Ford Says It Will Cull Lincoln Dealers (175)

[Roland99]

Source: Wall St. Journal

Ford Motor Co. plans to drop 175 dealers from its network of Lincoln retailers over the next two years in a bid to improve profitability for the remaining franchisees and strengthen the brand's competitive position in the luxury-car business.

The reductions will be aimed at major metropolitan markets where Lincoln dealers often compete as much with each other as with dealers selling other upscale makes. The move is part of a broader strategy by the auto maker to revive Lincoln, which has seen its sales decline steadily over the last decade.

Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, told reporters Tuesday that the company would start culling Lincoln dealers by offering voluntary buyouts in meetings with dealers over the next 100 days.

Roughly 1,200 dealers sell Lincoln vehicles across the country, three to four times as many as the number selling rival brands such as Lexus and BMW. Mr. Fields declined to say how many dealers would be targeted for closure, adding that they would be drawn from Lincoln's roughly 500 dealers in 130 major metropolitan regions as well as its nearly 700 dealers in more rural areas.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534103546993606.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[independent_voter]

1. it was stupid to kill Mercury

a smarter measure would have been to keep it, and move mercury into some ford dealerships. while trimming lincoln dealers

ford to lincoln is too all or nothing marketing wise

[asjr]

2. My daughter drives an 11-year-old Mercury

that just keeps on purring.

[asjr]

3. My daughter drives an 11-year-old Mercury

that just keeps on purring.

[asjr]

4. Sorry-- I stuttered

[independent_voter]

6. Edsel was created to elevate Lincoln

which was considered a peer of buick olds, not cadillac

it just was introduced too hasty, with poor quality and ugly design (although the 1960 was a good looking car, but ford killed it late 59) in a recession. and they overlapped prices with mercury

it was never a bad idea, and having nothing between ford and lincoln just makes that hole bigger

mercury could have been maintained as a 'super' of ford frames, and a thrifty of lincoln frames

[Warpy]

7. Not stupid at all, just a recognition of what has happened

as the customer base--the lower end of the middle class--has been shoved down a class into the working class.

[harmonicon]

9. oh, yeah, real stupid

Nothing makes more sense than making two of the exact same car apart from a few bits of trim (all of which requires different design teams, machining, etc.) and then having them compete against one another both in advertising and dealer infrastructure. With brilliant ideas like Ford/Mercury, it's a wonder that foreign car makers exist at all.

[Devil_Fish]

14. agree. My grandmother bought a Dodge Caravan/Christler Town and country...

Seriously, on the driver side it said Dodge Caravan, and on the passenger site it said Christler Town and Country. She took it back to the dealer and asked "Which one is it?" the dealer took a look at it and asked "which one do you want it to be?"

[saigon68]

17. lol

[Citizen Worker]

5. I think the proposed move by Ford is more the result of nearly 40 years of

declining wages. There simply aren't that many customers to support the sales network because of the rapidly disappearing prospective customer base. Higher wages, more customers. There's too much supply and not enough demand.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. When GM killed off a local Pontiac and Saturn dealer...

They re-opened about two months later, one as a Kia dealer and one as a Hyundai dealer.

Killing off dealers is really just giving your competitors a nice turn-key operation.

[Romulox]

10. People who shop for Hyundais wouldn't buy a GM

Hyundai and Kia mostly cannibalize sales from the low end of the Japanese marques.

[harmonicon]

11. that's just not true

off the top of my head, the makers of the last five cars that my parents bought or leased new:

Mazda
Ford
Hyundai
Saturn
Mercury

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. Funny, I know quite a few who did just that

Three people I work with all bought the new Sonata, replacing a Malibu, a Pontiac G5 and a Buick Regal.

[Romulox]

15. The new Sonata looks tacky and poorly made.

I imagine the sort of person that buys it isn't so much of a comparison shopper. :hi:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

18. and it is sodomizing the Fusion and Malibu

and in striking distance of over-taking the Accord,

Complacency thy name is Romulox...

[Romulox]

20. "sodomizing"? Really?

You're a crude person. :hi:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. perhaps I am crude, but do you dispute the sales of the Sonata?

Quite the accomplishment for a supposedly terrible car,

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

21. wrong message

[yellowcanine]

13. Did they actually use the word "cull"? As in cull cows? How sensitive of them.

[Romulox]

16. The people upthread would shit on an American worker for a nickel.

And you're worried about the sensitivities of Lincoln dealers? :shrug:

[yellowcanine]

19. Eh, not worried about Lincoln dealers, just think it is funny.

[independent_voter]

23. First they came for the Lincoln dealers, but i said nothing, for

I was a cadillac