Mr. M. 'pressed' about Lincoln-Mercury - Amy Wilson, AutomotiveNews

[2b2]

Lincoln Mercury dealerships are fading fast in metro areas - autonews.com

Amy Wilson | November 9, 2009 - 12:01 am ET

Ford Motor Co.'s dealership consolidation strategy has hit stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealerships hardest.

Since Ford's dealership reduction efforts began in 2006, the number of stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealerships is down more than 42 percent. The biggest driver of the reduction has been the push for Lincoln-Mercury and Ford stores to merge in metro markets, something the automaker previously discouraged.

At the beginning of 2009, there were 357 Lincoln-Mercury stores in the United States, down from 619 three years prior.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally talked about the future of Lincoln and the stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealership with Associate Publisher Peter Brown, Editor Jason Stein and Staff Reporter Amy Wilson...


The number of Mercury nameplates is shrinking. You're pushing for more dual Ford-Lincoln-Mercury stores. What is your intention for stand-alone Lincoln Mercury dealerships? Is eliminating them part of the strategy?

"Our focus is on a distribution network where they can be profitable. Many people really like the volume and the breadth of having Ford-Lincoln-Mercury together."

But is there enough for the stand-alone Lincoln Mercury dealers?

"I think in the future you will see more and more dualing of the dealerships."

Will we eventually see the stand-alone Lincoln Mercury store go away?

"I think we'll see more Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealerships."

Any tips for how the remaining stand-alones can stay in business and make a profit?

"I think we'll just see more Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealerships."

But does that make sense in the metro areas?

"I think we'll see more Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealerships."

Volvo will soon be sold. How do you create a credible luxury business with Lincoln when those dedicated Lincoln-Mercury dealerships are declining? What's the plan for Lincoln?

"Lincoln is a great brand. And many people believe we have the finest Lincoln family now that we've ever had. And we're going to keep enhancing it. They're not just rebadged Fords going forward. We really believe Lincoln has a great name in the United States and a lot of people believe it would be a good brand worldwide, too."

Is there a chance you could expand it globally?

"Yeah, but our focus right now is to really make a compelling luxury United States Lincoln brand."

In the U.S., is the goal to compete head-to-head with Cadillac, with Lexus?

"Lexus and Cadillac are two good brands."

Stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealers are worried about their brands declining as Lincolns and Mercurys become sales tools to sell Ford vehicles in dualed stores.

I'll share a recent experience: I was driving a Lincoln MKS and visiting a stand-alone Ford store, and I was sitting in the car in front of the showroom for a few minutes. There was a salesman outside on the sidewalk right in front of this Lincoln MKS, and he starts talking it up to a customer, but then the punch line was: “Well, this is pretty much the same as the Taurus, the Taurus actually looks even better. I have the Taurus around the side, and it costs $10,000 less. Come look at the Taurus.”

That wasn't a Ford-Lincoln-Mercury store, but that salesman saw that Lincoln and he jumped right on it to use it as a sales tool.

"I understand. And the answer clearly is the brand promise. Maybe in the past, there hasn't been as much differentiation between a Lincoln and a Ford. But clearly with what we're doing going forward, that Lincoln product is going to be a more of a luxury brand promise. The whole bar's moving up because the Ford vehicles are getting better and all the luxury brands are getting better."

But part of the brand promise is the experience at the dealership.

"Most people that dual have an enhanced experience with the dealership, too, with the service. If you go to the ones that are really successful with that, they really provide the extra attention and care that the Lincoln buyers really expect and really value."

But you have to get them to buy the Lincolns first. And if the sales guy thinks it's easier to sell him the Ford, you're going to sell fewer Lincolns, won't you?

"I know your one example. But we've got a lot of people that are buying Lincolns, and they love Lincolns. The people that have dualed stores know they want to have an experience that fits the vehicle that they're selling, so they'll do it to be successful. They'll have two different experiences."

Even within the same store?

"Yeah, if you go to the stores that are doing it well, they really have an enhanced experience. A lot of stores are doing it very well. But it absolutely starts with the product itself. And I think that's a neat thing that you're capturing. It has to be a different brand promise. You just can't have a warmed-over Ford and have a luxury brand called Lincoln, not in today's environment."

[ausrutherford]

If merging the two means that dealerships won't go BK, then I'm all for it

[theoldwizard1]

Ford Motor Company would save millions by only supporting ford-Lincoln-Mercury stores.

However, I think it would dilute the the Lincoln and Mercury brands, if Mercury even lasts.

[Logans Run]

This may be the answer to the old question "How would Lincoln dealers survive without the sales volume of Mercury?"

Mercury needs to make a big splash at the coming auto shows. It needs to be directly mentioned in company interviews, and it needs to have a presence in company press releases.

The new question is "Why does Ford Motor Company wish to keep the future of their Mercury brand a secret?"


Back to the dealership combinations

Should F/M/L dealers have seperate showrooms so the brands are isolated (think BMW/Mini dealers).

Maybe they could have the Fords in a showroom on the left, have the used car lot and repair shop in the center, and have the Lincoln/Mercury showroom on the right.

[saintl1]

i agree, that Mercury needs to make a splash and soon! a new Cougar would get the bloog pumping on mercury, even as a concept again. Why the Messenger was never turned into the next gen Cougar I will never know. I need to at least see the C-Car by Chicago

[mchicha]

This whole exange tells me the future for Mercury is not very bright, or at least, Allan has not given Mercury any thought yet. He seems to be more concerned about Ford and to a lesser extent Lincoln.

[2b2]

...The new question is "Why does Ford Motor Company wish to keep the future of their Mercury brand a secret?"...

This whole exange tells me the future for Mercury is not very bright, or at least, Allan has not given Mercury any thought yet. He seems to be more concerned about Ford and to a lesser extent Lincoln.

I'm hoping it's just that they want to ONLY reveal info when it's close to a/the new model(s) becoming available
&
imho a good deal about Mercury's future has Not been carved in stone yet

& to SaintL,
since the next new Merc is the C3 sedan
and the C3 Focus isn't due to launch until early 2011,
might be good to face the fact that we might not get to see-or-hear anything until next year's autoshow season
ie if we don't get info this season, that DoesN'T have to mean 'TheEnd'
altho
it sure would be nice to get a Merc Concept sometime (ANYtime) during this year's shows



ps I still need a sound-bite file of Jim Cramer's "THEY KNOW NOTHING!"
...just in case

[Uzzy_]

Should F/M/L dealers have seperate showrooms so the brands are isolated (think BMW/Mini dealers).

FML dealerships? Hilarious!

They will all be F-L dealers soon enough. They say it's better to burn out than to fade away. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn all burned out...Mercury will soon just fade away...

[Mbukukanyau]

FML dealerships? Hilarious!

They will all be F-L dealers soon enough. They say it's better to burn out than to fade away. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn all burned out...Mercury will soon just fade away...

Uzzy, good to see you here. I think Ford Europe is going to have to push Mercuries eventually, unless there is boneheads over at the Ford Boardrooms.
There is no reason why Ford Australia and Ford Europe should not take advantage of North America, like GM is doing with its brands.
Mercury is the perfect brand for this sort of thing, due to its higher price point, than say Fusion.

That said, Lincoln will also have to go global or die.

[Uzzy_]

Uzzy, good to see you here. I think Ford Europe is going to have to push Mercuries eventually, unless there is boneheads over at the Ford Boardrooms.
There is no reason why Ford Australia and Ford Europe should not take advantage of North America, like GM is doing with its brands.
Mercury is the perfect brand for this sort of thing, due to its higher price point, than say Fusion.

That said, Lincoln will also have to go global or die.

There is potential for Mercury, but I don't see Lincoln being high enough and Ford seems to have moved a little upmarket themselves lately (Taurus) so Mercury seems to be getting pushed out. And I don't follow Mercury too closely, but is there anything actually in the pipeline? Any concepts? Anything caught by spy photographers? Ford could do the Ford Mercury Lincoln thing, the way GM is doing Chevy, Buick, Cadillac but Lincoln is no Cadillac anymore. I know everyone keeps saying Mercury will get small Euro cars...but when? They also said Saturn was going to as well.