Lincoln (Page 4)

Ford Motor Company continued their momentum from 2011, starting 2012 out with a year over year gain of 7% - even though the company’s Lincoln brand struggled in the first stanza of the New Year.

Lincoln has long been Ford's luxury brand, whose checkered past success and failure has been as colorful as the president it was named after. Lately, the brand has been lackluster, stealing design elements from Ford's other products. Today, Ford is emphasizing Lincoln at the North American International Auto Show with a new flagship: the MKZ Concept.

The Lincoln Town Car has been the standard bearer for the limousine industry in the U.S. and Canada for the last 30 years. Since its introduction in 1981, in standard production models and modified chauffeured variations, the Lincoln Town Car has delivered countless executives, officials and dignitaries to their respective destinations in elegance, comfort and style.

NADAguides said this week in its Brand Share Report that the Detroit Three were the only carmakers that showed growth in consumer interest on NADAguides.com during the third quarter of 2011, boosting their overall consumer share by more than 10%.

Ford Motor Company showed the lowest positive growth of any major automaker group doing business in the US market but with an improvement of 9% over September 2010, Ford beat out American Honda and Toyota Motor Co. in September sales growth thanks mostly to the popularity of their pickup trucks and SUVs.

After one week of serious face-to-face conversation, bargainers for the UAW and Ford Motor Co. are on the brink of consensus on a four-year deal for the automaker's 41,000 unionized rank and file that might include a $7,500 signing bonus and union-won promises of new and retained jobs at Ford.

In 2005, an Iowa court ruled that Ford Motor Company was liable for the death of a 73 year old man when the Lincoln Town Car in which he was riding was struck by another car – killing him and severely burning his wife – but through the process of appeal, the Iowa Supreme Court has overruled the original $43 million award issued to the wife of the deceased man.

The end of the current Ford-UAW contract expires at 11:59pm tonight and although there has been no official word of a coming strike, the UAW Local in charge of the Chicago Assembly Plant where the Ford Explorer, Taurus and Lincoln MKS are built has posted the strike-time pay policies on their website – showing that a strike could be nearing as Ford’s labor contract expires.

Almost twice as many people since 2007 are leasing cars without test-driving them first, and most drivers are making the transactions over the Internet, according to LeaseTrader.com, which studies industry trends and statistics.

Ford Motor Company had another strong month in August 2011, lead in part by the increase in year over year sales by their Lincoln brand which continues to push ahead without new models.

The votes have been tallied from Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant and, no surprisingly, both groups have voted heavily in favor of going on strike with the looming end of their current contract with Ford on September 14th.

The Ford UAW members may be gearing up for a strike as the workers at Ford’s two Louisville Kentucky plants have voted overwhelming in favor of hitting the picket lines with almost 99% of the 3,600 workers voting “yes” to the walk out.

Lincoln has been having a rough year without middle-child brand Mercury but word of seven all-new and/or revised models hitting their showrooms by 2014 is news that could help Ford Motor Company’s high end brand step up to the big boys of the luxury segment.

Ford Motor Company had another solid month in July 2011, with 180,865 vehicles giving them a year over year gain of 8.9% - putting them above all major automotive groups in terms of sales growth with the exception of the BMW and Chrysler groups.

Ford Motor Company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced today that they would be recalling around 1.1 million pickups, including their top-selling F150, for a risk of the fuel tank straps corroding and breaking.

It has been a rough year for the Lincoln brand but for the first time in 2011, Ford’s luxury brand showed positive year over year growth – helping Ford Motor Company to rank as the third best auto group in the US industry in June 2011.

Lincoln dealerships will be required by Ford to do up to $1 million in renovations to their showrooms in two years as Ford makes big plans for the luxury brand's future.

At one time it was a big, luxurious car. But after it merged with Studebaker in 1954, sales were so slow it was forced to become a Studebaker lookalike with only minor trim changes.

May 2011 was a month hit hard by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, causing shortages of all sorts and in this rough month, Ford Motor Company showed negative growth – although Ford did better than did most major automaker groups operating in the USA.

Ford Motor Company has made it very clear that EcoBoost technology is a major part of their drivetrain future and today, the newest member of the EcoBoost family was announced with the news that Ford would soon offer a global 1.0L, 3-cylinder engine along with an 8-speed transmission.

Ford Motor Company has raised prices again this month, citing increased commodity costs as the cause for the third increase of the year in just 5 months.

Ford Motor Company was the worst of the American automakers in terms of year over year growth, but they still showed fair growth of 16.4%, ranking them above Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

Ford Motor Company sold 212,777 vehicles in the month of March, giving the company a 19.2% gain over March 2010 but more importantly, in selling this many vehicles, Ford Motor Company was the sales leader in the US market with the Ford brand leading the way.

Ford was not hit as hard as GM and Chrysler when the auto industry imploded in 2008 and 2009, so Ford Motor Company saw an improvement of just 14% but with the Ford brand moving over 150,000 vehicles last month, Ford was the top selling brand in the US market.

Three major events have been on the agendas of Detroiters all winter: The North American International Auto Show, the Super Bowl and the Autorama with the Ridler Award. This year’s Autorama will be February 25, 26 and 27.

Think in terms of a series of major new vehicle and customer focused technology announcements for the 81st Geneva Motor Show beginning March 1st.

Ford Motor Company has announced what they expect of their dealerships carrying the Lincoln brand, if those dealers plan to continue offering the luxury brand going forward.

Ford Motor Company has spent the last hundred years building all sorts of vehicles and while doing so, they have taken some incredible photographs that the public can now buy at FordImages.com.

Typically when you think about a 355 horsepower Lincoln, the first aspect that comes to mind isn’t its ideal performance in the snow but thanks to the storm that has pummeled nearly the entire country for the past few days, I got to spend the day after the “Blizzard of 2011” in a 2011 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost – with fantastic results.