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.