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Originally Posted by focaljet-1
I think you mis-read my post. I don't think Cadillac is competing directly with BMW (yet) either, even though that's what they are trying to do. They are closer than ever, but just not there IMHO.
Lincoln and Cadillac use to go after the same customer. They still should.
And yes, if you are referring to the BLS, it has not sold well in Europe at all. Even with the diesel option.
"American" cars are a novelty in Europe. Sure, many people would "fancy" a Mustang over there, but that's a different crowd than the lux sedan buyer.
Cadillac is still not appealing to their taste. It's still a bit rough around the edges to them in terms of styling, driving dynamic and interior quality. You would only buy one to be "different" at this point.
The "Global" car concept has been tried many times and never quite seems to work. However, it looks as we are about to enter another round of it as manufacuturers try to find ways to cut cost.
Different countries value different things. China is where the future luxury car (hell, all car) growth is.
Buick is one of the top brands with affluent Chinese. Why not Lincoln or even Mercury?
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Well the issue is they dynamics of the auto industry changed allot since Cadi, and linc went right after each other. For one Ford has FAR more brands than it used to have and there is allot more competition from all the other companies. It is no longer just Ford, GM, Chrysler. Ford needs to pick brands to target competition on a global scale.
BMW, Mercedes etc… are all global brands, so to compete with them you need a global brand like Jaguar, Volvo, etc… It makes no sense to poor a tone of money into a Lincoln to make it a world class car, and then sell it only in the US in not enough volume to make your money back. If Lincoln, Cadillac are going to go after BMW, Mercedes they need to be sold globally. Cadi is trying to make their brand international to get the economics of scale, and ford is using brands that are already international to compete with BMW. They decided since Lincoln is really a US only brand after US tastes, it should go after the other US only luxury brands or primarily US brands, like Acura and Lexus. Outside of the US Acura and Lexus are almost non existent, but IN the US Lexus is the most successful luxury car brand.
Ford is left with the choice of either getting rid of brands and just going after the global market, or they need to have some global brands, but also have a few niche brands for each market.