Urban drivers in the market for a Lincoln may have a bit more difficulty locating a seller, as Ford has cut nearly 20 percent of its metro Lincoln dealers over the past few months.

The move is not entirely unexpected, as the 500 dealers were reportedly told back in October that the automaker was looking to cut 175 of them. The closings are ostensibly to make the remaining Lincoln dealers stronger by reducing competition among themselves. Bloomberg reports that more than 100 dealers have already been cut, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Ford's trimming of the dealer network is part of a larger plan to bring the Lincoln brand back to prominence. Of Ford's many brands, Lincoln was the only one to survive the company's restructuring, as Mercury was discontinued and Jaguar and Volvo were sold off. Ford has repeatedly stated that it hopes to revitalize Lincoln with a new lineup of vehicles that will make it more competitive against other luxury automakers.

However, those plans have yet to come to fruition. Sales figures for 2011 so far show Lincoln down by approximately 11 percent, while the rest of the industry is enjoying a 20 percent spike in sales on average.

Drivers in the market for a Lincoln vehicle can still find both new and used cars for sale at New Jersey State Auto Auction.
 

JD Power has released the result of its annual dependability survey, and in a somewhat surprising turn of events, Ford's luxury Lincoln brand ended up on top.

Lincoln has never topped the survey over the 21 years its been run, but the marquee was able to edge past Lexus. JD Power reported that Lincoln owners tallied an average of 101 maintenance problems per 100 3-year-old vehicles, while Lexus had an average of 109.

Jaguar and Porsche grabbed third and fourth place, respectively. Toyota was rated as the most dependable non-luxury brand, with an average of 122 problems per 100 vehicles.

Overall, the industry turned in its best year ever for the survey, with automakers averaging 151 problems for every 100 vehicles. That was down from recent totals of 155 in 2010 and 167 in 2009.

"Automakers, as a whole, have made significant improvements in reducing traditional problems" the past several years, claims David Sargent, vice president of auto research for JD Power.

Still, while the industry is doing well, some companies were not up to par. The Chrysler group fared particularly poorly, with Ram trucks at 173 problems and Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep all over 200.

Those looking for a dependable vehicle at an affordable price may want to check out New Jersey State Auto Auction, which offers a variety of cars for sale at affordable prices. 

Ford has announced that it will be upping its production totals for the first three months of 2011 as it seeks to meet the rising demand for automobiles during the first few months of the year. However, the company is also looking to decrease its dealer network in major cities.

At the recent National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in San Francisco, Ford announced that it would be increasing production by 13 percent over the next three months, bringing the total number of shippable units up to 555,000. There was more good news for dealers, as Ford announced that more than 80 percent of its dealers were profitable again, a drastic turnaround from the depths of the recession.

However, it wasn't all good news. In order to revive its flailing Lincoln luxury brand, the automaker said that it would be looking to trim nearly 100 Lincoln dealerships in major metropolitan areas, bringing the total number down from 434 to 325. Ford claims that competing dealers in the same area are cannibalizing sales and reducing profits for each other.

"If we don't get the throughput in the major metro markets right-sized, then the transformation of Lincoln is going…to need a different plan," Ford marketing chief Jim Farley told Reuters. "This transformation is going to hinge on several things working including the (dealer) network."

While Ford has engineered a massive turnaround for its core brand throughout 2010, its luxury Lincoln marquee has lagged behind for the most part.

If Ford executives have their way, however, that won't be true for long. At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Derrick Kuzak, Ford's global vice president of product development, outlined the big changes that Ford has for the struggling luxury line.

"The strategy isn't just new products, but full differentiation from the Ford brand in not only design, but in technology," he said.

Until now, Lincoln products have been slightly upgraded versions of existing Ford vehicles. But the new outlook for the brand is to develop models that will be based off of Ford platforms, but vastly different in all other areas. Examples include significant performance upgrades, entirely new sheet metal, high-end technology on the interior and in some cases, unique engines.

According to USA Today, Ford CEO Alan Mulally further told a group of reporters that the naming conventions for Lincoln vehicles were also under consideration, and that the automaker may move away from the "MK" style seen on recent vehicles.

After ending the Mercury brand, Ford is currently in the process of reviving the Lincoln luxury line, and plans to take aim at one of the best-selling market segments by introducing a compact luxury SUV.

The unnamed Lincoln model is said to be smaller than the company's MKX and designed to compete with the top-selling Lexus RX, according to the Detroit Free Press.

"Our commitment to Lincoln is to reinvent it," Ford VP of Marketing Ken Czubay told the news source. "We will have seven major new products or redesigns over the next two years."

The new model is set to be built at the company's Louisville production facility, which currently makes the Ford Escape and Explorer. The new Lincoln is expected to eventually take the slot of the Explorer, which will cease production on December 13th.

Lincoln has struggled lately despite Ford's renewed vigor for the brand. In fact, Mercury, which Ford chose to axe in favor of Lincoln, has actually outsold the brand thus far this year.

Drivers in the market for a luxury vehicle may want to check a used car dealership, as they might be able to get the typically-expensive models at an affordable price.