Detroit: Ford Motor Co is developing a flagship, large sedan that harkens back to the Continental as part of its effort to overhaul the lagging Lincoln brand, two dealers briefed on the plans said on Monday.
Ford executives began meeting with about 900 representatives of 700 of its US Lincoln dealerships at its Dearborn, Michigan headquarters on Monday.
The meeting is part of an effort by Ford to revamp its Lincoln brand and make it a competitor with luxury market leaders like Volkswagen AG's Audi and Mercedes by Daimler AG.
Under the plan to remake Lincoln, Ford has said it will roll out seven new or redesigned vehicles starting with the recently released 2011 MKX crossover.
The No. 2 US automaker has not disclosed details about the other six products in the Lincoln pipeline or the timing of their release.
Concept stage
Ford spokesman Christian Bokich said dealers at Monday's meeting had been shown concept-stage images of some of the upcoming vehicles without discussion of details such as the size or the names of the vehicles under development.
Steve Kain, general manager of a Ford and Lincoln dealer in London, Kentucky, who was briefed on Monday's meeting, said he supported the idea of bringing back a Continental-inspired sedan.
"It's about revitalising the whole Lincoln franchise," said Kain. "It's no different when Ford did away with the Ford Taurus for a year and a half.
They refreshed the veh-icles and it's been a great seller since then."
