Tag Archive for: NAIAS 2016

2017 Lincoln Continental, DrivenToday.com

All-New Lincoln Continental Delivers Quiet Luxury

DETROIT, Jan. 12, 2016 – Lincoln Motor Company heralds the return of its flagship – the all-new Lincoln Continental – an elegant, effortlessly powerful, serene full-size sedan that delivers quiet luxury to the industry’s most discerning customers.

Beginning this fall, Continental offers first-class travel for clients in America and China, bringing warm, human touches and a contemporary design.

The full-size sedan is designed to appeal to culturally progressive clients who define luxury on their own terms – craving superior quality, craftsmanship and safety.

2017 Lincoln Continental, Road-Test.org

“The Continental name has long been associated with the ultimate in Lincoln beauty and luxury,” said Kumar Galhotra, president of Lincoln. “With the all-new model, we are focusing on creating more human, personally tailored experiences for our clients – providing what we call quiet luxury.”

 Elegance through design
All-new Continental design is thoroughly modern, with Lincoln’s new signature grille and an athletic profile that is dynamic and progressive.

Lincoln’s new flagship welcomes drivers with a brand-exclusive lighting sequence. As the driver approaches the car with the key, LED signature lighting in the lower front fascia and tail lamps subtly engages, while signature lighting in the headlamps awakens in a fluid motion. Lincoln mat lights then brighten the pavement around the front doors, helping show any hazards, while select interior lights warmly illuminate the cabin.

2017 Lincoln Continental, Road-Test.org

Continental door handles are designed to offer elegant and effortless entry with new E-latch door release. The release is discreetly integrated within the beltline, leaving the body side clean. With the gentle touch of a button, the vehicle’s doors pop open, then use available power-cinching technology to automatically close and secure.

An elegant available panoramic sunroof covers nearly the entire roof area; the front half slides up and over the rear – creating a large open-air driving experience and an even greater feeling of spaciousness for up to five Continental occupants.
2017 Lincoln Continental, Road-Test.org

Effortless power
Continental offers available technologies that help create better and safer drivers.

The all-new Lincoln-exclusive 3.0-liter V6 engine with twin turbochargers that produces a projected 400 horsepower and 400 lb.-ft. of torque1 is designed for smooth, responsive, yet quiet power.

Continental’s available all-wheel-drive system is paired with Dynamic Torque Vectoring that transfers torque on demand to the appropriate rear wheel when driving through corners – providing confident handling and stability.

Lincoln Drive Control provides the driver a choice of three settings – comfort, normal and sport – adapting steering and suspension settings to tailor ride and handling. Available adaptive steering helps optimize steering response, enabling the vehicle to react more smoothly and precisely to driver input.

Continental’s Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection is designed to enhance occupant safety. A system of cameras and sensors detects if a potential collision may occur, then automatically applies the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a full stop to help avoid or reduce impact.2

Effortless assistance for the daily commute is available with optional adaptive cruise control, which can automatically slow Continental in stop-and-go traffic – resuming speed when traffic clears.
2017 Lincoln Continental, Road-Test.org

To take the stress out of parallel and perpendicular parking, the new 360-degree camera system uses views from cameras mounted in the grille, decklid and 180-degree side mirrors, then seamlessly stitches these snapshots together to create an image in the screen so the driver can see around the car – as if a camera is overhead.

Serene interior
The all-new Continental interior is designed to help all occupants rejuvenate.

One highlight is Lincoln’s new Perfect Position Seats – inspired by private jets and high-end office furniture – that can be adjusted up to 30 ways. The patented design allows the seat to adjust to an individual’s body shape and weight for optimal stretch and comfort. Available features of these seats include massage, heat and cooling; and independent thigh extensions to provide support.

Rear passengers can enjoy first-class travel amenities, too, with such available features as audio and climate controls, sunshades, and reclining, heated, cooled and massaging seats. The streamlined interior provides generous rear legroom.

Continental occupants also can enjoy an available Revel® audio system developed to work in concert with the interior design and acoustics, transforming the cabin into a personal amphitheater with three distinct listening modes – Stereo, Audience and On Stage. Use of the E-latch release enables optimal speaker positioning in the Continental doors, alongside the conveniently located seat controls. Innovations in managing vehicle noise and vibration, including Active Noise Control and acoustic laminated glass create a quiet, comfortable environment conducive to conversation or contemplation.

For those seeking the highest expression of Lincoln luxury, three Lincoln Black Label designer themes are available – Chalet, Thoroughbred and Continental-exclusive Rhapsody. Inside, opulent materials include leather seating, leather-wrapped console and instrument panel, unique stitching, genuine wood or aluminum appliqués.

All models feature new design details. Stitching on the seats is specified at six to seven stitches per inch for a couture-like appearance, and the slats of the center console door are laser-cut to maximize consistency of the grain pattern.

The all-new Lincoln Continental will be produced at Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan.

  1. Tested with 93-octane fuel.  2. Driver-assist features are supplemental and do not replace the driver’s judgment.
Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

KIA Telluride Concept

Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

Elegant and Sophisticated, the Kia Telluride Combines Breakthrough Technology, Rugged Beauty, and Functionality in a Full-Size Sport Utility Vehicle

DETROIT, Jan. 11, 2016 – Glimpsing a future that is grounded in reality but not bound by the present, Kia Motors America (KMA) today unveiled a cutting-edge vision for a full-size SUV at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).  The Telluride, a striking three-row, seven-passenger, luxury SUV concept features a modern and upright shape, muscular stance, and state-of-the-art technology to care for its occupants.  Purely conceptual, the Kia Telluride is based on an existing platform and reveals the brand’s interest in potentially offering a premium SUV positioned above the current hot-selling Sorento.

“The Kia Telluride makes an aesthetic statement for the Kia brand as a bold, all-new luxury SUV with an abundance of advanced technology, focusing particular attention on the experience and comfort of second-row occupants,” said Tom Kearns, chief designer, Kia Design Center America (KDCA). “Longer, wider and taller than the recently redesigned Sorento CUV, Telluride allows us to envision what a full-size seven-passenger SUV from Kia could look like.”

Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

Telluride’s front doors and rear-hinged back doors swing open 90 degrees in opposing directions, creating an expansive and inviting portal into the panoramic interior space and revealing a technological showcase.  Four beautiful black-leather captain’s seats appear to float within the spacious cabin in front of a folded third-row bench.  The large cabin allows the middle seats to recline nearly flat and include large fold-away footrests for sublime comfort.  All four seats include a series of precise diamond-cut openings in the seatback, each embedded with Smart Sensors to capture a passenger’s vital health information.  Once obtained, these vitals are displayed on the interior door panel screens, which then systematically synchronize with a Light Emitted Rejuvenation (LER) system.  The LER system utilizes a massive, wing-shaped LED panel mounted beneath the oversized sunroof that displays a pattern of therapeutic light to treat desynchronosis (jetlag) and improve the passengers’ energy levels.

Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

Another unique technology introduced in Telluride is Swipe Command – a thin, touch-sensitive, interactive band mounted to the second row center console – which allows rear-seat passengers to quickly scroll and select desired media by simply swiping their hand.  The selected media is then played either through the seven-speaker premium Harman Kardon® audio system, or via a set of portable Harman Kardon® headphones that wirelessly charge when stowed in the console.  Up front, a compartment in the center stack allows for wireless cell phone charging, and Kia’s first use of 3D-printed components add a distinct, modern design element to the dashboard, door panels, and steering wheel.

Telluride’s interior and exterior were penned at the brand’s California-based studio, Kia Design Center America (KDCA).  Finished in Dark Pyrite green paint, the tall stance is amplified by the overall size of the vehicle.  At 70.9-inches tall, 79.1-inches wide and 196.9-inches long, Telluride is 4.4-inches taller, 4.7-inches wider, and a sizable 9.5-inches longer than the current Sorento.  Underpinning the Telluride is a modified Sorento chassis with a wheelbase stretched 11.9 inches to 121.3 inches, giving Telluride a dominating presence.  It’s modern and muscular appearance is accentuated by flared fenders stretching around massive 22-inch five-spoke wheels wrapped in Hankook® Ventus ST 275/45R22 tires.

Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

Telluride’s front fascia incorporates a much larger version of Kia’s signature tiger nose grille, and its menacing face brings an attitude all its own with recessed quad-LED headlamps, pronounced horizontal LED indicator lights, and an aggressive polished-metal skid plate below the bumper.  In the rear, thin vertical taillights align with the modern design language of the SUV, while consistent styling cues across the front and rear door handles, hood scoops and dual exhaust tips enhance the vehicle’s solid appearance.

Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

With an innovative combination of cutting-edge technologies, the Telluride’s powertrain is a near-future, no-compromises propulsion system, offering both power and efficiency.  A finger-print activated push-button start unleashes Telluride’s tremendously potent yet extremely efficient PHEV powertrain. Utilizing a 3.5-liter gasoline direct injected (GDI) V6 engine and powerful electric motor, Telluride’s transverse-mounted powertrain combines to produce 400 horsepower (270 horsepower from V6 and 130 horsepower from the electric motor) while achieving more than 30 mpg on the highway.  Power is routed to all four wheels via an advanced all-wheel drive system.

While there are currently no plans to bring the Telluride to production, Kia has a history of delivering production vehicles that bear strong resemblance to preceding concepts, and Kia’s large SUV is anything but a utopian fantasy.
Kia Telluride Concept, DrivenToday.com

About Kia Motors America
Kia Motors America (KMA) is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea.  KMA set an all-time annual sales record in 2015, surpassing the 600,000 unit mark for the first time in company history. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles, including the rear-drive K900** flagship sedan, Cadenza premium sedan, Sorento CUV, Soul urban passenger vehicle, Soul Electric Vehicle***, Sportage compact CUV, Optima midsize sedan, Optima Hybrid, the Forte compact sedan, Forte5 and Forte Koup, Rio and Rio 5-door subcompacts and the Sedona midsize multi-purpose vehicle, through a network of more than 765 dealers across the United States.  Kia’s U.S. manufacturing plant in West Point, Georgia, builds the Optima* and Sorento* and is responsible for the creation of more than 15,000 plant and supplier jobs.

Information about KMA and its full vehicle line-up is available at www.kia.com.