houmous deletion: Ford looking to revitalize its Lincoln brand

Geoff Robins / AFP - Getty Images

Lincoln's news MKZ concept car is being positioned as an important step to revival for the luxury nameplate.

By Paul A. Eisenstein

It isn?t always easy to break with your past, especially for an automaker like Lincoln.?

So when the automaker decided to redesign its small MKZ sedan, executives spent months trying to figure out what it needed to pull the new look together.

They finally decided to let go of the classic, vertical ?waterfall? grille that has been a trademark of the Lincoln brand since it was first launched more than three-quarters of a century ago.

That detail -- which involved shifting to a horizontal grille that chief designer Max Woolf says was influenced by the spread wings of an eagle ? drew plenty of attention when Lincoln unveiled the MKZ Concept during a news conference at the Detroit auto show Tuesday.

Of course, that was only one of the changes to the new MKZ, which is getting positive reviews for its overall sleek and elegant shape and an industry-first retractable glass roof. Lincoln is expected to unveil a production version of the vehicle in the spring and it should?reach showrooms by early autumn.

Landing a solid hit with the MKZ is critical for Lincoln, once one of the market?s biggest luxury auto brands, but now little more than an also-ran behind German giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz, as well as Japan?s Lexus and General Motors'?Cadillac brand.

The MKZ is ?the next step in our reinvention,? said Jim Farley, Ford?s global marketing chief.

In a conversation after the unveiling he stressed that, while critical, product alone won?t be enough to turn things around for Ford?s struggling luxury marque. It will also take creative brand marketing, something the maker has tried to achieve with the use of John Slattery, of TV?s ?Mad Men,? as its spokesman.

The next step is to bring dealers on board -- and convince them to open their checkbooks.

?We?re asking dealers to catch up,? explained Farley, who noted that shopping at many luxury dealerships these days ?feels like you?re at a big box retailer ? leaving [demanding luxury] customers feeling like a number, not a name.?

Lincoln isn?t the only automaker to recognize this phenomenon, which has coincided with the huge expansion in sales by Lexus, BMW and other?high-end carmakers. South Korean upstart Hyundai recently introduced its first high-luxury sedan, the Equus, allowing customers to skip the showroom process entirely and even have a new car delivered to their home or office.

Lincoln will do something similar, Farley promises, along with offering loaners when a vehicle is in for service or repair. One?goal is to place cameras in all dealer service bays so owners can track the progress of repair work.

The process, as Lincoln envisions it, will begin the moment a customer walks into the showroom, with two employees designated to greet anyone who enters.

Showrooms are to be upgraded to give them the look and feel one might expect from a high-line Beverly Hills boutique. That?s a significant upgrade from today?s Lincoln dealerships that will?require buy-in from retailers who have heard plenty of promises over the years about a Lincoln renaissance.

?I?d like to believe them, but I need to have them prove it,? said one of about 300 dealers who attended a series of background briefings Ford staged this week to give retailers an inside look at what the brand is doing.?

?At least, I have to say, I?m impressed by the product I see,? which apparently included not only the concept and production MKZ but other, future designs. The dealer asked not to be quoted talking about future Lincoln plans.

Farley declined to say how much each dealer might have to invest. Some estimates have suggested it could top $1 million per store, but he emphasized the amount will vary by?location and said?some dealers are already doing much of what Lincoln wants.

But he stressed ?it won?t work? unless everything comes together.

Derrick Kuzak, Ford?s chief of product development, called the?new concept car?a?good start. He came into the studio shortly after designer Woolf had his ?aha? moment and came up with the car?s new grille. The rest, added Kuzak,?came together quickly.

It?s been far too long since the Lincoln brand commanded the sort of attention it grabbed with the slab-sided behemoths of the 1950s and ?60s, such as the ?65 Continental that had a supporting role in HBO?s "Entourage" series. With the launch of the new MKZ, Lincoln hopes to look forward rather than appear to be nothing more than a relic of the past.

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