Edmonds Inside line has a first drive of Lincolns new MKX and this is one of the things that they had to say…….
Now this bothers me, the fact that the MKX resembles is almost identical to the Ford Edge is not good news, This comes at a time when Ford really needs to establish separate brand identities for all its auto divisions and to have what will be key players in what’s a growing product segment be so close in appearance Isn’t the way to do it. Lincoln mentions that they bench marked Lexus in respect to certain things is a good start, but what they should have done is bench marked Toyota and one of the ways they could have started is by making the Ford and Lincoln versions of this platform share parts extensively but share no body panels and very little trim pieces, as Toyota does with the RX330 and it’s almost identical(under the skin) Toyota Highlander crossover.
To me this seems to be the way that Ford liked to do things in the past, the very same things that helped them lose market share.
As I’ve said before, Ford need to do things differently and even though it’s under pressure to make money and stem market share losses, they can’t go back to the old way of doing things.
Joe
It's not by accident that we have focused here on the front grilles of these two
new crossovers. Except for styling elements such as the grilles, these two
orbs are almost identical. They share the same unibody platform, a much
modified version of the Mazda 6 structure. Both are powered by the same 3.5-liter V6. Both send their substantial power through the same excellent six-speed automatic transmission. And both comfortably seat up to five passengers in a body
that's shorter than the Ford Fusion sedan. And, like many of us who frequent
the bar or the egg crate, they both could stand to lose some pounds.
Now this bothers me, the fact that the MKX resembles is almost identical to the Ford Edge is not good news, This comes at a time when Ford really needs to establish separate brand identities for all its auto divisions and to have what will be key players in what’s a growing product segment be so close in appearance Isn’t the way to do it. Lincoln mentions that they bench marked Lexus in respect to certain things is a good start, but what they should have done is bench marked Toyota and one of the ways they could have started is by making the Ford and Lincoln versions of this platform share parts extensively but share no body panels and very little trim pieces, as Toyota does with the RX330 and it’s almost identical(under the skin) Toyota Highlander crossover.
To me this seems to be the way that Ford liked to do things in the past, the very same things that helped them lose market share.
As I’ve said before, Ford need to do things differently and even though it’s under pressure to make money and stem market share losses, they can’t go back to the old way of doing things.
Joe
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