DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- As Ford Motor Co. makes its boldest bid yet to lure younger buyers to its laggard Lincoln line, incoming CEO Mark Fields has a chance to show he has the turnaround touch of predecessor Alan Mulally.
Lincoln, with U.S. sales down 65 percent from a 1990 peak, is such a big money loser for Ford that Mulally suggested killing it last year, according to two people familiar with the internal discussions. COO Fields, who will become CEO on Tuesday when Mulally retires, convinced his boss that Lincoln was worth saving, to give Ford buyers a luxury brand to move up to when they’re ready to spend more, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Now Lincoln, known mostly for Town Cars ferrying business travelers to the airport, is going after young strivers with the MKC, a small SUV starting at $33,995, the lowest price among compact luxury SUVs. And Fields -- who has upscale experience from managing the European luxury lines Ford sold -- can demonstrate whether he can make good on the promise he sees in Lincoln.
“Our team is so enthused about Mark becoming CEO,” Matt VanDyke, director of global Lincoln, said in an interview. “Mark really understands and has instilled in all of us the strategic importance of the luxury business. It’s a small part of industry sales relatively, 8 percent and growing, but the contribution to the overall bottom line is a much higher percentage.”