BORG

Just to reinforce that this is a speculative rendering, it has not been revealed.

I got to spend time with a Continental today with a 2.7L EB, my MKX was getting an oil change. This was a loaded model but without the "Ultimate Package", it did have the 30-way seats. As a former MKS owner and LONG time MKX leaser, the first thing that shocked me is how low the car sits, but there is plenty of shoulder and headroom and the seats go very low. It fits me well because I have long legs, something that tends to cause all sorts of issues for me in other Fords. It feels substantially roomier than MKZ even with similar dimensions, because of the boxier roof. It's a nice fit but so so low. The interior is on par with my MKX, similar materials, colors, leathers, etc. Black Label is really needed to make this car feel next-level and not just another Lincoln. I do prefer the MKX interior for it's smoother surfacing and less chunky plastic bits. The top of the dashboard center is more of an eyesore than I expected, it just looks way out of place and unfinished. This is also my first encounter with the new stalks and they look a little nicer, although they mostly feel the same in operation. The new switchgear on the console is a big improvement and easier to use. That's the most welcome design change. The Instrument panel is nice but the coloring is a hard one to love, it's easy on the eyes but so dull. The car drives almost exactly like my MKX but with a slightly wider/flatter feel. It feels compliant and handles corners nice and flat. It's quiet like my MKX but tends to produce more 'tire echo', the engine note is quieter in the Continental. The seats are a little disappointing to me because they feel so flat, the adjustments are great but I still need more thigh support and the extensions flex and move and are not solid like they are in my MKX, they are essentially useless to me since they don't offer proper support. The e-latch doors are interesting, but I honestly prefer the smooth quiet sound of a mechanical latch instead of the 'ca-chunk' latching noises. I do like the soft close feature however, but in practice it's not really needed with the latest Ford latches which are nicely calibrated for a soft and solid close (at least on my MKX). Overall its not really the car for me and I still think Lincoln needs to work on polishing some of these features. The MKX remains my Lincoln of choice for sure. Also got to spend a moment in the new MKZ and I also feel more comfortable with that interior's smoother design but it's definitely not as upscale as the MKX or Continental.

If she has push button start, she should also know that there is a slot in the center console for the keyfob so the car can detect it and allow you to start it when the fob battery is dead. This varies by cars so read the manual.

One of the industry reports suggest that Taurus has been pushed out all the way to 2023. It's also being suggested that CD6 remains a very distant project and Explorer may remain on D4 instead of moving to an all-new product well beyond 2020. If that is the case, it might make sense to keep some of these products around that long despite their age, especially since Ford is growing their fleet business once again.

There are many examples of this happening in automotive history, remember the period known as the "Great Dying" in Detroit when Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Mercury etc. dropped dead along with many freshly minted mass market products. Ford also dropped the Taurus when it sold far more vehicles than their replacements ever would. This is hardly anything spectacular compared to what we've seen in very recent history. Ford has had a ton of underachieving products that they held onto regardless, 500/Freestyle/TaurusX/Flex/MKT/Taurus were all huge sales disappointments, but it's a company that can absorb those costs better than FCA. FCA is discontinuing those products but replacing them with more profitable volume from other segments. This isn't a bad idea considering FCA sells more SUV and Crossovers than Ford which is shrinking more quickly because of their unbalanced portfolio. Make no mistake, Ford has some big decisions to make here soon and they are already warning that they are about to start pulling products and shifting gears. I actually believe FCA is doing the right thing for it's business, leverage your best assets and get away from the saturated/diminishing segments.

Care to compare those dimensions now?

I think the Lincoln Blackwood is widely considered the biggest flop in US automotive history since it lasted less than a year.

The Ranger is the smallest and heaviest of the midsize Trucks, it's a product that just doesn't compete if you look at the data. Just because it's smaller doesn't mean it's cheaper or more efficient. The Ranger needs a significant amount of investment and re-engineering and I'm curious to see what they settle on because my guess is they are reluctant to spend money on it.

BTW, If you compare the Chevy Blazer to the Acadia, it is apparent that the Chevy added length to the rear door indicating this is a few inches longer in the middle. That definitely put in Explorer territory.

All the good stuff at Chrysler (Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300 et. al) is thanks entirely to a company that no longer owns it.

The 3-Row Crossover is not exactly a boom segment, even Lexus doesn't have one. Sure they have large SUVs that do the job but Navigator is here for those who have deep pockets and/or need comfortable space. But I know as a Lincoln owner I want something larger than MKX just for the space and height, not necessarily for the raw utility. The MKT had one MCE in 2013, the 2017 grille insert is really nothing at all. That's like saying the new deckled on the 2015 MKS was an MCE. I'm not sure why Lincoln continues to sell and produce the MKT, especially since it's mostly a fleet vehicle at this point and is poised to sell less than 100 a month. It must be profitable or they are trying to pay the bills on that investment. The same goes for the Flex which is cheaper than Explorer and can't be turning much profit. The thing about the car business is that some of this is just plant welfare.

I the NG Wrangler Aluminum?

The Acadia Denali is actually cheaper than the Explorer Platinum so you have to keep that in mind when judging the interior. I definitely prefer the interior design of the Platinum although Explorer in general needs to improve interior material quality. Generally speaking I think the Acadia is ugly, from it's proportions to the nonsense design. I just want Ford to buy Jeep and sell me the Grand Cherokee. That is design perfection and nobody else can manage to do something seemingly so simple. NG Jeep Compass is another fantastic design.

GM's scattered production seems to enable their staggered platforms. Ford's production is so tight they typically can't keep too many aging platforms around, although it's happening now with cars like the D3 Taurus and CD4 Continental...but even in that situation it makes sense because of the products they are built with. Caddy seems to be torn between what they want to be and what they can actually sell...and suddenly they are reluctant to just be what they want to be and ignore their customers...which is probably a good thing. I'm still surprised by how well CT6 is dong, I did not think they could sell such an expensive sedan that looks like every other Caddy. I think what it really reveals is that Caddy's customers are willing to spend so they need to focus on advancing that further. Lincoln Continental likely has the potential to push up a few more notches with each generation. The only concern I have about Continental is that it's really a brand within a brand, like Navigator, the Lincoln brand alone doesn't have the same value. That's not the case with CT6.

GM sells 4x as many large SUVs.

Chevy's Midsize Crossover is going to be 3-rows so it's almost certainly a version of the Acadia. I don't believe Chevy has any plans to directly target the Edge which is a segment mostly migrating to the luxury space and not growing outside of that. The Blazer's biggest target is probably Explorer. Explorer is bigger on the outside but the same on the inside as Acadia, around 79/80 cubic feet. Any SUV with a frame gives up a significant amount of interior space unless you make the entire vehicle much bigger, so Bronco certainly isn't relatable. Don't pay attention to the "Blazer" name.

Cascada came out in 2012, they just began selling it here. I would not look for a predictable pattern from Buick most of all.

Of course they will sell the Regal Wagon in the US, this is Buick! The same company that is also selling the Cascada. I think all wagons are pretty damn hideous, this one is no exception. But the new Insignia is mighty fine looking, I think they finally have a design language I like while Lincoln has turned into the old Buick I hate.

YouTube is full of videos of people breaking their Raptors or crashing Mustangs, these products just attract those sort of dipshits.

The Expedition and Navigator are related to the F-Series but they are not the same and are on a unique platform and in a separate program. They are funded separately so there is no co-development going on with the F-Series. Re-vamping the Expedition still comes down approving, budgeting, and developing on it's own merits and is not rolled into the F-Series program like it is at GM. This actually has been the case since 2003 when the Expedition completely split off. That's why I'm somewhat surprised Ford took the higher cost route of keeping the Expedition around as a unique program instead of going GM's route, but that does make the Expedition/Navigator a vastly more sophisticated and respectable product.

They aren't building a new plant to suddenly cancel their plans because they still need the capacity for adding products. He's really just talking about other business headwinds and how changing them can help their business, and theoretically keep jobs in the US. This is just Fields leveraging against regulations.

I'm mostly indifferent to the Lincoln grille, it's probably my least favorite design from them in decades but I think it should act less as a barrier to the brand for most people. I'm looking for something a little more distinct and progressive but I understand Lincoln is focusing primarily on evoking a sense of traditional sedate luxury. Ford has a very distinctive look but it has to be polarizing, in some designs it looks great like the Fusion, in others it looks incredibly bad like the Fiesta. I'm curious to see where they go from here with it, I assume they'll likely ditch it altogether like the 3-bar grille. Ford does like to create very distinctive fascias more than anybody outside of the luxury car world, which can be a blessing and a curse. I do think Ford has to figure out a better design language for their Crossovers fascias, especially Escape, Edge, and the GOD AWFUL EcoSport (candidate for ugliest car in America). The Explorer is done well.

Ford has some unfortunate timing with the new Full-Size utilities however, it's very likely that the market softening is going to be accelerated by rising gas prices which is going to effect that car the most. And as has been pointed out, Ford has limited capacity for Expedition, it can't compete on volume anyway. But considering the lifespan of the last Expedition, it's very likely this is the last major redesign for 12+ years so this product doesn't have to perform in the short-term since margins are high anyway. As for GM, I think Chevy is the one worth watching just because they are very rapidly transforming and expanding their portfolio in the most aggressive timeline I have ever seen from any carmaker and they've been able to do it with minimal disruption. They certainly have an opportunity for significant growth while Ford is suffering more headwinds with aging small car products, no SUV capacity, and lack of product diversity. Ford still has room to continuing shifting its sales to F-Series with the new Super Duty.

I think people are expecting Ranger much sooner because of MAP's schedule, but Ranger is actually into 2020 MY and Bronco beyond that (which it always has been).

Lincoln's badge is difficult to work into a design which is why you never see it on the back of a Lincoln and they've struggled with a distinctive fascia that works with it (as did Oldsmobile and Pontiac). I do think the new fascias and grille do a fairly good job bringing a huge amount of visual attention to it's logo which is an important part of fixing it's anonymity. In some ways it's a little like Audi and Mercedes where the badge is a fundamental part of the fascia design, not just the shape of the grille (as it is on BMW). But of course that means you need allot of verticality to scale the Lincoln badge which really ties your hands a bit on design with a shield grille.