Lots of professional automotive writers do road tests for various magazines. I certainly don't want to steal anyone's thunder but I've been doing a little road testing myself. I was recently given a new Lincoln LS for a week to road test for a California-based car club publication.
I had a good time with the car - the LS had a lot of good features - but what I want to concentrate on here are the marketing and positioning aspects of the Lincoln LS brand - things which you can apply to your business.
The stated purpose of the LS is to get 40-somethings to become Lincoln buyers. Lincoln wants to lure them away from the siren song of those sporty, status-building imports like Lexus, Mercedes, Audi and BMW. This younger buyer strategy is important for Lincoln's long-term survival as a brand. In 1999, the average age of the Lincoln buyer was 63 years old, compared with 52 for Mercedes and Lexus and 44 for BMW. In 1999, Lincoln sold about 176,000 cars but was outsold by Mercedes, Lexus and Cadillac. In the early 1950s, marketing a luxury car was easy - the entire Lincoln line competed with three or four other brands for the customer's dollar. Today, a single Lincoln model - the LS sedan - has 15 direct competitors in the "near-luxury" segment. And, because the competition is plentiful, tough and focused, the LS needs to be world-class-with-no-excuses if it wants a significant share of this market.
The Lincoln LS has gotten some very good reviews in the automotive press. Despite the favorable reviews, there's very little buzz about this car on the street. Many of the people I talked with didn't know much, if anything, about this Lincoln model - particularly those in their 30s and 40s. This is not good news for Lincoln - they need to do more focused promotion to get the word out about this car to their target market.
The Lincoln LS has some great features - it handles beautifully, the engine is very responsive and the seats and driving position are very comfortable. But it has four shortcomings which make it less-than-competitive in its target market:
1. It's bland-looking. Up close, the LS has some wonderful design cues which make it look muscular and purposeful. Step back and they fade and become invisible, making it look boring and anonymous. And the LS's rear-end looks like every other Mercedes-wanna-be knock-off. The LS needs to make a strong visual statement as it comes at you on a two-lane road. Or as it passes you on a freeway. It doesn't do either.
2. It has some cheesy detailing. If Ford paid Mattel Toys more than 23¢ to injection mold that hideous plastic grille, they were robbed. The door pockets scream 'low quality'. The wood trim on the LS is real burled walnut but half the people who looked thought it was cheap plastic. The tailpipes were tiny and had no fat, ominous-looking chrome tips like their competition. And the engine sounds wimpy - no V-8 burble, just a whine. World-class cars are world-class down to the last detail. This one isn't.
3. Where's the space? The low windshield, slope of the side windows and thick pillars (a 15-inch blind spot from the front windshield base to the side window) induce claustrophobia. The targeted potential customer typically uses his/her car as an office - and needs lots of storage. This car has almost none - the center console won't even hold a cell phone. The cupholders are for demitasse only. These and other interior design details are stupid and maddening.
4. It's a Lincoln. Several people remarked that they wouldn't consider this car because it's a Lincoln. Those who had never owned a Lincoln said that a BMW or Lexus conferred more status. Four people who own or owned Lincolns were weary of quality/service problems and poor treatment from dealers. Recently, Ford announced that 50% of executive bonuses would be tied to customer satisfaction; this, at least, indicates that they are aware of the problem.
The LS is currently selling briskly. But new Lincoln models always sell well in the first year. The consensus of dealer salespeople I contacted was that two kinds of people were buying LSs. The first were older people in their 60s who were trading big Lincolns for something smaller. The second group were younger buyers who either were moving up from a Mercury Sable. Not exactly the market Lincoln targeted.
The Lincoln LS is a very promising car but to improve market penetration and sustain sales over the longer term, the LS needs to be world-class-with-no-excuses - and it's not. The car needs $15-$25 per unit added to the materials budget to be less cheesy. The interior needs to look more spacious. Storage space should be increased. Design details need to be refined. The exterior styling must be more distinctive. Those dealers who can't or won't provide world-class customer service need to be repaired or replaced. And Lincoln needs to create a positive brand-buzz - if Lexus, Starbucks, Range Rover and Nordstrom's can do it, so can Lincoln.
The coments here can apply to your business, too. Your competition is smarter and much more focused than it was, say, 10 years ago. You must continue to change and evolve to provide world-class excellence in an ever-more-crowded marketplace.
Ten years ago - the Lincoln LS would have been hailed as one of the best cars in the world - but in today's tough world, it's just another contender. Don't let the same thing happen to your product or service.
Update (August 2005): Ford Motor Co. announced that production of the Lincoln LS would end with the 2006 model year. The LS never struck a chord with consumers, who saw it as neither sporty enough nor luxurious enough to compete with BMWs or other premium brands, according to Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com. "There was always a question of what exactly the car was supposed to be. It never seemed to have a real strong identity one way or the other."
Sales last year fell 20% to 28,000 and are down 18% so far in 2005, despite large sales incentives. Recently, new Lincoln LS models have been selling at a $7,500 discount from sticker price. In its debut year (2000), more than 50,000 Lincoln LSs were sold. (source - Detroit Free Press)
