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New Mark Lt/Blackwood...how long


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Just thinking, with the new market trends and ford success with their light duty trucks, do you think lincoln will try the luxury pick up again. With how well the navigator is doing, i feel even if offered for only one model cycle, it would put a bunch of money in their pockets if they offered the product when the new f150 is due in a cpl of years. Put in an updated navi interior, hybridize the powertrain, and put rear airbags and ccd on the suspension with all the tech and features available with a 10-11k tow rating with a starting price of 50k and top out at 90k with a bl version is doable.

Edited by Dlcorbett
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The other issue is perception at a work site....pull in with a loaded F-150 King Ranch, Platinum or Limited and no one bats an eye and "Joe Worker" even comments, "Hey look, bossman drives the same truck I do..."

 

....show up in a similarly equip'ed Lincoln 1/2 ton truck and people look at you like you are an entitled snob.

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They couldn’t possibly get more money out of a Lincoln than they do out of Platinums and Limiteds now. The only benefit would be stand alone Lincoln dealers.

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I worked at a stand alone Lincoln / Mercury dealer many moons ago and when one of their dedicated customers wanted a truck, the L/M dealership had an arrangement with the Ford store up the road and would transfer the truck to the L/M dealership so they could sell it to their customer. it also worked in reverse and on occasion, we would be sending a Town Car to the Ford store for one of their dedicated customers....

 

I wonder if instead of a Lincoln version of an F150, Ford would do a version of an F150 above Limited and refer to is as the F150 Lincoln edition. Just keep it an F150, but put some Lincoln specific badging and trim on it....similar to how Ford presents Vignale in Europe. Include, of course the ability of any stand alone Lincoln dealers (are there any left?) to get them from the factory with its own sales brochure.

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I worked at a stand alone Lincoln / Mercury dealer many moons ago and when one of their dedicated customers wanted a truck, the L/M dealership had an arrangement with the Ford store up the road and would transfer the truck to the L/M dealership so they could sell it to their customer. it also worked in reverse and on occasion, we would be sending a Town Car to the Ford store for one of their dedicated customers....

 

I wonder if instead of a Lincoln version of an F150, Ford would do a version of an F150 above Limited and refer to is as the F150 Lincoln edition. Just keep it an F150, but put some Lincoln specific badging and trim on it....similar to how Ford presents Vignale in Europe. Include, of course the ability of any stand alone Lincoln dealers (are there any left?) to get them from the factory with its own sales brochure.

 

Dealers cannot trade or swap vehicles with another Dealer unless it's another dealership with the same franchise. A Ford Dealer can trade vehicles with another Ford dealership only and never to a Lincoln Dealer.

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Dealers cannot trade or swap vehicles with another Dealer unless it's another dealership with the same franchise. A Ford Dealer can trade vehicles with another Ford dealership only and never to a Lincoln Dealer.

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I saw it first hand, but that was also back in the early 90's and both dealerships are now defunct with the Ford store getting bought out by a regional auto outlet chain and then when the Lincoln / Mercury dealership I worked for owners decided to retire, sold the franchise to the new owner of the Ford store which then became a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer and is now a Ford/Lincoln dealership with a Mazda line added.

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I wonder if instead of a Lincoln version of an F150, Ford would do a version of an F150 above Limited and refer to is as the F150 Lincoln edition. Just keep it an F150, but put some Lincoln specific badging and trim on it....similar to how Ford presents Vignale in Europe. Include, of course the ability of any stand alone Lincoln dealers (are there any left?) to get them from the factory with its own sales brochure.

 

Absolutely not. That'd be what the Mark LT was essentially, and would only hurt/damage Lincoln's reputation again, after they've been working so hard to redefine their image and get all products to be completely (visually) unique from Ford products.

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I saw it first hand, but that was also back in the early 90's and both dealerships are now defunct with the Ford store getting bought out by a regional auto outlet chain and then when the Lincoln / Mercury dealership I worked for owners decided to retire, sold the franchise to the new owner of the Ford store which then became a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer and is now a Ford/Lincoln dealership with a Mazda line added.

 

Sorry but they couldn't do it back then either as it would have been a franchise violation. The contracts, buyer's order, odometer statement, registration, etc. had to be between the Ford Dealer and the retail customer. They may have sent the vehicle to the Lincoln dealership and done the delivery there but the paperwork had to be between the Ford Dealer and the retail customer, in which case the dealership was probably paid a commission for the deal.

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I am not sure how it was done but I also worked at a Ford/Mercury dealership many years ago. Some way or another they would get a Lincoln once in a while for good customers who wanted one. I prepped a couple of them during this glorious part of my career. Quite possible that we were only doing the delivery as akirby said.

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I bought my Escape (new) in 2003 through a now defunct standalone LM dealer. The transaction was at the LM store, with thier staff, but all the paperwork was from the (unrelated) Ford store. I assume they just messengered the paperwork to the Ford store for them to deal with.

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  • 1 month later...

Nope, you'll never see a Lincoln version again - after the great shakeout where FoMoCo culled some of the Lincoln dealers and put the rest of them into Ford dealerships (are there ANY stand alone Lincoln dealerships left?) All you really need is a high lux version of F-150 and call it at day. Heck, if you wanted to put a high end version above Limited with a unique grille, trim and interior appointments and call it the F-150 LE (Lincoln Edition) with a Lincoln star incorporated into the logo, sure...but a bespoke model on its own? Nope.

Here is a second reason why it won't happen...contractor rewards himself with a Lincoln pick up truck because his business is so over the top successful. When he pulls into the construction site, the fellas working there and the construction site owner look at him as a snob....pull in with an F150 and they'll look over and think, "Hey, dudes got the same truck as I do..."

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On 11/6/2018 at 6:28 AM, twintornados said:

Nope, you'll never see a Lincoln version again - after the great shakeout where FoMoCo culled some of the Lincoln dealers and put the rest of them into Ford dealerships (are there ANY stand alone Lincoln dealerships left?) All you really need is a high lux version of F-150 and call it at day. Heck, if you wanted to put a high end version above Limited with a unique grille, trim and interior appointments and call it the F-150 LE (Lincoln Edition) with a Lincoln star incorporated into the logo, sure...but a bespoke model on its own? Nope.

Here is a second reason why it won't happen...contractor rewards himself with a Lincoln pick up truck because his business is so over the top successful. When he pulls into the construction site, the fellas working there and the construction site owner look at him as a snob....pull in with an F150 and they'll look over and think, "Hey, dudes got the same truck as I do..."

The only reason Ford did a Mark LT was that the Lincoln had just cancelled the LS and Aviator, Continental was gone and Zephyr was just about to launch and dealers needed products to sell in the short term.

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