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GM design boss Welburn says Lincoln isn't a Cadillac rival [w/poll]

General Motors Vice President of Global Design, Ed Welburn, had some dismissive words for a certain cross-town luxury brand during an interview with Car and Driver. When asked about his thoughts on Lincoln, Welburn deflected, before saying, "I don't consider Lincoln to be a competitor for Cadillac."
"They're not a global luxury brand. I don't consider them a competitor. Are they a competitor for Buick? Quite possibly. But not for Cadillac," GM's head designer explained. Welburn, who's been at the helm of GM Design North America since 2003 and is the first to hold the position of VP of Global Design, has been instrumental in the styling renaissance at GM, so predictably, Car and Driver's interview with him focused on the design aspect of cars.
During the interview, Welburn explicitly denied plans for a reborn Cadillac XLR, even as a new Chevrolet Corvette is hitting the market and strides are being made with Cadillac's V-Series performance arm saying, "We have a lot of cars that we're working on for the Cadillac brand. The XLR is not one of them right now."

Here's our best look yet at the production Lincoln Continental

The team at Lincoln continues to strip off camouflage from the Continental in each new round of spy shots, and the latest set presents a luxury sedan that looks nearly ready for a debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January. This one doesn't even need a tow truck to get around. The production Continental takes the handsome concept's design and translates its cues to the road with tiny alterations. The rectangular, mesh grille doesn't shine with chrome on this one, but that would be an easy addition for the Detroit show. The LED headlights look nearly the same with running lights that sweep upward at the corners. The bottom of the lower fascia sees the biggest tweak the company drops the thick chrome strip in favor of a thinner lip. Lincoln doesn't put any camo on the pillars, so these shots provide a great view of the roofline in profile. Look carefully along the beltline and you can spot where the designers incorporated the high-mounted door handles from the concept. This minor styling touch greatly helps to clean up the lines along the side. The rear sees bigger changes from the concept. For example, these undisguised taillights share the same shape but now have more visible red in them. The production version also wears a fairly simple integrated exhaust rather than the more complicated design before. The Continental will reportedly be available with the Lincoln-exclusive 3.0-liter EcoBoost and front- or all-wheel drive. Unlike the MKS that it will replace, the model's production will likely occur at the Flat Rock, MI, factory. Related Video:

Ford patents a multi-touch version of its classic keypad

For decades, Ford has offered a keypad on the doors of their cars that would allow owners access with the right code. Amazingly, the keypad has survived almost unchanged except for a recent touch button version. A new patent from the Blue Oval shows the keypad may get a big upgrade soon. The first big change is that it looks like the keypad may move to the key fob. Although it might be possible to have it on the car itself as well, the patent only seems to focus on the key fob. In addition, the fob will now be a multi-touch pad similar to that of modern smartphones. This will allow for more diverse code entries, according to the patent's description. Instead of just a simple number code, owners could enter a code that involves swipes and keystrokes, and even simultaneous keystrokes. For instance, you could enter a code that requires swiping from 1 to 3, followed by holding 2 and 4 to unlock the car. The patent also seems to indicate that this keypad would then display unlock functions and other functions on the fob after the correct code is entered, thus making it more than just a way to unlock the car. As for the practical implications of this keypad system update, it could provide an added layer of security. If someone steals your keys, they would have to also know your access code to get into the car. Whether this would also help make the key and car harder to hack would remain to be seen, though. Another possible benefit could be the prevention of accidental lock and alarm button presses, although that likely isn't a common issue. There could be potential downsides as well. If used as an extra layer of security, the legitimate owner would have to punch in their code on the fob to get in, which would render proximity key benefits relatively useless. Moving the keypad to the fob would also mean owners couldn't get into their cars without having the key with them. We don't have any clues as to when this could become a feature, but it doesn't seem like it would be difficult to implement, so it could show up in the next few years. Related Video: News Source: United States Patent and Trademark OfficeImage Credit: Ford, United States Patent and Trademark Office / Ford Auto News Ford Lincoln Technology keyless entry