Time to roll out Ford's flagship brand

COMMENT

There are plenty of excuses around for the slowing sales in the prestige market sector.

There's the old favourite, supply constraints, or the wrong model mix, legacy issues... and so on and so forth.

But maybe our prestige-brand buyers are just feeling jaded. Perhaps they object to seeing multiple C-Class, 3 Series and A4 models at every street corner – while sitting behind the wheel of a long-wheelbase luxury sedan purportedly sold by an exclusive brand.

Whatever the reasoning, the prestige sector could do with a shake-up. It needs disruption and revitalisation – from a brand with a name Aussies would recognise, even if it's not a name we associate with cars.

What about Lincoln?

Previously, in a different context, I've observed that Lincoln is a brand underutilised by Ford.

That is still arguably the case. Even more so now, six years since that original article.

Lincoln is a Ford subsidiary that could pull down some big bucks in Australia. Its refreshed product range is not the sort of line-up we thought we knew from this nameplate.

Just last month Lincoln launched its new Aviator SUV at the New York motor show. This car, embracing a Jaguar style nose with a wagon body that wouldn't look out of place on a Range Rover, offers buyers three-row seating, a longitudinal engine mounting (it's a rear-wheel drive platform) and a plug-in hybrid option. It follows the Nautilus, a smaller SUV unveiled in Los Angeles late last year; it's a package in a very similar vein.

At the top of the Lincoln SUV tree is the Navigator, which is already on sale in North America, priced from US$72,055. It's big, measuring 5.3m long for the short-wheelbase version, which puts 3.1m of cabin space between the front and rear axles. That's longer than the Mercedes GLS, to put it all in context. As big as it is, the Navigator may not be a vehicle that sits comfortably with Australians, but the smaller Aviator and Nautilus could naturally complement other prestige SUVs in the market.

And since SUVs are the flavour of the century in Australia, they could be profitable model lines here right from the start.

Lincoln isn't just an SUV brand, however. There are two sedan models that could entice Aussie buyers with their style and equipment. At just under 5m long, the MKZ is roughly the same length as the Mercedes E-Class, and is priced from US$35,170, boasting a 'top pick' safety rating from the Institute for Highway Safety – the US equivalent of ANCAP. The larger Continental is priced from US$44,720 and is Lincoln's answer to S-Class.

The Lincoln products are available with hybrid, all-wheel drive and twin-turbo V6 mechanicals, placing them on an equal footing with Lexus, but with potentially stronger cachet.

Would Ford bring in the Lincoln brand? There would be plenty of reasons why the blue oval would say no – not least of all the landed cost, the outlay to market the brand and the logistical demands of setting up a sales channel tied at the waist to Ford's local dealer network, in a worst-case scenario.

GM has already been that close to introducing Cadillac in Australia but pulled out at the last moment, and the chances of that luxury brand coming here are complicated by the current lack of right-hand drive product, which is a problem for Lincoln too.

Think of the positives though. It might boost the Ford brand image by osmosis or absorption. It could be quite profitable, since Jeep has shown there's an appetite for American-style automotive products in Australia.

And from the consumer's perspective, buying a Lincoln shouldn't require endless apologies and explanations to friends, relatives and colleagues.