Mercedes-Benz | San Francisco Travel Blog

Ford Plans Fiery Makeover of Lincoln Brand

By San Francisco Limousine Specialist on December 8, 2012

Sales of Ford Motor Company’s luxury Lincoln brand have declined 63 percent since sales peaked in 1990. The Lincoln Town Car, the brand’s flagship sedan and a staple of airport and business transportation for many years, has been crowded out by competition from Lexus, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other luxury automakers. Tired of losing sales and market share, Lincoln’s brand managers are about to unveil a new marketing campaign that involves a most unusual angle – setting a Lincoln Town Car on fire. The new campaign is slated to begin in late December with a television commercial that opens with a Town Car being engulfed in flames and the new MKZ sedan emerging from the flames.

You don’t have to be a film director to see the symbolism at work here. Lincoln’s marketing department is looking to distance the sleek new MKZ and MKX models from the past, and they are doing so in unmistakable fashion. An earlier version of the ad involving a voiceover by Leonardo DiCaprio with him at the wheel of a MKZ was greeted enthusiastically by Ford staffers but flatly rejected by Lincoln chief Jim Farley.

“It’s not going to break through,” Farley said. “Find me something that’s going to break through. The tricky part is getting noticed. You don’t have much time because you haven’t earned the right to be in people’s minds.”

Sales demographics indicated that over one in three Lincoln owners is 65 years of age or older. Farley and his staff are clearly going after younger buyers in the highly desirable 40- to 60-year-old age group. Lincoln also plans to air their first Super Bowl ad next year, as well as other ads including an actor posing as Abraham Lincoln, footage of Dean Martin and Clark Gable leaning against the fenders of an MKZ and other commercials to increase brand awareness and attract new buyers.

From our perspective, this is great news. While we love the Lincoln Town Cars in our fleet of luxury vehicles, particularly for our San Francisco airport transportation and business clients, we are excited to see what Lincoln’s designers and brand managers have up their sleeves for the new models. Like all of our other luxury vehicles, our Lincolns are immaculately clean, roomy, comfortable and very affordable. So, the next time you need clean, comfortable San Francisco airport transportation, business transportation or any of our Bay Area limousine rentals, just give us a call at NLS Limo at 800-339-8936.

Mercedes Announces Plans to Retire Maybach Brand

By San Francisco Limousine Specialist on August 29, 2012

Mercedes-Benz, the legendary automaker now owned by conglomerate Daimler AG, recently announced that they are accelerating their plans to phase out and retire the Maybach brand due to disappointing sales. Mercedes initially announced their plans to retire the ultra-luxurious Maybach brand in 2013, but the Maybach 57 and 63 models have already been discontinued, and Mercedes has stopped taking new orders for them.

Few except serious car lovers and collectors remember the previous Maybach brand. Maybach Manufaktur was a luxury automaker based in Stuttgart that was started by Wilhelm Maybach in the early 1900s. They crafted custom automobiles for wealthy European clients until World War II, when production shifted to making motors for airships and rail cars. After the war, the brand languished until Mercedes revived it in the early 2000s in response to other ultra-luxury brands owned by rivals BMW (Rolls-Royce) and Volkswagen AG (Bentley.) However, despite sales forecasts that promised steady growth, Maybach models never sold in the volume Mercedes needed to sustain production, and now the proud Maybach brand will be retired again. Mercedes plans to add a stretch version of their ultra-luxury S-Class sedans to fill that niche.

We are saddened to hear that there will be no more new Maybach models. Regular readers of our blog know how much we love cars of all kinds, especially high-end luxury cars, and the sleek, graceful lines of Maybach automobiles are a treat for the eyes. We don’t have any Maybachs in our fleet of San Francisco luxury car rentals, but we do have some very comfortable and respectable alternatives:

• Mercedes S500 Luxury Sedans
• Executive L Model Lincoln Town Car Sedans
• Vintage Rolls-Royce Limousines (including a convertible!)
• Stretch Limousines
• SUV Limos
• Other luxury options

If you’re looking for luxury car rentals in the Bay Area, we have a lot to offer, and each is available at surprisingly affordable rates. Our superb staff of mechanics lovingly maintains each model, and they are all immaculately clean inside and out. So, the next time you need a San Francisco luxury car rental for a day or a week or even longer, just give us a call at NLS Limo at 800-339-8936 to make a reservation!