Lincoln just made a big move in a notoriously difficult market

Until a couple of years ago, you might not have thought about anything at all, so woeful was the condition of Ford's luxury brand.

But Lincoln is in the midst of a major comeback, copiously funded by Ford, with the goal of re-inventing the luxury brand, which has been around since 1917.

The automaker has been the talk of the New York Auto Show two years running, with a smashing Continental concept car in 2015 followed by a stunning Navigator concept in 2016.

Now the brand has undertaken one of its most brash moves to date by opening a sumptuous "Experience Center" at an upscale mall in Newport Beach.

Southern California has long been considered a rock-solid import market, where Toyota and Honda dominate the mass-market and BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, and Acura rule the luxury realm. If you aren't a contractor driving a Ford or Chevy pickup, you aren't supposed to be looking at an American car.

Not that it was always so. In the 1950s and '60s, Lincoln and Cadillac were huge in SoCal. But the 1970s and '80s changed all that.

Lincoln wants to restore that vanished glory. In the latest chapter of the comeback, the brand has authored what it's calling the "Lincoln Way," a unified set of services and values that it hopes will change hearts and minds. The Lincoln Way enhances and extends the brand's "Black Label" offering.

"In North America, Lincoln Black Label offers the ultimate expression of Lincoln style and substance," the automaker said in a statement. Lincoln Black Label provides personalized shopping with dedicated personnel

"The Lincoln Way builds off the success of Lincoln Black Label with outstanding levels of personalized, effortless solutions delivered with a human touch."