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Sedans Lincoln MKS Article Comments - 2009 Lincoln MKS First Drive / Full Test
154 messages, Last post on Nov 17, 2008 at 2:21 PM
You are in the Lincoln MKS Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
First Drive: 2009 Lincoln MKS - First Impressions: The world's most completely equipped Taurus/Taurus X/Sable/Volvo/Flex, which turns out to be not such a bad thing. (more)
Full Test: 2009 Lincoln MKS AWD - Bottom Line: A luxury sedan for the Ford faithful, but all others would be advised to look elsewhere as there are far better luxury sedans for the price. (more)
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Replying to: exalteddragon1 (Sep 05, 2008 4:03 pm) AM's global platform and company concept will save the company Billions per year. Anyone who wouldn't take that ROI is an idiot.
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Replying to: akirby (Sep 07, 2008 4:58 am) Mullaly is a sharp guy with a major accomplishment at Boeing behind his belt. He is making progress at Ford, and is probably worth every penny if he saves the company. If he doesn't, he'll be out of work, disgraced, and probably done for life. Admittedly, he won't starve, but I think he will save Ford, where nobody else may have been able to do so. Bill Ford would have tanked the company by now. It seems ridiculous what can be made in positions like this but again, it's market driven, just like major league sports. If you're good enough, you can get the big bucks. If you're not, you don't.
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Replying to: nvbanker (Sep 12, 2008 9:33 am) NVbanker - you make alot of sense. Akirby - my problem with the whole "save billions on X' is that we have been hearing this stuff from the big3 for a while now. And almost every year, market share is falling, profitability is falling, jobs are leaving, etc. I hope AM does save Ford, btw. Show us you can do it - give us new product, new engines, better reliability, and please don't screw up good cars on the details like with the MKS.
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Replying to: exalteddragon1 (Sep 21, 2008 9:01 pm) The difference is that it's never been implemented like AM is doing it now. And I don't think it ever would have been if they hadn't brought in a total outsider. Previously they did some sharing when it was convenient but each entity (Ford Europe, Ford North America and Ford Australia) operated in a vacuum - they didn't even share financial information between them. GM was similar but did a better job at sharing some platforms. E.g. the mustang team was allowed to build their own dedicated platform for the mustang and now it can't be reused. What a waste. Same reason we have 2 Focus platforms and 2 CD platforms (CD3 and EUCD). Same reason the Aussies have dedicated platforms different from the U.S. What AM has done is mandate the most efficient use of company resources globally. The Fiesta is the first example - engineer the platform and vehicle once then use it globally with minor changes for each market. The only reason it's taking so long to get it to the U.S. is that the U.S. wasn't involved from the beginning. That structural change and management philosophy is the biggest thing that AM brings to Ford. Without it they'd be doomed. With it they at least have a chance.
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Replying to: akirby (Sep 22, 2008 7:07 am) Why? What does the dedicated platform have to do with it being reused? The Mustang Platform was made from the LS platform anyway.
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Replying to: exalteddragon1 (Sep 24, 2008 7:12 pm) The mustang S197 platform only shares part of the floorpan and the fuel tank design with the LS - that's it. It started as DEW98-lite but they ended up changing everything. If you design a platform knowing that it will support multiple vehicles (coupes, convertibles and sedans e.g.) you make allowances for that in the design. Today Ford would not allow a team to create a single platform for a single vehicle in one market unless it was a special niche vehicle like the GT. It's not cost effective. That's why GRWD was started. I don't know the technical details but obviously the mustang team made platform design decisions that make it either impossible, prohibitively expensive or simply undesirable to modify the platform for sedans. Otherwise the MKR would already be in production on that platform.
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Replying to: akirby (Sep 25, 2008 5:14 am) Its a coupe platform so they can tune it and make different coupes out of it. I think they can change a few things around and make a Lincoln Mark IX Coupe out of the current mustang platform. I would be very interested in that 
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Replying to: exalteddragon1 (Sep 26, 2008 3:10 pm)
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Replying to: akirby (Sep 27, 2008 4:38 am) I think they need more exciting vehicles too, a coupe is just such a vehicle. Much like GM really needed those 20K roadsters, XLR, and Camaro to bring some youth back into there brands. It would be awesome if Lincoln had a coupe. I coupe for lincoln means that Ford could spread the costs of the platform around, and it would help when its time to remake the mustang / etc. Also it would give yet another application to the Mustang V8, which would be re-tuned for a Lincoln. Did I mention that many people could possibly be interested in a Lincoln coupe, besides myself.  On another note, I drove by a black MKS on the road the other day. Beautiful car. Especially from the back-and-going-forwards view. Its so sad that its such an impractical car, with a trunk opening that reminds me of a paper shredder. If they gave that trunk another 3 inches in length I would go back to the dealer just to see if the opening would be sufficiently useful or not. That's how much I like this car.
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Replying to: exalteddragon1 (Sep 29, 2008 6:57 pm) Is the trunk opening really that much of a problem? Are there things that just won't fit - ever - or is it just an inconvenience to get them in? Other than golf clubs I just don't see people putting large objects in the trunk regularly. I'm not making excuses, just trying to understand the extent of the problem.
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