Ford ’s Lincoln division — not Mercury — will receive a version of the upcoming Ford Flex crossover, a new report finds. The seven-passenger SUV was expected to be sold under the Mercury brand — in an effort to revive the slumping brand — but will be headed to the Lincoln division instead.
According to Car and Driver, the Flex will bow first — allowing it to build market share — with the Lincoln model following about a year after. No word on what the model will be called, although it will likely follow Lincoln’s MK naming structure.
At the Los Angeles Auto Show, Mark Fields, Ford president of the Americas, announced that Lincoln would take over as the volume leader of the Lincoln-Mercury franchise. “We won’t walk away from Mercury,†Fields said, but “we have higher aspirations for Lincoln.â€
Despite constant denials from Ford, it appears that the latest snub is just more proof that the Mercury brand is on its way out.
