D'oh! Lincoln MKZ Concept up in Smoke at the Detroit Auto Show

There's a reason why the crowds aren't allowed to touch most concepts and prototypes, let alone take them for a spin. With a few exceptions, these models are created purely for show and lack the painstaking attention to detail under the skin found on production vehicles.

But while a mishap is understandable and perhaps even excusable, it's also hugely embarrassing -no matter how small it is- when it happens to a vehicle like the Lincoln MKZ Concept with which Ford itself says it's not only introducing a new car but "essentially a new brand". Even more so when the incident occurs at the largest auto show in North America…

To make matters worse, Detroit's Free Press was on hand to film the smoke coming from the MKZ (or at least that's what it looks like in the video). Hop over the break to watch the clip.

Read more »

The Not so New Faces of Lincoln's Botoxed 2013 MKS and MKT on Film

If there's one luxury brand (or better put, one that aspires to be premium) that has failed to deliver anything remotely close to exciting, that would be Lincoln. In recent years, even Lexus and Acura at some point offered products that have managed to capture the attention of luxury car buyers.

And this is something and that is clearly reflected in Lincoln's weak sales numbers. In the first 10 months of the year, Lincoln sold 70,935 cars in the States (+1.2% from the same period in 2010), whereas GM's Cadillac delivered 124,985 vehicles (+5.6%), Buick 151,779 cars (+19.9%) and Lexus 153,739 units (-16.2%).

Aside from the MKZ sedan (+31.7%) and the MKX crossover (+5.3%), Lincoln's other models saw their numbers plummet this year, including the MKS sedan with 9,824 deliveries from January through October (-18.9%) and the MKT crossover with 4,126 sales in the same period (-33.5% from last year).

Read more »