Lincoln in China can probably be divided into three stages. The first stage, from the nineties to the zero zero, lincoln at that time, wearing the aura of the "presidential car", can almost be regarded as a super luxury brand; the second stage, from the late 000s to the 10s, the domestic luxury brands blowout, the brand power of major American luxury brands declined, and compromised to European brands; the third stage, from the 20s, Lincoln went to revival, SUV family sales went all the way up, becoming a strong second-tier luxury brand.
In the past year or two, from adventurers to navigators, and even to pilots and navigators, Lincoln's luxury SUV family has not only completed the matrix filling, but also made Lincoln's china road more and more determined. With the success of the SUV family, Lincoln was naturally reluctant to give up the luxury car market.
At the end of 2021, Lincoln brought a luxury midsize sedan that debuted in China, the Lincoln Z, and it has already launched in the spring. As Lincoln's first luxury car in the third phase of development, what new experience will the Lincoln Z bring? Can you break the "MKZ curse" of the past?
As soon as Lincoln Z came, it made up enough elements that users liked
For luxury cars, in fact, domestic user demand is not so difficult. At the end of the day, what everyone needs is the ultimate luxury experience, such as larger space, more comfortable seats, more luxurious interior furnishings and even a quieter cabin environment... As an American luxury brand, Lincoln is actually very good at it.
For example, in terms of the space that everyone is most concerned about, why did the former American sedan go into decline?
The reason is too simple, American cars are "reverse space masters". Old-school American cars, don't look at their size as wide and luxurious as possible, but pulling the car door, like a thick-skinned bun, it is difficult to make people stretch their fists and feet.
It used to be like Lincoln, cadillac and Chrysler. But Ford and Lincoln quickly returned to god, the past two years for Ford, Lincoln research and development work to Europe and China, in the space optimization also has a deep experience.
The length, width and height of the Lincoln Z reached 4982/1865/1485mm respectively. Judging from the body data alone, this car has surpassed the BBA's competitors. In addition, in order to optimize the space in the cabin, the engineers referred to Honda's MM concept to compress the mechanical space as much as possible to maximize the occupant space.
As a result, the Lincoln Z achieved a leapfrog in space by setting the engine platform horizontally, coupled with a wheelbase of 2930mm. Sitting in the back seat, you can even easily the legs of the Erlang, and its overall space is more generous than the Lexus ES, a medium-sized luxury car that is also created by the horizontal platform. The actual space experience in the rear is almost comparable to some C-class luxury cars.
Of course, domestic luxury car users like not only the big space and the big pattern, but also need to improve the atmosphere.
Why did Lincoln's SUVs sell well? Because even entry-level models like the Adventurer have luxurious interior design and superior materials that surpass their peers.
The Lincoln Z also inherits the advantages of Lincoln willing to use materials, in the carriage, in addition to the large screen to create a sense of technology, but also through the leather, wood grain trim to create an old-school and attractive Aesthetic luxury style, in the innovation into the traditional style, to maximize the comfort of the look.
The innovation of Lincoln Z lies in the use of technology to empower luxury
I don't know if you have found that many luxury cars have embarked on the road of high technology. A variety of large screens, rich network configuration, intelligent driving assistance configuration can be said to be "handy", technology configuration is like no money... But have we ever really thought about what the technological upgrade in the automotive field is for?
The answer to Lincoln Z is, quite simply, that all the technological upgrades are made to make the experience more luxurious. Therefore, in the Lincoln Z car, a combination of innovative and conservative design concepts are adopted, and all the technology configurations are aimed at simplifying driving and improving driving luxury.
First of all, the interior of the Lincoln Z has a huge screen with a horizontal width of up to 1 meter. And the significance of the existence of this screen is not only to create a cooler sense of technology.
Inside, it has a complete network configuration and advanced SYNC interaction function. From the common navigation when traveling, to the scene-based vehicle settings, through this large screen equivalent to the "nerve center", it can achieve all-round control and simplify the driving process a lot.
As another example, the Lincoln Z is equipped with an active noise reduction system.
And this system is not just a gimmick. It captures low-frequency noise that cannot be blocked by passive sound insulation systems, creating a quieter and more comfortable cabin environment that allows passengers to feel upgraded.
Finally, even in the intelligent driver assistance system, the Lincoln Z has completed the evolution. If active braking, lane departure assistance, blind spot monitoring and other functions are considered to be some high-end configurations on other models, then in the Lincoln Z car, it can only be regarded as the basic.
The Co-Pilot 360 2.0 intelligent driving assistance equipped with the new car can realize L2-level automatic driving functions including iACC intelligent adaptive cruise, V2I vehicle-to-road coordination, LCA lane centering assistance, PCA 2.0 anti-collision assistance, etc., which truly ensures safety and greatly improves the convenience of driving.
Of course, having these cutting-edge configurations, the foundation of cutting-edge technology, is an upgrade of the vehicle's electrical and electronic architecture. At present, Lincoln has not specifically announced which set of electrical and electronic architectures are used in this car. However, from the current configuration situation, the performance of the electrical and electronic architecture carried by this car will certainly not be weaker than the Ford FNV electronic architecture. Such technology, in addition to making the vehicle intelligent system more abundant and faster response, can also be modular management of the major subsystems, such as the upgrade and optimization of the network system and the intelligent auxiliary driving system in the later stage.
The three major pieces are good at basic skills, and Lincoln Z is still very thick
From Ford to Lincoln, this car company has always given people the feeling of being "very thick". Other car companies dare to use 1200Mpa tensile strength steel in the main parts, while Ford/Lincoln will use steel with at least 1600Mpa strength; other car companies like to use dual-clutch or CVT on the main sales model, while Ford/Lincoln still uses multi-gear AT transmissions...
As a luxury car, the Lincoln Z does not actually need much performance, and zero hundred acceleration to 8 seconds is completely enough. Lincoln still insisted on the 2.0T engine with a maximum horsepower of 246 Ps and a maximum torque of 376 N·m, and the whole series was equipped with an 8AT transmission. With the blessing of this power system, the zero hundred acceleration time of Lincoln Z directly entered 6.8 seconds, which was cool enough to open!
Of course, in the tuning of the power system, the Lincoln Z will not "go crooked". Even if the car has a strong acceleration ability, it still has to be comfortable and luxurious in the end.
Here, we will focus on the 8AT gearbox equipped with this car. Compared to the previous 6AT gearbox, the new 8AT is a big improvement. On the one hand, through more compact volume and logic optimization, the transmission efficiency of the gearbox is improved and the fuel consumption is reduced; on the other hand, the new gearbox is matched more smoothly, fully avoiding the emergence of problems such as bumps and low-speed dragging, ensuring that the vehicle always has sufficient driving texture.
In terms of chassis, don't look at the Lincoln Z simply and rudely adopts the most mainstream suspension structure of the transverse sedan: front McPherson + rear multi-link. But in terms of details, lincoln Z's suspension design and tuning are not rough at all. Full-frame subframe, hydraulic bushings on swing arms and stabilizer bars... This series of optimizations is enough to make the Lincoln Z open thick enough, and the chassis texture is advanced enough.
epilogue
In fact, through the Lincoln Z limousine, we can see that Lincoln has found its own development rhythm in the continuous exploration. That is, not to pursue youth and sports too much, but to single-mindedly go further and further down the road of luxury. Back to the product, Lincoln Z, whether it is space luxury, or intelligent configuration and three major pieces of structure, it is sincere. In the end, referring to the price range of 25.28-34.08 million, lincoln Z is likely to be another blockbuster.