LOS ANGELES -- Lincoln has loaded its flagship MKS sedan and MKT full-sized crossover with lots of new technology in a freshening for 2013. But the first thing customers will notice is the latest versions of the vehicles don't have the waterfall grille anymore.
Though the new grille retains the same vertical bars, it has lost the in-your-face look that turned off some customers.
"The effort behind the new look was to change the proportion of the MKT from the front view. We helped make it feel wider and a bit less tall, less vertical," Max Wolff, Lincoln design director, said in a press release.
"The execution of the new MKT's grille and the grille bars is a lot more refined and elegant. The new front graphic displays a lot of three dimensionality, but it's accomplished in a calmer, more restrained way."
Wolff used similar words to describe the look of the 2013 MKS. The refreshed versions of both vehicles make their debut here at the Los Angeles Auto Show today.
 The 2013 MKS receives a new instrument panel and revised MyLincoln Touch. Photo credit: LINCOLN Prices edge up The base-level MKT will sell for $46,160, including an $875 destination charge, Lincoln said, up 2 percent from $45,175 on the 2012 model. The sticker on the entry-level MKS will be $43,685, including $875 destination, up 3 percent from $42,385 on the 2012 model. The two vehicles are just going into production and will go on sale at the beginning of the second quarter of next year. Lincoln executives hope the new look will help persuade customers to give Lincoln's two standard bearers serious consideration. Lincoln believes customers will find a lot of technology inside the vehicles that's competitive with that of import luxury brands. At the top of the list of new features is Continuously Controlled Damping, which monitors and adjusts suspension settings up to 500 times a second for improved ride and handling. The feature comes standard on the MKS and is offered with the top-of-the-line 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine on the MKT. |
 The updated 2013 Lincoln crossover. Photo credit: LINCOLN 'More relevant' to more consumers Both vehicles also get a system called Lincoln Drive Control, which allows drivers to change the car's on-road personality by switching the gear lever to Drive or Sport modes. The new systems will bring a "significant lift in overall vehicle dynamics," said C.J. O'Donnell, Lincoln group marketing manager, in an interview here. "We're out to make the Lincoln brand more relevant to more customers." The MKS and MKT also will come with the newly upgraded version of the MyLincoln Touch console control system. Many customers found the first generation of MyLincoln Touch to be balky, confusing and needlessly complex. Lincoln responded with an upgraded version of the system it says is simpler and more responsive. The new MyLincoln Touch will appear in a redesigned center console that will make a "big move away from very horizontal themes" that dominate in the current vehicles, Wolff said. With the departure of the Lincoln Town Car, which went out of production in August, Lincoln is introducing stretched versions of the MKT to cater to the limousine and livery market. Editor's note: Continuously Controlled Damping is offered with the top-of-the-line 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine on the Lincoln MKT. An earlier version of this story misstated the size of the engine. |