LINCOLN WOWS CROWD WITH NAVIGATOR CONCEPT
But company says gull-wing doors won’t fly with buyers just yet
At first, it looked as if Ford’s Lincoln luxury brand was going to take the bold step of going after Tesla on a key design feature of its next full-size SUV.
The gasps came when the big SUV drove on the stage at a fancy studio here and the side doors opened upward. So-called gullwing doors, which open like seabirds’ wings, are a feature of Tesla’s new Model X crossover.
But in interviews after the unveiling, Kumar Galhotra, president of the Lincoln brand for Ford, said the gull-wing doors are terrific at showing some of the cool features that could work their way into the next Navigator but are too impractical for most consumers.
“Gull-wing doors are not at the top of their needs right now,” said Galhotra.
“There are two reasons that we did this. One is that it’s a concept. Concept (vehicles) offer great ways to explore ideas,” Galhotra said. “The second is that the interior of the vehicle is very important ... and this is a great way to showcase that interior.”
And so it went for the concept that could be one of the hits of the New York Auto Show, which opened its media preview Wednesday.
One note of encouragement: Galhotra said the production version of the Navigator that goes on sale in 2017 will look a lot like the concept version.
The gull-wing doors that cover pretty much the whole side, instead of hinged, side-opening doors, weren’t the only signature feature. It also has horizontally ribbed seats, a flat, retro center console and a push-button shifter that designers compared to piano keys.
The exterior has an elegance accentuated by an updated version of Lincoln’s new signature front grille and “radial, directional turbine-themed,” 24-inch wheels.
The production version of the vehicle is scheduled to go on sale next year, exactly 20 years after it was introduced. The Navigator quickly became popular at a time when there was an arms race in the automotive industry to build bigger and more luxurious SUVs. It’s Lincoln’s best-known nameplate.
One thing that wasn’t dis- closed: Whether the Navigator will stay as a body-on-frame vehicle, like most full-size pickup trucks, or whether Ford would migrate it to a unibody, in which the chassis and body are one piece.
Unibodies save fuel because they are lighter, but body-onframe vehicles are considered more stiff, for better handling, and more rugged.
Historically, the Navigator has been built on a truck frame with room for seven or eight passengers and plenty of cargo and towing capacity.
Galhotra said the next Navigator will be equipped with a twinturbo V-6 engine with more than 400 horsepower. With its current V-6, Navigator, in its front-wheeldrive version, is rated at 18 miles per gallon when city and highway driving are combined. Sales of the Navigator grew 14.7% in 2015 to 11,964.
“The interior of the vehicle is very important ... and this is a great way to showcase that.”
Kumar Galhotra, president of the Lincoln brand, on why the gull-wing doors won’t be on the production version