If you’ve been waiting for the all-new 2009 MKS with quiet patience, then the new Lincoln flagship is for you. This is a car all about refined luxury for the responsible types who want a little pampering and a little power—but it must be guilt-free.
For these ethical buyers, the MKS will debut with Ford’s new 3.7-liter V-6 under the hood and add a direct-injection turbocharged V-6 for 2010 to provide the power of a V-8 with the efficiency of a six. No storming the ramparts with nostril-flaring V-8s to sully the face of Lincoln. Responsible, remember?
Lincoln uses the 2007 L.A. auto show to break cover on the production MKS—we saw the MKS concept at the 2006 New York auto show (with a V-8, we might add).
Ford will start building the full-size luxury sedan at its Chicago plant next summer. Volume should be in the 40,000 range annually, with a starting price below $38,000. Orders are now being accepted.
On the style spectrum, the MKS lands between the Lincoln MKZ (formerly the Zephyr) and the sexy MKR concept that kept bringing us back to the Lincoln stand at the Detroit show in January to double-check that it was really wearing a Lincoln badge.
The look of the MKS—yes, we know the naming strategy is confusing, and we hope we don’t make a typo—is not excessive or ostentatious. That is by design, says Peter Horbury, executive director of design for the Americas, and he says it is in keeping with modern customers’ luxury demands.
But he says he also made a conscious attempt to resurrect cues from Lincolns of the past, without going retro.
The production MKS does not undergo much change from the concept, with one key exception: the front grille. Whereas the concept had a single grille similar to the one on the MKZ, the production model now sports a double-wing grille with a Lincoln badge nestled in the split. It is reminiscent of a 1941 Continental’s and the MKR concept’s, whose approval rating likely influenced the change.
“At the 11th hour, we changed the front,” Horbury tells us. “It’s the new face of Lincoln,” he says, noting it is always controversial when you change a front, as you can put brand identity at risk. We politely suggest the Lincoln identity can stand the upgrade.
The car is marked by clean, simple side lines and what someone described as “Volvo shoulders,” meaning more muscular and confident, but stopping short of being a bully. We see it, kinda. But we also don’t see a whole lot of risk taking in the body.
The interior continues the clean and simple theme to create a business-class experience, including premium leathers and wood trims, and class-leading room for passengers and cargo. The first prototype we saw had a classy two-tone black-and-cream color scheme, but the luxo sedan’s cabin will also be offered in black or light beige with gray. Fit and finish issues have been largely designed out; a piece of wood trim overlays the lid of the instrument panel where it meets the glove box, for example.
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