1964 Lincoln Continental on 2040-cars

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Lincoln MKC prototype caught partially covered, reveals some changes

When Lincoln pulled the wraps off the MKC Concept at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, we said that the very attractive concept was going to closely mirror the production vehicle. With few exceptions, a clad prototype recently caught running on public roads seems to substantiate our statement.
From what the pictures reveal, the disguised Lincoln MKC production mule and show concept seem to share the same waistline with identical sculpting over the wheels. The midsection of the two also appear to match with the same flare and styling. The lower rockers have been cleaned up a bit, mainly to be more practical in the real world (the deep chisels on the show car would have collected mud and snow).
Taking a look at the exposed front bumper, we see a very similar lower fascia complete wtih the metal skid plate on the chin. The window profile also seems to match the concept, though we're still unclear exactly how that C- and D-pillar section is going to look. Of course, and it always seems to be the case when concepts evolve into production vehicles, the MKC gains four normal door handles, standard-sized mirrors and a slightly smaller wheel/tire package. We expect the production version of the Lincoln MKC to debut later this year.

Ford announces four recalls, 1.4M vehicles affected

Ford is taking a bit of the spotlight away from General Motors, announcing a major group of recall campaigns, covering a total of 1.4 million vehicles built between 2006 and 2013.
Let's start with the big one, which covers the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner and, according to The Detroit News, Ford-built Mazda Tribute CUVs. 915,216 vehicles are covered, all of which were built in model years 2008 to 2011. 736,000 vehicles are in the US, while Canada then Mexico make up the vast majority of the remainder. The problem is due to an issue with the torque sensor in the steering column, which could lead to sudden power steering failure. Manual steering would still be available, though.
"Dealers will perform one of three service fixes, depending upon what diagnostic codes are shown when the vehicle is taken to the dealer," Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker wrote to Autoblog in an email. "They will either update software for the power steering control module and the instrument cluster module; replace the torque sensor; or replace the steering column, which includes upgraded power steering control module software."

Lincoln scales back free maintenance

Complimentary scheduled maintenance programs have been great tools for luxury automakers to draw in new customers, but some are starting to scale their programs back considerably. According to Automotive News, Lincoln is joining Jaguar and Volvo on the list of automakers reducing the length of time it will be providing free maintenance to its customers.
Lincoln's four-year/50,000-mile maintenance program first kicked off as an incentive in 2010 and became permanent later that year, but starting with the 2014 model year, this will be cut to just two years and 24,000 miles. This could make short-term leases even more appealing for some consumers, but according to Automotive News, some Lincoln dealers are unhappy with the scaling back. The move admittedly comes at an odd time for Lincoln, with parent Ford seemingly working hard to increase consideration among luxury buyers as it looks to reverse the marque's long decline.