Is Ford really this desperate?

Who’s all ready to line up and shell out 85 large on a P. Diddymobile? Wanting to blatantly court one segment of the market, in this case the Urban Market, is fine but do they really think a couple $85,000 DVD encrusted Navigators is the way to do that? I mean really, do they?

I don’t think so.

The problems with Lincoln’s image can’t be fixed by a few rappers singing about a Navigator instead of an Escalade. Lincoln as always been an also ran to Cadillac and the reason are real, performance, styling and not song titles that are at the root of this. Lincoln best days where in the ‘50s and ‘60s when they were being crushed in the market by Cadillac. In the ‘70s and ‘80s neither maker had much to brag about but in the ‘90s GM started to dust off Cadillac and move them in a positive direction. This has yet to happen over in Dearborn. Lincoln is still stuck in the last quarter of the 20th century, merely taking Fords, adding chrome, and asking a premium price.

The Towncar is a relic that sells to an ever shrinking pool of buyers. The LS is by far Ford’s best car but it’s styling is so subdued and dull you simply miss them on the road. Plus I am talking about the Urban Market here where styling counts for so much more and no matter how solid the mechanics are if it looks bland you’ll sell few. What says flash? A dowdy LS or a Caddy CTS fresh off its big screen photo op in The Matrix: Reloaded?

As for the trucks it’s a joke. Yes yes, the Escalade is based on the same platform as the Yukon/Suburban but it resembles them in no way. No one would confuse the massive edgy design of the Escalade for a Chevy. However if you take that big toothy grill off the nose of your Navigator or Aviator it’s a carbon copy of the Expedition and Explorer. The Lincolns represent the tried and outdate badge engineering of the past while the Cadillacs are the platform sharing of the future.

The Navigator is an inferior product and the market will bear that out no matter how many TV’s old P. Diddy loads in his ride.