A couple weeks ago I got a lot of heat from many of you on my less than glow review of the Lincoln Continental Concept which debuted at the New York Auto Show. Many of you hated it! And while I don’t step back from my take on that car, I wanted to take a second pass and widen the context a bit for those of you who thought I was being too one sided or too harsh.
The core argument for the Lincoln Continental Concept is that it’s presented as the new face of Lincoln, the new flagship which will define and fix all that’s wrong with the brand. The forthcoming production version is to be a halo car to rescue Lincoln from its current path to irrelevance or even worse, extinction.
The problem is, every new car from Lincoln for the last 20 years we’ve been told is the new face of Lincoln, the new leaf, the new direction. How many new starts do we need before they pick a direction and stick with it?
And arguably it hasn’t worked. After all at current the entire Lincoln brand sells far less cars, crossovers and SUV’s combined than Ford sells Mustangs. And the Mustang’s isn’t a top selling car by any stretch.
Many viewer comments on our Continental Concept review say much the same thing, “ This is the most beautiful car from Lincoln in a long time”. Well to be honest folks, I agree with that. It really is the best looking Lincoln in a long time. The problem is, it isn’t good enough.
If Lincoln is ever going to change their course, truly revive the prominence of the brand, it’s gonna take something bold and original. It’s gonna require taking to heart the old saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result”.
Another front-wheel drive spin-off of a Ford sedan, another new face of Lincoln, and more painting it all with imagery of the brand’s past that few people still alive even connect to isn’t going to be taken seriously by enough buyers out there to get Lincoln back on track.
So what do I actually think would be good some might ask? Does anyone remember the Lincoln MK-R Concept? Yeah. Unveiled at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, a rear-wheel drive full size flagship. It had an EcoBoost V6, that’s fine. But it was bold, sexy, and original.
And of course, Lincoln never built it. But you know something? I really think that this very same car could have rolled on stage at New York this year and the conversation here would have been entirely different. Really.
And that folks, takes us to the next part of the context. The 800 pound gorilla at New York was the new 2016 Cadillac CT6. A car that will likely be a head to head competitor with a production version of the Lincoln Continental.
Regardless of whether you like the Cadillac, the CT6 is rear-wheel drive, on a high-feature chassis and has the technical balls to take a swipe at its competition. And to make matters even more interesting, Cadillac says this isn’t even the top of their line car down the road. They’ve got more coming!
The point is, Cadillac and even Chrysler have taken drastic measures in the least decade to keep themselves from becoming another Oldsmobile, Plymouth, or even Mercury. This is, they stopped cranking out what wasn’t selling and started building something that does before the brands were so badly damaged they had to be shut down.
When it comes to high-end luxury this means that you have hardware under all that beautifully crafted skin that backs it up and hauls it down the road with not only respect, but with a form of indulgence you should get for the money.
Look folks, I’ve been a Ford guy most of my adult life when it comes to my enthusiastic automotive pursuits. Nobody wants to see Lincoln rise up, swing the bat and crack a few out of the park more than I do. But this car folks, isn’t even in the game.
