The
September 5th issue of Autocar contains a very interesting
interview with Ford CEO Allan Mulally - a man who managed to turn the fortunes
of both Boeing and Ford for the better. He must now face the same challenge
that all automakers are sweating over – a contracting market dominated by
Volkswagen with their easily scaled, high profit, MQB platform. Autocar’s Steve
Cropley asks the difficult question; ‘How come Volkswagen is doing so well in
Europe’. Mulally points out that they do exceedingly well in their home market
as well as China going on to say, ‘the VW Group is mostly VW and Audi. The
Volume is VW, but most of the profits come from Audi’.
‘The
Volume is VW, but most of the profits come from Audi’
If this is the case you
have to wonder why exactly Ford sold off all of their premium brands such as
Jaguar and Volvo, but Mulally stands firmly by his decision. So what, then, is
Fords answer to Audi? ‘VW have a great family, and in a way we’re doing the
same with Lincoln.’ says Mulally in his interview with Autocar.
That seems like a pretty
strong hint at Lincolns future direction to me, to take the fight to the German
premium brands. If this really is Mulally’s intention, will it work? The task
looks gargantuan from every angle, Lincoln’s are sold only in America, they
have 5 models. Compared to Audi, the American brand looks like a minnow, Audi
boasting a worldwide market and 12 models, a number which will only continue to
grow if their concepts are anything to go by.
The
task looks gargantuan
from
every angle
Things weren’t always
this way however. At the start of the 1970’s both Lincoln and Audi were selling
three models focused largely on their respective home markets. Audi’s range was
headed by the forward looking 100 mid size executive, while Lincoln had
introduced their big, bold, and in my opinion rather beautiful Continental Mk
V. Whether you’d rather be swanning around in a Audi 100 coupé or a Lincoln Mk III
is down to personal preference, but the Lincolns prestige is obvious, while
Audi was only just starting on the road to becoming a recognised luxury brand.
The Lincoln Town Car and Audi V8
Quattro – The companies fortunes have been travelling in opposite directions
since these cars were around at the beginning of the 90’s
In the last 20 years
Audi has gone from underdog to premium car cash cow. Lincoln on the other hand
has stagnated, the once great Continental name died in ’97 when it adorned a
rather unexciting front wheel drive saloon. Aside from the successful Navigator, Lincoln sales in the USA have been un-impressive. What hope could there
possibly be of this brand conquering the premium world in the same way that
Audi has?
dynamically
the Ford is
the
superior car
Despite the enormity of
the task, there are a few things that provide a glimmer of hope. Firstly Ford
has shown themselves fully capable of engineering a fantastic car, personally
if given the choice between Mondeo and A4 I would go for the former every time,
dynamically the Ford is the superior car. Of course the car from the blue oval
can’t match the Audi’s image, presence, or interior quality and that’s why the
Mondeo struggles for sales while A4’s are everywhere. Assuming Ford is easily
capable of building an Lincoln with dynamics superior to an Audi, that leaves
them with presence, interior quality and image to bring up to scratch.
Presence
Presence is probably one
of the biggest contributing factors to Audi’s success, big grilles LED daytime
running lights and strong lines create a car that’s highly suited to tailgating
on the outside lane of the M25. An Audi also looks good on your drive, bland
enough to be liked by many but with enough class to make it desirable. Can
Lincoln match this? They certainly have one advantage that Audi do not,
heritage. The Continental IV is arguably one of the best looking cars ever,
it’s got bags of presence without the need for superfluous air intakes or LED
lighting. It does strong lines so much better than anything Audi has ever produced.
Lincolns current range is respectable looking, if perhaps a little too orientated
on the American market, but the potential is there.
Interior
Quality
Another strong draw for
Audi buyers is the legendary interior quality. Audi has been leading the way
with perceived quality for years. The story with Lincoln is predictable, once
their interiors were as adventurous as their lavish exteriors but more recently
they have descended into typical American car mediocrity, with unpleasant
looking plastics and dated switchgear. Recent times have seen American cars
strive to improve quality in an attempt to fight off imported models, but
there’s still some way to go to get near Audi. Raising the perceived quality
sufficiently would perhaps be the biggest challenge for Lincoln were it not for
their total lack of image, something you’ll find an abundance of at Audi.
Image
Image is the impossible
mountain to climb for Lincoln. In America it seems the brand has a whiff of the
elderly about it, an image the latest designs are clearly trying to dismiss.
Outside of the US however the brand has very little image at all. This could be a blessing or a curse, but past
examples show it more as a curse - just ask Infiniti or Cadillac about their UK
sales. Lexus show that it can be done, they have built a solid image as a
luxury car maker in the last 12 years, but despite cars like the LF-A and IS-F it’s
hardly the enviable ‘cool’ image that Audi sells millions of cars on the back
of.
The new Lincoln MkZ - good looking enough to take on Audi?
Realistically then,
Lincoln will not be competing with Audi on an equal footing anytime soon, but
that’s hardly surprising - even Mercedes and BMW are wondering how exactly to
cultivate the same sort of ‘hip’ image in their brands. That’s not to say
things couldn’t work out for Lincoln though. Cadillac’s efforts in Europe have
surely served as an example of how not to do it, while matching Infiniti’s
efforts doesn’t seem unrealistic.
The key is time. It will
take time, lots of investment in good cars and marketing to get the Lincoln
brand into a good position. Whether Ford can be committed enough remains to be
seen, but there’s no doubt the German’s are running away with the profits and
Ford are not the only brand wanting a piece of the action. At the moment
Lincoln just makes for an interesting prospective new challenger.
No comments:
Post a Comment