Lincoln Continental 1973 on 2040-cars

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Mulally wanted to kill Lincoln as late as last year, Fields vows to turn it around

Lincoln fans might want to give incoming Ford CEO Mark Fields a pat on the back for having a hand in saving the brand from the chopping block last year. He's among the people spearheading the rejuvenation of the division away from its stodgy image to appeal to younger customers.
According to two unnamed sources speaking to Bloomberg, CEO Alan Mulally was ready to kill Lincoln last year. Following the slow production ramp-up of the MKZ combined a with a costly ad campaign, Mulally was frustrated and openly suggested dropping the brand. However, Fields and Jim Farley, Ford's marketing boss, convinced the CEO that the brand was worth saving. They also created a plan to prevent similar problems for new models in the future.
It seems that one part of the strategy may involve waiting until new models are at dealers before starting a big ad campaign for them. Lincoln global director, Matt VanDyke, recently told Autoblog that the division is holding off on a full marketing push behind the new MKC crossover to prevent the supply problems that plagued the MKZ last year. Its big offensive begins in the fall when the CUVs are at all of the dealers and consumers are at home watching more TV. VanDyke also told Bloomberg that Fields, Farley and Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas, have more direct oversight over new product launches now.

Lincoln Zephyr for China puts brand back in the sedan game

Lincoln abandoned the sedan segment in the United States, but its Chinese division isn't ready to pivot toward a range made up exclusively of high-riding models. It has introduced a sedan named Zephyr at the Guangzhou Auto Show that was developed solely for China and will be manufactured locally. If the name sounds familiar, you're either well-versed in the history of American luxury cars or you've been keeping up with the news lately. Lincoln's original Zephyr was a stately, V12-powered model available in several different body styles and sold between 1936 and 1942. More recently, the nameplate appeared on a thinly-veiled concept introduced in Shanghai as a preview of the production-bound model. Unsurprisingly, the sedan has changed little in its transition from a design study to a series-produced car. It gained bigger and more realistic-looking headlights and a redesigned front end, and it grew a pair of conventional door mirrors (the concept was fitted with cameras). Out back, the bumper gets a new look and the lighting elements have changed, though the light bar is still oddly reminiscent of the Audi A7. What hasn't been tweaked are the Zephyr's proportions: It's sleek, fastback-like, and one of Lincoln's best-looking modern sedans. "Every detail from the inside out is crafted based on a deep understanding of our young Chinese clients," said Mao Jingbo, president of Lincoln's Chinese division. This is an interesting statement; Lincoln is targeting a clientele that, on our side of the Pacific, isn't typically found inside of one of its showrooms or seen behind the wheel of a sedan. To that end, the interior gains a tremendous amount of technology including a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 27-inch touchscreen that takes up the entire dashboard. We know that the Zephyr offers Lincoln's largest puddle lights (which are referred to as a Welcome Mat), four Relaxing Modes, several "digital scents," and a 128-color ambient lighting system. What we don't know much about is what's under the hood: The only specifications released by the firm outlines a 2.0-liter engine, presumably a four-cylinder, that's bolted to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Lincoln will begin selling the Zephyr on the Chinese market in the first quarter of 2022. The sedan will be built in China as well, which is a first that the company is proud of. And nothing suggests it will be sold outside of its home market — let alone in the United States.

Genesis cars win accolades, offer value — so why are sales so bad?

My high-school buddy Brent Cormier was so smitten with the Genesis G80 when he saw it at an event I hosted at SXSW in 2016 he bought a used 2013 Hyundai Genesis a short time later and fell in love with the car. "It surpasses my every expectation," said Cormier, a self-described "renaissance man" who owns and runs a real estate agency with his wife Laura, is a food service executive chef and part owner of Austin-based Thin the Herd Guitars. "I was locked into Mercedes and Audi for 10 years," he added. "And felt trapped in an endless pit of maintenance costs." After owning the Genesis over the past two years — including using it as an Uber and Lyft driver to earn extra cash — Cormier learned what some frugal luxury sedan buyers and a handful of car reviewers have discovered: Genesis offers great bang for the buck compared to other premium brands and can compete with the best in terms of performance, features and comfort. Hyundai's luxury brand also earned a prominent third-party endorsement last week when for the first time Genesis topped J.D. Power's 2018 APEAL study, surpassing German luxury-performance icon Porsche. The APEAL study (which stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) "measures owners' emotional attachment and level of excitement across 77 attributes," ranging from performance to comfort, and asks nearly 68,000 owners of new 2018 models to score vehicles on a 1,000-point scale. In its second year ranked as a stand-alone brand, Genesis earned an APEAL score that bumped it up 15 points to 884 and helped push it past Porsche — and past BMW, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Land Rover and Lexus, in order of ranking. Last month, Genesis also topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time this year. And both its models were awarded Top Safety Pick Plus ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, among 11 Plus ratings in all for Korean vehicles. Despite high J.D. Power rankings and great reviews, Genesis U.S. sales were off 50 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, and in June Genesis sold only 796 vehicles — the first time U.S. numbers dropped below 1,000 in a month. Part of Genesis's APEAL and IQS success can be attributed to its small product lineup: just two models, the G80 and G90 sedans, with a third, the 2019 G70, launching later this year. And while those numbers may help in J.D.