2007 Lincoln Town Car Designer Series With Lots Of Extra's Vogue Tires And More on 2040-cars

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Lincoln reveals the posh and powerful 2018 Navigator

If you were a fan of the Navigator concept from last year's New York show, we've got good news. The production Navigator looks just like it. Sure there are subtle changes. The gullwing doors are gone, but no one should be surprised by that. A side effect is that it has conventional chrome door handles, too. The lower grille in the front bumper is a tad different, and the rear taillights are a bit thicker, but the overall look has stayed the same. That includes the tall, regal grille with a mesh consisting of Lincoln badge outlines, the side vents on the fenders, and those beautiful, intricate turbine wheels. On the top-of-the-line Black Label models, the Navigator gets an illuminated badge that lights up with the puddle lights when the driver approaches. View 15 Photos Since the Navigator is based on the Ford Expedition, it's unsurprising that they're very similar mechanically. The Navigator has aluminum construction, and it's propelled by a version of the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 found in so many Ford products. However, the Navigator's engine makes an impressive 450 horsepower compared with the expected 375 horsepower from the Expedition. Those plush ponies goes through a 10-speed automatic transmission. Inside, the Navigator stays true to the concept, and most important, shares essentially nothing with the plebeian Expedition. Like in the concept, the dashboard is low and wide and features plenty of wood and leather. The instrument panel is a configurable 12-inch display, and to its right is an upright, floating touch screen for infotainment. The buttons for shifting hang off the trailing edge of the dashboard, where a gap opens between it and the center console. The console houses the climate control buttons, and rises to meet the dash. Aside from the luxurious dash, occupants are treated to the Continental's 30-way adjustable front seats, which are heated and cooled. The interior should be whisper quiet as well, thanks to laminated front and side glass. This should allow passengers to better enjoy the available 20-speaker Revel II sound system even more. Plenty of gizmos and tech are at the fingertips of Navigator drivers, too. One of the more unique tidbits of technology are the adaptive headlights. At low speeds, the headlight beam is very wide to illuminate objects or pedestrians on the sides of the road. However, at high speeds, the beam narrows to reduce glare from street signs.

Lincoln Navigator facelift only has to last until 2016 replacement

The Navigator is not only Lincoln's longest-serving nameplate - dating back to 1998 when the final Town Car was introduced - but it's also the oldest model still in the brand's portfolio. The current Navigator arrived on the market in 2007, and underwent a refresh just a few months ago for the 2015 model year. The updates were subtle, but if you're waiting for an all-new model, it's just a couple of years down the road.
According to Automotive News, Lincoln is already working on an all-new replacement for the current, long-serving Navigator, which will be revealed two years from now in the middle of 2016 as a 2017 model. At that point, we're expecting it could switch (alongside the Expedition) to the new aluminum architecture introduced on the Ford F-150, seeing as how the current model is based on the old F-150.
In the meantime, the refreshed Navigator ditches the big 5.4-liter Triton V8 in favor of a more economical 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, and wages war in two wheelbase lengths against the V8-powered competition in the form of the Cadillac Escalade (and Escalade ESV), the Land Cruiser-based Lexus LX and the Infiniti QX80, which is based on the overseas Nissan Patrol.

Dealers mobilize to protect their margins from automaker subscription services

Six individual auto brands — Lincoln, Cadillac, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo — have established or are trialing a vehicle subscription service in the U.S. Three third-party companies — Flexdrive, Clutch and Carma — run brand-agnostic subscription services. And three automakers — Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and General Motors — have also launched short-term rental services. Dealers, afraid of how these trends might affect their margins, are building political and lawmaking campaigns to protect their revenue streams. So far, three states are investigating automaker subscriptions, and Indiana has banned any such service until next year. It's certain that those three states are the first fronts in a long political and legal battle. Powerful dealer franchise laws mandate the existence of dealers and restrict how automakers are allowed to interact with customers to sell a vehicle. On top of that, Bob Reisner, CEO of Nassau Business Funding & Services, said, "Dealers and their associations are among the strongest political operators in many states. They as a group are difficult for state politicians to vote against." In California earlier this year, the state Assembly debated a bill with wide-ranging provisions to protect against what the California New Car Dealers Association called "inappropriate treatment of dealers by manufacturers." One of those provisions stipulated that subscription services need to go through dealers, but that item got stripped out when dealers and manufacturers agreed to discuss the matter further. In Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a moratorium on all subscription programs by dealers or manufacturers until May 1, 2019, to give legislators more time to investigate. Dealers in New Jersey have taken their campaign to the state capitol, asking that the cars in subscription programs get a different classification for registration purposes. Automakers run the current subscription services and own the vehicles. Sign-ups and financial transactions happen online or through apps, leaving dealers to do little more than act as fulfillment centers to various degrees, with little legal recourse as to compensation amounts when they're called on to deliver or service a car. That's a bad base to build on for business owners who've sunk millions of dollars into their operations.