Spy Shots: Lincoln MKS already under the knife
by John Neff on Mar 6th 2009 at 2:58PM 
The Lincoln MKS is about a year old, but Ford's luxury division has already been caught testing a slightly refreshed version that may debut for the 2011 model year or shortly thereaftter. The spy shot shows a heavily camouflaged prototype with its front and rear end covered. Despite the aversion tactics, we can see a new version of Lincoln's flying wing grille that appears smaller than the current one. AutoWeek points out its similarity to a BMW grille, while we think it looks like the front end of a Pontiac G6 beneath the mesh bra. The MKS lineup will grow by one model this year when Lincoln begins selling it with the 3.5L EcoBoost V6 that produces 355 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. Some here at Autoblog HQ have posited that Lincoln could (or should) be working on a sportier version of the MKS EcoBoost, kind of like a Taurus SHO for the CEO. This prototype could be something to that effect, but we have nothing to back up our guess but wishful thinking.
[Source: AutoWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Taglane 3:03PM (3/06/2009)
So is this a BMW or a Pontiac?
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AMcA 12:36AM (3/07/2009)
Looks to me like they're about to go from distinctive Lincoln to fake BMW. But it's going to end up giving a Pontiac vibe.
superman211 3:06PM (3/07/2009)
Why do you have a picture of a Kenyan muslim for you avatar?
Taglane 3:10PM (3/07/2009)
Time for you to go to bed.
Bigbuck17 3:24PM (3/06/2009)
I think its a long wheel base MKS or something to replace the Town car.
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Rogue_G 3:18PM (3/06/2009)
Ugh, the Pontiac nose looks godawful already on Pontiac's. It does NOT belong on a Lincoln, or any other brand for that matter!
Ford's been great lately with adopting more progressive designs from their European division, this just feels like three steps backwards..
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nardvark 3:25PM (3/06/2009)
This could be a good thing. The only part of the MKS I don't like is the schnoz. Perhaps I'm not the only one?
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jamie 3:22PM (3/06/2009)
Throw in the towel Lincoln-Mercury. You're cars are irrelevant.
Jaguar makes a better Lincoln than Lincoln does.
Volvo makes a better Mercury than Mercury does.
Lincoln-Mercury should have gone the way of the dodo bird, and be replaced by Jaguar-Volvo.
What was Mullaly thinking? Make a quick buck to stay alive another week or so? Long term plans prove that Jaguar-Volvo will continually outshine Lincoln-Mercury.
Big faux-pas, Alan.
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Greg Aryous 4:29PM (3/06/2009)
Wrong! Jaguar has never made money so it was good ridence, while Mercury has been profitable for years (grandpa's Grand Marque makes lots of $$$) on cheap to update Ford platforms.
Ford CEO Mullay was smart to dump Jaguar-Land Rover and Aston Marton - none of them ever made money, they were an endless money pit with very low volume - rather irrelevant! Its a good thing Mullay did the sales when he could and make money on them to keep Ford afloat - notice where GM is - CH.11-ish?
the vegas style guy 4:41PM (3/06/2009)
I don't know if you read much, but, Ford is the only major car company not traveling around with it's hand out. I assume some of that is do to Mr. Mullaly.
Jes sayin'.
Farmboy 5:53PM (3/06/2009)
Plus if you look at Feb's car sales (which is on Autoblog), Lincoln outsold Cadillac by about 2000 vehicles. That is actually significant with the small portfolio that Lincoln boasts when compared to Cadillac's.
Matt 6:32PM (3/06/2009)
Hyundai makes better luxury cars than Lincoln does.
Lincoln competes with Buick.
BigWill 11:00PM (3/06/2009)
"Plus if you look at Feb's car sales (which is on Autoblog), Lincoln outsold Cadillac by about 2000 vehicles. "
Nope. The Autoblog numbers are wrong and IIRC even though there was a request in that thread to correct them, Autoblog never did. Autoblog included truck products with Lincoln and excluded them from Cadillac. Total sales were 7,038 for Cadillac and 5,633 for Lincoln (those numbers are directly from the GM and Ford press releases).
Vlad 3:34PM (3/06/2009)
it's about time
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Taglane 3:42PM (3/06/2009)
You mean for the one year that it was on the market? Yeah. Long overdue.
Vlad 3:52PM (3/06/2009)
I guess they update the car when its not good enough any more
Mike 4:38PM (3/06/2009)
The MKS outpaced their sales objective, it's hardly been a failure. Not sure why they'd make this change, the MKS grille was pretty good IMO, that MKT grille on the other hand is too large.
It's going to depend largely on the headlights and the rest of the front end as to whether this is a step in the right direction or the wrong one.
Vlad 9:09PM (3/06/2009)
If you say so. But you gotta admit it doesn't look that good and that's what refresh is about. Current front end looks nice though, the rest not so much. But I guess they just had to update the front because that is what they usually update when they do the update.
Taglane 12:52AM (3/07/2009)
I saw a Black MKS Parked at the store a few days ago. It was sundown. I stopped in my tracks and found myself marveling the front end. The proportions are just correct. This refresh better be good.
Other Man 4:06PM (3/06/2009)
Good. The side and rear were nice, but the front end was totally passe.
Make it more like the MKR Concept. Throw us a "sporty" version with 400 hp, too.
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