Ford Motor Company (F): What Is It Thinking With Lincoln?

But where are Lincoln’s hits? So far, that new-product magic has eluded Ford’s luxury brand. Lincoln doesn’t have a single gotta-have product, just a confusing stew of alphabet-soup model names. No car stands out; no car gets big attention.

It’s possible that those gotta-have products are coming, of course. It’s possible that Ford has a big vision for Lincoln, that the company is quietly laying the groundwork (and making the investments) for a big brand renaissance that will be clear to all of us in a couple of years.

But I don’t know. I’m not getting the sense that something like that is happening. And because so much of what Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has done under Mulally has been excellent, that leaves me wondering what’s going on here.

Does Lincoln need a “farewell address”?
Veteran auto journalist David Kiley recently wrote at Autoblog that “Lincoln needs a farewell address,” not an overhaul. I’m not sure I agree — at least not yet — but Lincoln clearly needs something that it’s not getting: a strong new direction, and great new products that work with that direction.

Is it coming? Or should Ford put the Lincoln brand out of its misery, as Kiley argues, and maybe start over with a whole new brand, as Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) did with Lexus not so long ago?

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The article What Is Ford Thinking With Lincoln? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by John Rosevear.

Fool contributor John Rosevear owns shares of Ford and General Motors. Follow him on Twitter at @jrosevear. The Motley Fool recommends Ford and General Motors and owns shares of Ford.

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