NEW YORK ‒ The furor over MyLincoln Touch has helped reshape the center console of the latest Lincoln.
The 2015 Lincoln MKC crossover, introduced here last week, features buttons and knobs in place of the sliding touch controls of the MKZ sedan. The MyLincoln Touch system and its Ford sibling have given Ford fits in customer satisfaction surveys. Consumers and critics have complained the systems have been confusing and balky.
"We heard feedback from MKZ customers" when designing the MKC, says Lisa Drake, MKC chief engineer. The MyLincoln Touch screen-based infotainment system is still in place, but buttons and knobs are there to make basic functions such as increasing the volume, tuning the radio and setting the temperature easier. "You get tactile feedback."
The center console isn't the only place where Lincoln is doing things differently with the MKC, a compact premium crossover that is scheduled to arrive in showrooms in late spring or early summer. Lincoln is also retooling its launch process and its marketing strategy, partly as a result of lessons learned from the difficult birth of the redesigned MKZ, which Lincoln has hailed as the first car in its brand reinvention.
For more details on the launch of the Lincoln MKZ, see the complete story at www.autonews.com.
