The update to the 2015 Lincoln Navigator marks the biggest makeover since 2009 to the full-size ute.
This story has been updated to note the price increase of the Lincoln Navigator’s most direct competitor, the Cadillac Escalade
It helped launch an entirely new market segment and introduced the concept of “bling” to the auto industry, but in recent years, the once-prized Lincoln Navigator has become little more than an after-thought in the luxury car market.
Now, as it sets out to rebuild its struggling Lincoln brand, parent Ford Motor Co. aims to breathe new life into the big Navigator with the most significant update to the full-size luxury sport-utility vehicle in five years. But a sneak peek at the 2015 Navigator raises questions about whether the planned changes go far enough at a time when the big Lincoln’s most direct competitor, the Cadillac Escalade, is getting a far more extensive makeover.
The Navigator originally debuted 17 years ago and “helped define the full-size luxury segment,” proclaimed Andrew Frick, Lincoln’s marketing manager, during a media background session on the 2015 SUV – which will be formally unveiled at the Chicago Motor Show next month. The update, he added, “will bolster” a product that had lost a significant amount of ground in recent years as it grew old and faced more competition from players as diverse as Caddy’s Escalade, the Infiniti QX80, the Mercedes-Benz GL and Lexus LX570.
Lincoln will offer both short and long-wheelbase versions, with seating options for up to eight.
As now, there will be two versions of the Navigator in 2015, a standard-length model and a long-wheelbase edition capable of seating eight while offering capacious cargo capacity.
A quick look at the 2015 updates reveals that Lincoln designers had to work with the same basic “hard points,” or dimensions as the outgoing Navigator. The underlying platform carries over. But the updated SUV gets a more contemporary look thanks to extensive revisions to the front and rear. That includes the adoption of the new signature Lincoln split-wing grille that makes it look a lot more like a part of the updated Lincoln family, said the brand’s design chief Max Wolff.
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Atop the grille are new adaptive bi-xenon headlights and the sort of LED “signature” lights that have become essential to any vehicle today competing in the luxury car market. The power tailgate also features new LED taillamps that follow the basic design form first seen on the Lincoln MKZ sedan launched a year ago.
The first true full-size luxury SUV, many expected Lincoln to drop the Navigator after 17 years.
The MKZ was the first Lincoln to get a complete makeover as Ford CEO Alan Mulally cautiously agreed to sign off on a rescue plan for a brand that once helped lead the luxury market but which, in recent years, has slumped to the lower end of Tier II marques. At the time, Lincoln was expected to get four major new models by 2016, including the MKZ, the upcoming MKC compact luxury crossover and remakes of the bigger MKS sedan and MKX crossover.
(Click Herefor a closer look at the 2015 Cadillac Escalade.)
Until recently, many observers had expected to see the Navigator fade away but Lincoln’s decision to add an update to the Lincoln product plan may reflect rival General Motors’ decision to resurrect the Cadillac Escalade. But the 2015 remake of the big Caddy is a far more complete redesign, adding a range of up-market, exclusive features to a platform shared with the all-new vversions of GM’s Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon models.
Lincoln officials dismissed any concerns that they weren’t going further with the 2015 Navigator, Frick contending, “I think we made significant improvements in every areas of the vehicle,” adding that Lincoln is confident the new ute “will be exactly what this customer wants.”
The revised Navigator adopts the now-signature Lincoln split-wing grille first used on the MKZ.
Along with the new front and rear designs, the updated Navigator gets a major interior makeover that includes a bigger touchscreen display – and new volume and tuning knobs intended to resolve criticism of the brand’s touchscreen infotainment interface, dubbed MyLincolnTouch.
Buyers will find one of the most significant changes for 2015 under the hood, a 3.5-liter version of Ford’s well—reviewed EcoBoost V-6 replacing Navigator’s old 5.4-liter V-8. The new engine may have two fewer cylinders but it will actually be more powerful, chief engineer Elaine Bannon promising the EcoBoost package will make “more than 370 horsepower and more than 430 pound-feet of torque,” enough to tow about 9,000 pounds.
The 2015 Lincoln Navigator will get a number of high-tech additions, including Blind Sport Monitoring, a system to alert a driver drifting out of their lane, and a continuously variable damping suspension that can switch from soft to firm in as little as 2 milliseconds if road conditions or driver behavior warrants.
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Designers gave the 2015 Lincoln Navigator a more modern interior - but also returned volume and tuning knobs to the touchscreen infotainment system.
Surprisingly, the updated Navigator omits several increasingly common – and increasingly sought-out – technologies, including adaptive cruise control which can maintain pace with changing traffic flow, as well as forward collision warning. The latter technology is becoming increasingly available on even compact mainstream crossovers and SUVs – and its absence not only could disappoint potential buyers but hurt the 2015 Navigator’s reviews.
For one thing, the new ute won’t qualify for the much sought-after Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, since forward collision warning is now a pre-requisite. Competing vehicles, such as the new Escalade, will also qualify for insurance discounts offered for such systems.
While Lincoln officials contend these features aren’t crucial, several hinted that they just may show up on the Navigator in a year or two after this update launches.
In the meantime, marketing chief Frick says he is confident the new 2015 model will help rebuild the Lincoln Navigator’s momentum in a segment that is expected to grow by perhaps 10% over the next several years.
Ironically, while Cadillac is expected to promote that it has made a more extensive update to its 2015 Escalade, the General Motors brand might also have given a boost to Lincoln. The ‘Slade, as it’s popularly known, will jump nearly $8,000 in price for 2015, to $72,690. Lincoln has not yet set a price for the 2015 Navigator.