Can Ford Regain Its Lost Mercury Market with Fast-Ever Lincoln MKC?

From Mac Gordon
11-07-2014

An obvious location for trying is central Germany, a venue where German cars have pressed the metal hard at Baden Baden and Hafen City, and competitors have turned the corners with Audi A5, BMW X3 and Mercedes GLAX.

Motor Trend's actor racer Justin Bell was chosen to tour Germany in a 2015 Lincoln MKC, a model seeking to penetrate the Chinese, European and German markets alike with an American-built luxury car.

The Lincoln MKC drew plaudits at the October show in hard-to-please Paris. Lincoln's 90-year history combining the Ford story with spiffy 2015-2016 styling cues and plush interiors underscores the appeal of the revived Lincoln brand. “Its yesterday’s classy car with tomorrow's gotta-have wheels,” said show audiences at Los Angeles and Paris.

Lincoln's new claim to fame and #1 U.S. sales ranking, rest on four models and the No.1 dealer-Varsity Lincoln, of Novi, MI, the upmarket Varsity Ford store.

Varsity Lincoln boasts a top status in the U.S., thanks to a lineup of five models an “affordable pricing starting at $33,995 for the base MKC.

Lincoln sales executives believe they appeal to Lincoln owners past and present with return of the highest-priced Navigator/L model, priced now at $62,475 with addition of a twin-turbo 3.5L V-6 engine, replacing the 5.4L and the unmourned V-8. A navigation system now is standard on every model!

Lincoln's ad campaign plays up its updated styling and power as being $10,000 less than the base-model Escalade while having added an approach detection safety system.

It's about time that U.S. automakers start stressing safety factory for their priciest cars. Still another new Lincoln system is rear park assist.

Approaching November's Los Angeles auto show, Lincoln is casting its MKC model as a crossover rendition of a luxury sedan, priced below the Lexus NX2 00T.

As LA auto critic David Undercofflor opines, “Lincoln needs a sales hit, more conservative younger customers could be targeted by the MKC.”

The new for 2015 Lincoln has responded to complaints by replacing touch panels with knobs and buttons for the stereo and climate controls. And Lincoln's styling studio has replaced the split-wing grille with splinter headlights that give the MKC a more youthful look.

Power plays for the new Lincoln include a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine rated at 285 hp, same as Ford Mustang, with all-wheel drive and a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Plushy leather seats dress up the new Lincoln MKC (whatever Lincoln stands for) is a secret, accompany safety measures like three suspension modes, adaptive cruise control, Venn maps on the IP, and “ the best-looking Lincoln in at least a decade!” As the LA Times critic asserts!