is not the reason.

 

I'm a certain you are wrong! Go check the sales of the Venza. They were not good sellers at all and that is why they got cancelled.

 

Edit: Didn't mean to pile on the previous post got there a hair before I posted.

Edited by jcartwright99
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If a CD6 sedan is coming for Lincoln, the inside people I know at Ford don't know about it yet...I can tell you that much. If we are expecting a successor to MKZ by 2020, we should see some evidence by now unless it's going on hiatus which is certainly possible. Remember Aviator and Corsair are 2020/2021 vehicles and we certainly know those are coming and have seen them.

 

There's no way of getting around the fact that any new Lincoln sedan will be met with fewer and fewer sales so I don't think it's smart to continue investing at this point when they are struggling to establish themselves in a shrinking business. There are some outstanding CD6 utilities coming however, I think a flagship CD6 utility could easily wear the Continental name and compete with the Q8...although that's probably a little optimistic. I would certainly be in on that personally, Aviator is nice but there's certainly room for more adventurous coupe styling. I think the biggest problem with Lincoln is that continues to follow trends instead of set them, it's one of the reasons they remain so anonymous and forgettable, they need a fleet of stylish utilities as quickly as possible instead of trying to bring back what they missed out on.

 

We haven't seen the CX430 utility that you already named "Maverick" either and we know that is a 2021 model year with a mid or late 2020 production start. So I wouldn't make any conclusion about lack of CD6 sedan because you haven't seen a test mule. They could be testing in plain sight (mule = test vehicles using existing body shells or something cobbled together to disguise as current vehicle)

 

But more likely, as I mentioned in the Lincoln forum, Ford is still finalizing its plans for MKZ and Continental replacement and they are probably waiting to see how the luxury sedan market is going to evolve in China. The need for multiple sedans may not be there in a couple of years. As for Q8 competitor, I agree... Lincoln should make an Aviator coupe (and Nautilus and Cosair coupe).

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I'm thinking a moden version of a 46'Ford in a fastback/hatch style that would replace the Fusion and Taurus

 

https://goo.gl/images/bLkCkw

 

Funny thing is that I was thinking about how strange it is that we're going back to driving cars with a similar profile to 1940's cars. Everything old is new again!

 

At least someone else had the same thought as me.

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Funny thing is that I was thinking about how strange it is that we're going back to driving cars with a similar profile to 1940's cars. Everything old is new again!

 

At least someone else had the same thought as me.

I've said the same thing about 50s cars. We don't want to climb up OR down anymore.

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Funny thing is that I was thinking about how strange it is that we're going back to driving cars with a similar profile to 1940's cars. Everything old is new again!

 

At least someone else had the same thought as me.

 

I've been thinking that for a while too - crossovers are basically just the 1940s cars in a modern look.

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I've been thinking that for a while too - crossovers are basically just the 1940s cars in a modern look.

Everything that’s old becomes new again

Interesting how buying trends end up back where a lot of vehicle types were in the long lost past

Not exactly the same shapes but the space efficiency is still there

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