Lincoln MKS Ecoboost Vs Quattroporte, XF

Remember Russell Crowe in Gladiator? There’s a scene towards the end of the movie where the wimpy and deranged emperor plans a gladiator style fight to the death in the Colosseum against big, beefy “commander of the armies of the north” Maximus, and in turn win over the people’s favor. Ordinarily, you’d have to be crazy to bet against Maximus, there’s no way in hell he could lose to a wimpy wannabe like the emperor. But we soon learn why the Emperor thinks he has a chance. Just before the fight, the Emperor visits a tied up Maximus and proceeds to mortally stab him in the side. Ahh, nothing like showing the world you truly can beat down a Roman General…. as long as he has a deep, blood gushing stab wound. Remember the scene? Apparently, Ford does too.

Ford has put together an ad campaign, 6versus8, where they pit the Lincoln MKS with an Ecoboost V6 against bigger V8-powered luxury competition like the E Class, 5 Series, Jaguar XF, and the… cough.. Maserati.. cough,cough… Quattroporte. A front-wheel drive V6 car against Europe’s finest. So how ever could a turbo-charged, but still wimpy, V6 beat big, beefy naturally-aspirated V8 engines? Run ‘em at 12,000 feet above sea level, that’s how.

Higher altitudes mean less oxygen, which means that normally-aspirated engines will literally be blue in the face gasping for air while turbo-charged engines will be able to cope better as they are not as sensitive to the decreased oxygen levels. Way to believe in your own product.

Apart from the whole unfairness of it all, the biggest problem is really bad marketing. Why not take on more direct competition, other luxury FWD V6 cars. Only the most misguided will equate the MKS with cars that are so much loftier, in both substance and style. Appealing to the lowest common denominator means that there is no real direction for the brand, the marketing, or the product.

And the sad thing is that Lincoln did have direction, and at one time it did have the cachet of far loftier brands. It could have it today with the right product. Below is the Lincoln Mk9 Concept from a few years back.