1940 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet Convertible Midnight Blue Metallic Rare on 2040-cars

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Genesis cars win accolades, offer value — so why are sales so bad?

My high-school buddy Brent Cormier was so smitten with the Genesis G80 when he saw it at an event I hosted at SXSW in 2016 he bought a used 2013 Hyundai Genesis a short time later and fell in love with the car. "It surpasses my every expectation," said Cormier, a self-described "renaissance man" who owns and runs a real estate agency with his wife Laura, is a food service executive chef and part owner of Austin-based Thin the Herd Guitars. "I was locked into Mercedes and Audi for 10 years," he added. "And felt trapped in an endless pit of maintenance costs." After owning the Genesis over the past two years — including using it as an Uber and Lyft driver to earn extra cash — Cormier learned what some frugal luxury sedan buyers and a handful of car reviewers have discovered: Genesis offers great bang for the buck compared to other premium brands and can compete with the best in terms of performance, features and comfort. Hyundai's luxury brand also earned a prominent third-party endorsement last week when for the first time Genesis topped J.D. Power's 2018 APEAL study, surpassing German luxury-performance icon Porsche. The APEAL study (which stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) "measures owners' emotional attachment and level of excitement across 77 attributes," ranging from performance to comfort, and asks nearly 68,000 owners of new 2018 models to score vehicles on a 1,000-point scale. In its second year ranked as a stand-alone brand, Genesis earned an APEAL score that bumped it up 15 points to 884 and helped push it past Porsche — and past BMW, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Land Rover and Lexus, in order of ranking. Last month, Genesis also topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time this year. And both its models were awarded Top Safety Pick Plus ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, among 11 Plus ratings in all for Korean vehicles. Despite high J.D. Power rankings and great reviews, Genesis U.S. sales were off 50 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, and in June Genesis sold only 796 vehicles — the first time U.S. numbers dropped below 1,000 in a month. Part of Genesis's APEAL and IQS success can be attributed to its small product lineup: just two models, the G80 and G90 sedans, with a third, the 2019 G70, launching later this year. And while those numbers may help in J.D.

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:

Lincoln unveils its Black Label Collection at Pebble Beach

With the posh surroundings of Monterey, CA during the Pebble Beach week as a backdrop, Lincoln has unveiled is new personalization and luxury service brand, called Lincoln Black Label. Following in the footsteps of programs like BMW Individual, Range Rover Autobiography, and many more, Black Label is strategic strike, aimed at upping Lincoln's brand cachet while luring new customers into the fold. Speaking about this at the Black Label's introduction in California Thursday, Jim Farley, Ford's executive vice president of Global Marketing, Sales and Service and Lincoln, told members of the media that "At Lincoln, our flagship is, you get to choose. That's our flagship."
While Black Label customers will benefit from concierge-like service from their dealers - both during the sale process and throughout ownership - the focus of the introduction is strongly focused on interior design.
Lincoln chose its current MKZ sedan and its MKC Concept crossover (seen in the inset image) as the debutants for Black Label treatment for good reason: the well-received MKC points the way forward for Lincoln styling as a whole, and the MKZ will be the first production vehicle to receive the option of the high-zoot interior design. We're told that eventually, Black Label treatment will be available for the full Lincoln lineup, but the MKZ will be the initial recipient, and not until late in 2014 according to the company's current projections.