The Lincoln Continental will return in production form and may be ushering in a return to conventional names for the brand's other vehicles.
When Lincoln rolled out the new Continental recently it not only suggested that Ford was serious about investing in the brand, but also the fact that they called it “Continental” suggested that the luxury brand may be reconsidering its MK nomenclature.
Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of The Americas, threw gasoline on the fire of speculation when he told a crowd that the company was happy with the response it got to the name.
“Without divulging the future,” Hinrichs said, according to Automotive News, “we’re very excited about the Continental name and the attention it’s gotten.”
This waffling comes less than a month after Lincoln President Kumar Galhotra stressed that it signals “no change” in strategy at the introduction of the Continental.
“The MK strategy,” he said, “is building equity. But the Continental and Navigator names have a lot of brand equity” and will be the only models” to use traditional names.
The Continental is slated to replace the MKS sedan, which was part of the original wave of MK vehicles, along with the MKZ, MKX, MKT and the recently introduced MKC. The reborn Continental is more up-market, in keeping with the traditional role the Continental played in the highline brand’s line-up.
Hinrichs addressed MK dilemma while at an auto industry breakfast hosted by the Dawda Mann law firm, conceding that the MK names can be tough to keep straight if you’re not a Lincoln employee.
(Lincoln goes head-to-head with Cadillac at New York Auto Show. For more, Click Here.)
“I get it,” Hinrichs said. “I know MKX and C and Z and T. I’ve studied them very well. I know them well, but we also understand the issue. It’s, frankly, where the auto industry – the premium industry – has gone, if you look at all the nameplates. But another way Lincoln could distinguish itself is to leverage its heritage. So I’ll leave it at that.”
(Click Here for more details about the Continental’s rebirth.)
Lincoln took some heat when it converted to the MK naming code in 2006, but the idea was actually based in the history of the brand. The idea is that consumers would call the MKZ the “Mark Z.”
(To see why Americans are happy to keep driving their own cars, Click Here.)
There is some simple tangible evidence that consumers prefer Lincolns with actual names: Navigator – Lincoln’s only vehicle with a name – sales are up 84% this year, while the rest of the line-up is down 7.2%.
Surely they didn’t really think people would call it “Mark Z” or “Mark C”. Lincoln has always had special cars with distinct names – my dad used to talk about the Lincoln Zephyr and it’s smooth V-12(?), and he loved his long-hooded Mark and his Town Car. I’ve got a friend who has a yard full of the old Continentals from just before WWII (parts cars for his Best of Show) and the people come and buy them even though they may have to cut down the tree growing through it. They need names.
Names for cars are fine but I doubt that Lincoln’s sales dilemma is the result of the models being named MK something. If you’re going to sell an upscale luxury model you need to deliver the proper product and customer service that the competition is delivering. That is the primary reason why Lincoln sales have dropped.
Car Guys, don’t run car Companies anymore. Thye don’t realize history, memories or status connected tothe automobile. When using a letter/numbering system, you have to be a real follower of that brand to understand the numbering system. Imports started it because they couldn’t come up with any clever names. The word “Continental” said everything you needed to hear about the Top-of-the-Line. Even the Mark III and beyond meant a revised classic. MK-whatever means you google what it looks like. But a word of Caution, you can’t just revise a “badge” and call it good.
Chevy had a “Nomad” Vega. Look at the Mercury Capri, and Import, and there is a Challenger out their that’s actually a Mitsubishi. But the insult of insults is that the “Malibu” is now a Camary knock-off.
Agree with all of the above. The marketing gurus at the time stated they were concerned people weren’t calling the vehicles Lincoln XYZ, just Navigator, Town Car, et al. Plus they also sold the idea of “if you want to go upmakret you have to use initials”. So they went with the MK-alphabet soup, starting with Mark Zephyr; throwing out that “Mark” in Lincoln was designated for their top-tier coupes. What was even more asinine was the last letter, what the heck does it mean?
What these folks didn’t realize is that it didn’t matter people weren’t calling the vehicles by their full name but that the people recognized the cars as Lincolns.