You are here: Forums Sedans Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ

Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ

2865 messages,  Last post on Dec 02, 2009 at 6:02 AM

You are in the Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens

What is this discussion about? Lincoln Zephyr, Lincoln MKZ, Sedan

Messages Page 285 of 287 1 ... 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 Prev Next Last

Go To Msg # Search This Discussion

#2840 of 2865 Premium Stores Needed for Premium Vehicles by carjim Aug 27, 2009 (12:21 pm)
My wife and I have visited two LM dealerships in Tarrant County (Fort Worth area) and both of them looked like the typical volume stores with no luxury appointments. How will customers who come from Lexus, Acura , etc., ever accept the downgrade in amenities? These two Lincoln stores had none of the following, but the BMW, Audi, Infiniti in the area do: snack bar, free water bottles and soft drinks, muffins (a.m.) baked on the premises, hook-up ports for computers, large comfortable chairs, Starbucks coffee machine, wide-screen monitors, etc.   You get the idea. I imagine that both LM stores are just hanging on. There is no money to put into facilities that customers from other brands are used to. My point is that, we can talk about increasing Lincoln's cache, the value and such, but the surroundings these cars are in send a negative message. The message to first-time Lincoln shoppers is this: "Lincoln, you don't show a commitment to playing on a level I am used to." Replies to this message: bigt (Aug 27, 2009 12:48 pm) akirby (Aug 27, 2009 12:56 pm) savetheland (Aug 27, 2009 4:54 pm) and 1 more...
#2841 of 2865 Re: Premium Stores Needed for Premium Vehicles [carjim] by bigt Aug 27, 2009 (12:48 pm)
Replying to: carjim (Aug 27, 2009 12:21 pm) At this point in the economy and auto sales I doubt there is any money for amenities. I guess LM could up their price by another 4-6k that you pay for BMW, Audi, Infiniti to have a nice place to sit. I would rather have a nice reliable car than some free water! Replies to this message: akirby (Aug 27, 2009 12:56 pm) savetheland (Aug 27, 2009 4:54 pm) akirby (Aug 27, 2009 7:04 pm)
#2842 of 2865 Re: Premium Stores Needed for Premium Vehicles [bigt] by akirby Aug 27, 2009 (12:56 pm)
Replying to: bigt (Aug 27, 2009 12:48 pm) I never see the dealership other than to take delivery and for warranty work so it doesn't matter to me. Unfortunately, since Ford doesn't own or have any influence over the dealerships there isn't a lot they could do about it any way except offer financial assistance - and they won't be able to do that for awhile. Replies to this message: savetheland (Aug 27, 2009 4:54 pm) akirby (Aug 27, 2009 7:04 pm)
#2843 of 2865 Re: Premium Stores Needed for Premium Vehicles [akirby] by savetheland Aug 27, 2009 (4:54 pm)
Replying to: akirby (Aug 27, 2009 12:56 pm) How then Volvo and Jaguar have nice dealerships. AFAIK Ford owned both and both did not bring money to Ford. So does it mean Ford actually set standards and spend money on foreign luxury brands but refuses to do the same for homegrown luxury brand? Imagine Toyota to ignore Lexus and spend all money on some aquired brand or Honda. Can you? I cannot because Toyota and Honda take pride in what they manufacture and in their brands and American companies try to outsource everything to somewhere else, preferably outside of country and interested purely in making money not product itself. Now dirty secret is that it never worked. As an example, Boeing outsources most of work on 787 and now has serious problems with quality and integration. Replies to this message: akirby (Aug 27, 2009 7:04 pm)
#2844 of 2865 Re: Premium Stores Needed for Premium Vehicles [savetheland] by akirby Aug 27, 2009 (7:04 pm)
Replying to: savetheland (Aug 27, 2009 4:54 pm) What the heck are you talking about? Ford never gave any money to Jaguar or Land Rover or Aston Martin or Volvo dealers. Those dealers are independent businesses - they fund their own showrooms.   What you also fail to realize is most of the Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealers (and Chrysler and GM dealers also) have franchises that go back 30, 40, 50 years or longer. Most of the imports do not have that baggage to contend with. Their dealers are much newer and in some cases better backed financially. And they may have more favorable franchise agreements that give the manufacturer more control, whereas Ford is stuck with franchise agreements written in the 50s or 60s.   It's just another part of the old legacy environment that Ford must deal with.
#2846 of 2865 They are seen by bigt Sep 12, 2009 (3:46 am)
I am seeing lots of MKZ's in the DC area these days. Not the 2010 but the prior years. I even saw a newly sold 2006 Zephr in Black and it really looked sharp. Replies to this message: gregg_vw (Sep 12, 2009 12:54 pm)
#2847 of 2865 Re: They are seen [bigt] by gregg_vw Sep 12, 2009 (12:54 pm)
Replying to: bigt (Sep 12, 2009 3:46 am) If you take the time to notice them. If you don't know what one is, and have no particular interest in Lincolns, it really blends in with the crowd. From a distance, it looks like a Fusion with a funny grill.
#2848 of 2865 2011 MKZ? by tiger16 Nov 24, 2009 (9:18 am)
Replies to this message: akirby (Nov 24, 2009 9:30 am)
#2849 of 2865 Re: 2011 MKZ? [tiger16] by akirby Nov 24, 2009 (9:30 am)
Replying to: tiger16 (Nov 24, 2009 9:18 am) Yes.

Messages Page 285 of 287 1 ... 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 Prev Next Last

Go To Msg # Search This Discussion

You are here: Forums Sedans Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ