North-American automakers were probably the most interesting example of the badge-engineering strategy seen in the car world so far. Mostly until the 1990s, the Big Three were characterized for offering each one the same vehicles under multiple brands, with such little changes between one and other that made this strategy somewhat hard to comprehend. Such situation needed to change as quickly as possible when the 2008 crisis took place, but most results turned out very positive. One of them is this article’s car.
Chevrolet Lumina APV, Oldsmobile Silhouette and Pontiac Trans Sport were the first versions of GM’s attempt to sell “sporty minivans”, in the early 1990s. Besides logotypes and wheels, they differed basically on the front bumper (the grille was placed there to allow building only one hood) and minor visual items, such as particular coloring schemes. Chrysler worked even less with Neon, some years later: the sedan arrived as Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth without changing names or even using the second marque’s signature front grille. When it comes to Ford, the strategy used to be sharing the luxury models with Mercury and Lincoln, but this had to change after the first one was phased out. Ford took the opportunity to attract more customers by increasing the polarization between the main division and Lincoln. In other words, the luxury sister was reinvented in order to make tougher competition to the German Big Three but specially to Cadillac, which went itself through similar process a little earlier. Creating a whole new design language for Lincoln was important for giving it an image of its own, rather than leaving it known for offering more expensive Fords.
Cases like this restrict the differences to the “visible parts”, like both internal and external design. Such strategy turns highly recommendable because sharing powertrain and structure elements saves a lot of time and money of new projects’ development without affecting each car’s individuality. However, Ford managed to extend the sharing a little more, and succeeded only because it is the only other acceptable point: the new Lincolns give the same attractive “modernity feeling” as the new Fords do, but in a very different way. While those became more aggressive and sporty, the all-new MKZ makes a perfect example of its brand’s new “classy opulence”. Double-wing grille and small headlights are still there, for instance, but looking imponent without making the car remind a truck, like its previous phase. The car’s sides added those small third windows because the sportiness was left to its project-brother Fusion, freeing itself to escape from the traditional sedan silhouette: MKZ’s rear window was increased and so its aerodynamic efficiency – the latter improvement on around 10%, according to Lincoln. Besides, the rear fascia was so better-sculpted that there’s simply no comparison to the outgoing sedan’s. And by now you must’ve already figured this car’s interior offers lots of luxury in several ways.
The console became much more elegant, using fluid shapes to create visual connections between all the cabin’s sections. The infotainment system is called MyLincoln Touch and brings an 8” touchscreen as standard, which is paired to the 10.1” screen that works as the digital dashboard. The standard sound system uses eleven speakers, but the car can be upgraded with a 14-speaker, 700-watt, THX-II-certified system. Other important items are the large list of passive safety electronic controls and Lincoln Drive Control, which offers several options to adjust the vehicle’s behavior. Some of them were joined under Continuously Controlled Damping, which works based on three driving modes. And, as the equipment list’s gran finale, there’s an enormous retractable glass roof, which provides fascinating 15.2 square feet of sky with, according to Lincoln, the same structural rigidity as if it had a conventional steel roof. Opening the hood can reveal three different engines: the turbocharged EcoBoost 2.0L delivers 240 hp and 270 lb-ft, while the hybrid trim combines the electric unit to a four-cylinder gasoline 2.0L to achieve 188 hp. The only engine not shared with Fusion is the 3.7L V6, which gives 300 hp and 277 lb-ft. All versions will use FWD, with optional AWD for the gasoline options. These will only use a six-speed automatic gearbox, while the hybrid counts on a CVT transmission.
