FORD'S FRESH FACE

摘要

An elegant blue sedan parked in a Ford Motor Co. design studio gradually awakens when it senses Chief Executive Mark Fields approaching. Like a child slowly waking to his mother's voice, the car's LED headlamps blink on, then a lamp illuminates the ground beneath the driver's door and soft lights slowly warm the interior, as if the car were stretching to begin a new day. Grinning at the thinly disguised prototype for a new Lincoln Continental coming in 2016, Fields says, "See how it greets you in a very human way?" And it's not because he's the boss. The car would greet anyone this warmly, as long as he or she had the key fob. "That's the new face of Lincoln," he says, pointing to the polished chrome-mesh grille. He spends a few minutes showing off the car's clever styling tricks, like the discreetly hidden door handles and the translucent chrome taillights sweeping across the back end. But he can't wait for me to climb inside and sample the serene future of Lincoln, an iconic brand that has all but disappeared from the luxury landscape.