LOS ANGELES – We know Hollywood is the land of facelifts and makeovers, but Buick and Lincoln were not content to give their key sedans a nip-and-tuck. They are getting completely new faces.
The familiar "bow wave" grill of today's Lincolns will be replaced by this more contemporary design we first saw in the Continental concept a few months ago. This will be the new look across the lineup.
Ford's premium brand calls this "quiet luxury" as opposed to the edgier look and more aggressive performance of its competitors.
"A lot of human touches to the car that are more effortless. We're trying to make the entire experience of being in the car and driving the car more effortless. And part of quiet luxury is our design line which is elegance," said Kumar Golhatra, Lincoln president.
When it arrives next summer the MKZ will offer three Black Label interior packages including in-home design consultation.
Buick sedan gets much lighter
The new face of the Buick LaCrosse is not as dramatic a departure but it's a significant freshening for the flagship of the premium brand. And takes many of the design cues from the Avenir concept that debuted at the auto show in Detroit. It is lower, longer, wider and lighter -- like kicking an NFL lineman out of the car lighter.
"What you don't see is the mass that we've taken out of the car -- the 300 pounds -- and everything that enables from a riding and handling perspective, to a fuel economy perspective and it just makes the whole car feel much, much more agile," said Dan Amman, GM president.
The MKZ will offer traffic jam assistance that automatically brakes and holds the car without you pressing the pedal. It will provide a much less stressful experience in stop-and-go traffic. And along with the Buick it has pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection which helps you avoid frontal crashes. It also keeps you in your lane, and more.
"A lot of people in our audience right now drive a self-driving car. They just don't know it and they're not allowed to fully exploit it," said Brian Cooley, CNET editor at large. "It just hasn't been allowed to mesh all of those actions by the software in the car because it's not quite reliable enough yet and you don't have regulator, insurer and customers all onboard in terms of perception."