Sulu

Lincoln is lost. It does not know what it wants to do or where to go. The complete change of the grille and now reversing the naming scheme proves it.

I believe that Lincoln should have continued on with this naming scheme (like Infiniti is continuing on with its alphanumeric naming scheme) for a bit longer and eventually, we would all have gotten used to it.

SW17LS

As was said by someone else in another thread, its like talking to a wall.

Anyways, back to the Nautilus. I'm disappointed that the "Continental-ification" of the outside didn't extend to the inside. This vehicle, along with the MKC and MKZ (or whatever they're going to be called) suffers from some quite poor interior plastics IMHO, materials that you don't find in the Continental and Navigator.

I think part of the issue with their "MK" naming structure is that people don't realize its supposed to be read as "Mark", harkening back to the Lincoln Mark VII and VIII and all the other illustrious Mark names. They should have called it the "Mark X", and "Mark Z"

mmarshall

Seems like it's pretty obvious, to me at least, where that want to go, especially with the Continental grille. While styling is, of course, objective (you may or may not like it)....IMO those new front ends are real lookers, especially compared to some of the grilles we see from other manufacturers. Buick, IMO, also made a major advance when they dumped the waterfall grilles for the new wing-chrome-bar and tri-color shield logo. As for the dumping of the Lincoln alphabet soup, that can, in most cases, only make the names and nomenclature easier to remember. Will that translate into actual sales? Only time will tell.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

This is a refresh though. I wouldn't expect them to change the interior. It'd be a pleasant surprise, but not the case. Same goes for the MKC and MKZ. Need to wait for a full redesign to adopt the Continental and Navigator interior design cues.

SW17LS

Don’t have to restyle it, just replace a few poor interior material choices.

IMHO also, Lincoln isn’t in a position to be taking half measures.

mmarshall

I agree. There do seem to be some minor changes to the last MKX interior though, in the image you posted...but it's not certain that will be the actual production interior. The MKZ, though made a noticeable advance this year's (2017) mid-cycle refresh, when they dumped the finger-slide sensor controls that a lot of customers disliked, and added traditional round *****.

If you look closely, it did adopt the Continental/MKZ steering wheel, turn-signal, and wiper control/stalk.

BrickHead

It seems that Ford and GM change their model names every few years. For example, I don’t recognize any model names from Buick anymore. When you hear ‘Toyota’ you immediately think of Camry, Corolla, 4Runner, Highlander, Tacoma, Tundra, Avalon, etc.. If someone asks me to name a few current Buick models, I can’t even come up with one. Does anyone know why they change model names soooo frequently? I think this has to hurt their brand recongnition and possibly sales.

mmarshall

To answer your question, with Buick (and I'm a Buick owner myself) it's basically an attempt to shed the old Grandpa/Grandma image (which, IMO, was somewhat overdone to start with) and market to younger buyers. They have been vastly successful doing that with the Opel-rebadge Encore, somewhat less so with two of the other small German (Opel)-based Buicks (Verano, Regal) and even less so with the Opel-rebadge Cascada convertible, which has young buyers but just has not sold much. The Lacrosse (which I own), with the 18" wheels is the lone traditional-type cushy Buick sedan left that caters to older folks, and the big Enclave SUV caters to families, but not necessarily younger buyers. Even the current Lacrosse, though, was an attempt to shed the image that the former Electra, Park Avenue, LeSabre, and Lucerne had as Grampa-cars...it has sold in very low numbers, though not necessarily for that reason. The Lacrosse's E-shifter and non-deflatable engine start/stop system turns off a lot of buyers, even though the system DOES save gas. The new Enclave also has that shifter and start-stop, so it will be interesting to see how that sells.

What do you think of the Nautilus as a vehicle? That's what we originally started on.

speedkar9

Infiniti also has the alphabet names really bad.
Infiniti "Q***"....can mean so many things...SUV, sedan, crossover, etc

Mazda has it right by keeping it simple. 2, 3, 5, 6. CX-3, CX-4, CX-5, CX-7, CX-9.

Toys4RJill

All depends on the value of the name. Most car names are like a brand within the brand. Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban, Sierra Yukon are all names that resonate on similar footings as a Camry or Corolla or whatever.

Toyota is no slouch to naming cars that were changed or eliminated. Toyota Tercel was abandoned. Toyota Echo was changed into a Toyota Yaris. Toyota Cressidia was abandoned and replaced sort of with Avalon.

mmarshall

That's partly because those specific GM vehicles you named are all large BOF trucks, and that market has what is arguably the highest owner-loyalty segmenting the industry. So, the names remain with the loyal buyers.

The Tercel and Echo were simply American-market names. The vehicle itself was known as the Yaris overseas...eventually Toyota adopted that name here (U.S.) as well.

Toys4RJill

Thanks for rehashing what I said. I didn't say it any differently.

mmarshall

OK...sorry if it wasn't clear. That's not what I intended....I may have misunderstood your post.

Actually, I myself wondered why Toyota ever bothered with the Tercel and Echo names here to start with.

Toys4RJill

I think Buick Roadmaster would work if they were to bring that back.

mmarshall

Today's Buicks are probably too small for that name. Even the Lacrosse is not a true full-sizer in the former sense of the term (Lucerne, LeSabre, etc...)...but straddles the fine line between mid and full-size. It might (?) work with the big RWD Holden-derived Buick sedans in China....but even that would be stretching it.