Lincoln Positions 2019 MKC as a Luxury Competitor

Lincoln is counting on its small SUV to continue taking customers away from other luxury brands. Lincoln is showing off its 2019 Lincoln MKC and says the luxurious crossover has been the most successful in bringing more people to the Lincoln brand than any other vehicle, with nearly half of all buyers coming from other brands. More than half of the MKC buyers are women, a demographic that is considered key in the automotive industry.

Lincoln is adding more collision avoidance technology

Lincoln is adding a number of new technologies to the 2019 MKC, hoping that the SUV can bring in even more buyers from luxury competitors like BMW, Lexus and Mercedes. Two of the new technologies are automatic emergency braking and pedestrian collision avoidance. Both are designed to help drivers avoid accidents. The new technologies use advanced radar and camera sensors to provide collision warnings to the driver. If the driver does not respond in time, the system can automatically apply the brakes.

Kumar Galhotra, president of Lincoln, says in a statement, “Our redesigned Lincoln MKC offers style, substance and technologies that create an effortless ownership experience. We recognize it takes a lot to attract a buyer from other luxury competitors, but the Lincoln MKC has that kind of appeal and, we believe that the new MKC will capture even more luxury clients.”

Lincoln is changing its naming strategy

It appears the 2019 Lincoln MKC may be one of the last Lincoln vehicles to carry the confusing letter name. Lincoln has announced that in the future, they will go back to using actual names for models. When Ford and Lincoln rolled out the Lincoln names that started with MK and another letter, they had hoped that the letter names would elevate the brand and make people consider them like BMW’s and other luxury brands. Unfortunately, the MK names never caught on and seemed to only confuse buyers. Lincoln announced this week that the 2019 MKX will instead be called the Nautilus, but apparently the decision came too late to change the name of the MKC.

The 2019 MKC will be available with two different engine options. The will be a more powerful turbocharged 2.3-liter engine that produces 285 horsepower or the standard turbocharged 2.0-liter engine delivering 245 horsepower.
The 2019 Lincoln MKC will be available in the summer of 2018.