Lincoln Plans 2013 MKZ To Slot Just Above Japanese Luxury Rivals

This is it. The Lincoln Motor Co. reboots here and now with the all-new midsize 2013 MKZ.

You'll be seeing the TV and magazine ads reaching out this month to younger affluent buyers who Lincoln believes are more concerned about art, fashion and traditional motoring comfort than horsepower.

Don't get me wrong. This is the best-handling Lincoln yet. I drove it rather fast around Ford's development track on the other side of the big brick wall in Dearborn next to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.

But the MKZ is not a sports car despite its cutting-edge electronically adaptive suspension. It wasn't meant to compete with the power and handling prowess of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Cadillac CTS, BMW 5 series or Audi A4, A6 or A7.
What the MKZ has is style, comfort and a lot of technology at a competitive price in comparison to the car its marketers have targeted: the Lexus ES. Like the Toyota Camry-based Lexus, the MKZ comes with front-wheel drive. But unlike the Lexus, the MKZ offers all-wheel drive as a $1,890 option.
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thetruth01 - 12/13/2012 4:23:38 PM

+1 Boost

Breaking news. <sarcasm intended>
The MKZ has always competed with the ES and TL. For better or worse, the Germans don't have the big mid-sized FWD near luxury sedans in this class.

thetruth01 - 12/14/2012 12:06:37 PM

+2 Boost

I purposely used the phrase "near luxury." The Audis have a specific philosophy of 3 sausages S-M-L to match everyone else's, where the A6 is the 5 series, E-Klasse, GS competitor. It may have FWD bones, but. it is clearly a competitor in that ballpark, not in the near luxury world where the ES, TL, MKZ (and formerly Infiniti I30) reside. I don't know where to place Caddy's XTS, but then I don't think GM knows either. Their offering in this group would be a Buick I guess.