Lincoln is promised a unique line

Lincoln vehicles will be dramatically different from Ford brand products, Ford Motor Co. executives said last week.

"The strategy isn't just new products, but full differentiation from the Ford brand in not only design but in technology," Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president of global product development, told a group of auto analysts at the Detroit auto show.

Kuzak said Lincoln vehicles will get some of their own powertrains.

Kuzak said Ford can tweak existing Ford platforms for Lincoln. For example, he said, consider Ford's power steering or chassis electronic control. "Imagine adding suspension control to that and what would happen to the platform if you did that on Lincoln only," he said.

Ford's plans for Lincoln products also include newly designed interiors, more V6s, and upgraded features such as paddle shifters and all-wheel drive, Scott Tobin, Lincoln's director of product development, told Automotive News.

But a rear-wheel-drive Lincoln is not in the plans, Tobin said.

It's unclear what will happen to the waterfall grille.

"I love the waterfall grille," Tobin said. "We'll continue to evolve the front end, though. It'll evolve."

Ford CEO Alan Mulally told auto analysts Ford won't make Lincoln a global brand any time soon.

"Our focus right now is in the United States because we have a lot of brand equity," Mulally said. "And we didn't tarnish the brand. We just didn't invest in it."

By Jamie LaReau- Automotive News