Lincoln out to script new chapter with MKZ

Dubai: Short of offering a driverless riding, the all— new Lincoln MKZ seems to have on board all of the enabling technologies that today’s demanding driver would want to have at his fingertips. And some of these tech features could even be just as cutting—edge tomorrow.

In short, Ford’s prestige car division has thrown in all the bells—and—whistles into the MKZ, the first model to come out of the Lincoln Design Studio. The sedan, sporting a 3.7—litre V6 and in a price band of Dh149,000—Dh195,000, is also be the vanguard of the carmaker’s strategy to make Lincoln count in the global prestige marque space.

“The commitment is to re—energise the Lincoln brand across the world and the Middle East markets are very important as part of that strategy,” said Paul Anderson, marketing director at Ford Middle East. “From the bottom to the top, it’s a whole new performance experience that Lincoln will now have to offer — in the MKZ that takes the form of nine class—exclusive features built into it.”

The entire Lincoln range is being reworked and retuned to fit in with the heightened expectations Ford has vested in. It will see the steady introduction of models — 12 to 15 of them — at regular intervals.

On whether Lincoln would follow a models-for-courses strategy in the Middle East, Anderson said: “While the region has many distinct segments that are more popular within the luxury automotive range, we want Lincoln to participate in full. That means having products that we don’t have today.”

With all of the tech-led features built in, it should be no surprise that the car was launched at the ongoing Gitex rather than wait a couple of weeks for the Dubai Motor Show. While Ford has been associated with Gitex in the past, it is now Lincoln stepping up to the plate on its own and that too with a standalone model.

“We want to emphasise that the MKZ is a real tech story and that’s the reason why an individual model was associated with the Gitex show,” said Anderson. “The nine exclusive features that come with this model is part of that narrative.”

What it means is that the MKZ has the ‘Lincoln Drive Control’ — an automated system that “intuitively’ responds to driver commands and road features — as a standard.

For sure, the ‘SYNC with MyLincoln Touch’ also comes as a standard setting, allowing drivers finger-tip access to the entertainment, climate and navigation features as well as sync devices brought on board.

“The all-new MKZ represents the future of Lincoln in both style and substance... it is proof of our commitment to deliver a new breed of Lincolns for a new generation of clients.”