Auto Ideas
 

Ok the past few days ive been thinking of ideas to save Lincoln, and Jaguar. Anyone else got ideas to save a company they enjoy?


My Ideas for Lincoln. Do not go after bmw, or mercedes, attack Caddilac, and Infiniti. Build a new coupe based of the new Mustang platform, but with true IRS. It should be rear wheel drive, no jag v8, give it a slighty beefed up Mustang GT v8, so that it can actually compete. Market segment is aimed at the Infiti G35 Coupe, name it the Lincoln Continental, do not make it overly american big, make it fit into that sporty coupe image. Offer a 6 speed, and 6 speed auto. Rear Wheel drive, no front wheel i cannot stress that enough. Maybe if they market is right a year afterwords an AWD version could work.

Another idea, is to make the new town car the new meaning of the american luxury car. Update the styling so that the average buyer isnt 70. Make a sporty version of it with the 5.4 liter v8, and update the chasis, so to maybe the one that the XJ rides on. I feel that Lincoln should be Fords Sports luxury car division.

For jaguar, your not into the market well enough to compete with the BMws or Mercs, go after lexus here in america. While your doing this slowly build your prestige up, and your sportyness. maybe a new engine would help this, like a 3.2 liter Inline 6, not that V6 crap. if BMWs gonna be able to make 225 from their 2.5 you should be able to make atleast 250, 260 from a 3.2. The X-Type is selling well here now, keep that going, im glad they dumped FWD as standard. Make the S-Type look more agressive, and not so archaic. Offer a real v8 in their, maybe something of the 5.0 Cammer would work. Then when the germans arent looking, update the XJ to fight with the S-Class and 7 series. Push button start, paddle shift, but kinda like the DB9 tranny, with the option of automatic. Less cluttered console, would definately improve things. For the XK, i cant see anything wrong with this beauty, maybe an AWD varient, or a turbocharged varient, but if not up the engine displacement to a 5.0, or 4.6.

Anyone else got ideas for their companies?

good move tt :P

Re: Auto Ideas
 

I don't think much new inline 6 engines will be build in the future, they will be more and more replaced by V6's for safety reasons. For instance, the new Lexus GS drops it inline 6 and will have a V6 under the bonnet.

Personally I think the 4.2 V8 and 4.2 supercharged V8 have enough power. A bonecrushing 600 bhp S-type doesn't quite fit the Jaguar image, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong Jaguars may certainly be powerful, but they have to keep their smoothness. Keep also in mind this is a European brand that also has to be sold on the European soil. Overhere we do not really like big engines (it depends of the country), mostly due to financial reasons.

What's wrong with the J-gate? I like it better then those 'flappy' paddles or tiptronic etc stuff. With a J-gate you can also choose your preferred gear and the stick goes in the natural direction (changing up push backwards and changing down push forwards)


Why turbocharge it, if Jaguar already has a supercharged variant? This would cost too much.


Well if I was in charge of Jaguar some years ago, I wouldn't have introduced the X-type, or at least not that soon. Why? Because Jaguar has an exclusive image, more than BMW and Mercedes have. By downsizing fast this image will lose its appeal. So if I was in charge I wouldn't have invested in the X-type nor in diesel engines (maybe I'm very conservative here ;)), although I have to say the S-type 2.7d has a very smooth and quite engine. What I would have done with the money, was building the F-type on the S-type platform, so Jaguar again had a beautiful and very appealing roadster. And if the market is right, I would also introduce the R-coupe (on the XK-platform or better the new XJ-platform). But I’m not quite sure were to position this car: smaller than the XK or let it be the new XK generation?
With this strategy Jaguar would have enforced it image and appeal, so it wouldn't be that risky anymore to slowly introduce new things, like a X-type or diesel engines.

I dont really agree with your position on what lincoln should do. I think trying to just jump into the sporting coupe market against the G35 or the CTS would be a very bad move. Lincoln just isnt known as a sporting mark and its doesnt seem like a great time to jump into the mix with a "me-too" car especially when the G35 and even the RX-8 are such great cars. Lincoln should really stick to the luxery four-door sedan. I think adding a V8 and rwd would be kick ass, maybe go for a mercury maurader kinda thing.

For Jaguar its just come time for a full line redesign (I'm a poet and i didnt even know it). All their cars are riding on very outdated chassis and using outdated designs. Granted they look great but they just need that extra technological boost to get them up to the level of the Germans or Lexus and Infinity.

well considering Lincoln makes V8 RWD cars they are known as Town Cars which are the fancy older brother to the Marauder and Crown Vic you can get a Kenny Brown version that is very damn fast.

I think Jaguar is doing just fine as is they are huge smooth quiet fast sedans with more luxury than Merc and BMW, with a very classic look.

What about jaguars F1 team? Do you think they should keep it up as a good marketing exercise, or at the moment their poor performance is just embarrasing?

Maybe if they keep going at it, they will get better and start getting a name as a good sportscar manufacturer??

ok... you should have done a bit more research.

first: lincoln has the xj chassis :)
second: the 3.9 liter v8 in the lincoln is the same as what is in the jag
third: v6 are for pussies... so are inline 6's (or those who cant afford a v8)
fourth: the LS v8 is sporty, and accellerates well in the straights, and better then a 540 in the turns. if ford wants to make a great LS, then there is an eaton supercharger waiting thats in the XJR and such... 390hp doesnt suck, and nothing is wrong with superchargers. reportedly... Ford has been tickling with the idea of a turbocharged 3.9 liter v8 if there is a market for it. small chance right now, as ford focuses on the initial new line up all around.

another thing... the lincoln mark 8... as ugly as it was had the 4.6liter DOHC v8, and 150+mph

what should jag do differently? one thing... Reliability! although, it has been steadily increasing since ford got thier hands on the Brittish marquee... anybody who knows anything about six sigma, or FMEA will agree.
its fairly agreed that people who buy a jag do it for more then just 'beating a merc, or a beamer'

attacking cadillac head on?
ford marketing/engineering: " target sighted.... ready...... aim... oh damn, they beat us to it :oops: :shock:"

Jaguar has recently released the all aluminium XJ chassis and the XK has just gone through a facelift and I think its got enough power as it is. I think the X type was a good move to boost sales and it sells well over here, i see a lot of them around anyway but obviously they arent selling well in america otherwise they wouldnt be shutting down the coventry plant in the UK which is very very dissapointing. To be honest i dont know where jaguar have gone wrong, all their models seem to be competitive and have their advantages (as well as their disadvantages) over merc and bmw, loosing £200m in the first half of this year says different;y though. Although jaguar aren't the most reliable, they came ahead of mercedes who were way down the bottom in the TG survey.

If loosing their F1 team is what it takes to keep jaguar afloat then thats what they should do and their are rumours that ford are going to drop their WRC and jaguar F1 team to create one ford own branded F1 team.

Thats the problem though with ford. Instead of desigined a new more powerful engine, their answer is to just stick a supercharger on it and call it a day. Not alot of people like that whining noise.

Also when did Inline 6 and V6s become pussy cars? You might wanna tell that to all those Grand National owners, and the Supra owners, and the Skyline owners.

and the M3 and TVR owners.... ;)

yea i was just about to post the M3 and TVR ones. Also the Noble M12, and guys driving M-roadsters, and M-Coupes. Man all these people are so wrong.

i can't recal a single ford v6, or inline 6 with balls :P
yes, i love the m3, noble, and grand nationals.

also.... i Totally fail to see any problems with supercharging to get more power. less efficiency... but if you want 390hp... you dont care that much about efficiency

Because ford has these old 4.6 engines, its time to give those to jag or lincoln, and for ford to move on to bigger displacement. What happen to the days when ford had a 302, a 429, and everything inbetween. Also about the I6 thing, the original 64 1/2 stang had a straight 6? Also my new V6 i meant new displacement like a 3.5, because as it is now they are lacking with their family sedans in the power department. Maybe drop that new 4.0 in their cars, not as detuned as im sure it is in the stang.

I've to confess I don't know very much about American cars, but I thought the Lincoln Town Car and LS use a steel chassis (but I can be wrong). The XJ chassis is 'all' aluminium. Maybe they use the old XJ chassis?

It's a shame they want to close it. Jaguar’s heritage lies in Browns Lane, it's the epicenter of all Jaguar stuff. When they shut it down, it would be as a part of Jaguar's soul died.

The thing that went wrong, in my opinion, is the fact they invested to much in the X-type and diesel engines. Those to thinks are not that good for the image of Jaguar. It wouldn't harm much if the other models were very good? But the problem those days, were the aging XJ and XK, the not Jaguarish interior of the S-type. Those things are sort out now, except for the XK-series. They still look beautiful, but the car is aging. The cancellation of the F-type project wasn't also that good for Jaguars image.


I personally don't think Jaguar needs them. They have their own V8 engines, and they are quite modern and good.