Exactly. Competition for the luxury buyer would be great for all, and I think Lincoln “could” pull it off. “Could”, however, comes with some strings attached. FoMoCo needs to hussle really damn hard.
If I’m going to use the CTS as an example, then in my books, I hold that the CTS was as big jump for Cadillac as “1+1=2” is to infinitesimal calculus. To me, it’s that big a gap Lincoln has to jump across.
And then consider Cadillac on the world’s stage; the brand hardly registers while conguring images of the “unreliable american car covered in chrome and fins and leaking oil”. Granted, the CTS isn’t any of that, and I hope the ATS gets more of the world’s attention.
And that’s where I stop and look back at Lincoln. If the CTS and ATS are steps in the right direction, then Lincoln is already 2 steps behind and not well positioned to do anything about it. Sure its has a lenghy and storied past as Cadillac does, but would Mr. average Chinese business man standing at the doors to a Lincoln showroom in Beijing care? Probably not as his demands in a luxury car might not reflect what Lincoln presently offers.
At present, Ford knows that they can’t let Lincoln stagnate because of consumer indifference, but I don’t feel they are doing 100% to make Lincoln stand out, not as much even in North America, not just the US.
Hussle some damn hard.
