Lincoln Design Team Brings the Luxury of Contemporary Home Design to the Road

The New 2009 Lincoln MKS Sedan Adds Style and Luxury to the Road. (PRNewsFoto/Ford Motor Company)
NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES. A New Breed of Design and Sales Growth of Nearly 10 Percent in 2007 Make

This an Exciting Time For Lincoln
- 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan and Lincoln MKT Concept features interiors
inspired by the latest home design trends and will be on display at the
annual Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York, March 6-9, 2008.
- The female design team who helped develop the MKT Concept will attend the
show and bring out the finer points of the vehicle’s interior design.
- Lincoln Chief Designer Gordon Platto will deliver the March 6 keynote
speech ‘Form Follows Function’ focusing on the unique intersection of
architecture, interior design and automotive design.

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Lincoln, known for design-conscious
luxury vehicles such as the award-winning Lincoln MKZ sedan, Lincoln MKX
crossover and Navigator, will showcase its 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan and the
Lincoln MKT utility concept at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show on
New York’s Pier 94 off of 55th Street. The precision-crafted interiors of
these vehicles are inspired by the latest home design trends.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080222/LAF024)

Star Designers of the Lincoln Design Studio

Featured at the event are Lincoln Chief Designer Gordon Platto and
three gifted up-and-coming female designers who led the development of the
popular Lincoln MKT Concept. They will join the artists and interior
designers who inspired their work while at the Lincoln Design Studio
pushing the value of “auto chick power.” The design team of Joann Jung
(31), Amy Kim (26) and Jennifer Hewlett (27) are helping define a new breed
of Lincoln vehicles.

“We are making great progress in the development of a consistent new
Lincoln design language, one that draws on the best of Lincoln’s history,
but also is influenced by the latest trends in interior design and
architecture,” said Gordon Platto, Lincoln chief designer. “Like so many of
the artists featured at the Architectural Digest show, Lincoln is offering
responsible luxury, class-leading features and high-end designs with low
environmental impact.”

Lincoln features interiors inspired by the latest trends in
contemporary home design and founded in the belief that automobiles have
become “the fourth space,” as people are spending significant amounts of
time in their vehicles. First space refers to the home. Second space refers
to the workplace. The third space is a leisure location such as a cafe and,
in turn, the vehicle has become the fourth space.

“The new Lincoln vehicles clearly blend the best elements of
architecture, craftsmanship, interior design and fashion design,” said
Giulio Capula, vice president and publisher, Architectural Digest.

Lincoln MKT Concept Brings the Beauty of Home into the Automobile

The new Lincoln MKT Concept, unveiled in January at the North American
International Auto Show, brings the driver and passengers even closer to
home by including many of the same features as the Lincoln MKS. In
addition, it offers appointments such as four executive-sized, first-class
chairs with rear seat footrests, soothing tone-on-colors, ambient lighting
and flexible storage.

Designer Jennifer Hewlett added a plush, hand-knotted rug made from
banana silk covering the floor and complementing the contrasting Creamy
Pearl chromium-free leather seats, while Amy Kim, in charge of the elegant
metalwork, contributed sculpted door handles with sparkling, curved dimples
reminiscent of beadwork.

Joann Jung was responsible for the instrument panel and
crystal-inspired center consol that runs the entire length of the vehicle
to create a feeling of continuity between the upper and lower portion of
the cabin, as if all the occupants of the cabin were sitting together in a
living room. A patented solid-state lighting technology allows first-ever
3-D projection on a contoured surface and displays information using
intuitive shapes and spaces on the center stack.

About the new MKT Concept’s innovative interior, Jung said, “It’s very
personal to me. It’s like opening my own room to the public. But I want to
share it.”

2009 Lincoln MKS Adds Natural Luxury to the “Fourth Space”

The new Lincoln MKS (on sale summer 2008) features an available
high-contrast, two-tone color scheme in which dark carpeting anchors the
interior, while the seats, lower instrument panel and doors are wrapped in
light cashmere. The top of the instrument panel is hand-wrapped in
leatherette finished with an intricate deck seam, a technique normally
reserved for show and custom cars. The interior is crafted using real metal
and woods; the Fine Line Ebony trim, available in Charcoal Black and Olive
Ash — a distinctive grain formed when the roots of two trees grow together
– is manufactured from reclaimed woods delivering premium quality with
minimal environmental impact, and 100 percent natural. Recyclable leather
seating is tanned using a special organic, chromium-free method to create
the softest, most comfortable leather ever to grace a Lincoln. A power rear
sunshade and a panoramic, dual-panel moon roof inspired by urban loft
windows allow drivers and passengers as much, or as little, view as they
like.

Both Vehicles Offer the Best of Home Technology

With the home entertainment center in mind, Lincoln has integrated
technological innovations such as SYNC, the company’s voice-activated,
hands-free, in-car communication and entertainment system. Pressing “push
to talk” enables cell phone calling and music selection.

The THX(R) II Audio System delivers true 5.1 surround sound from DVD
movies and DVD-audio music, in addition to up-mixing stereo CDs to present
a rich experience. A wide range of innovations also are available; the full
list can be viewed at http://www.lincoln.com. A full list of amenities,
genuine materials and infotainment technology available in the Lincoln MKS
and MKT Concept is available to the media at http://www.media.ford.com.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in
Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets
across six continents. With about 260,000 employees and about 100 plants
worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include
Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company
provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more
information regarding Ford’s products, please visit
http://www.fordvehicles.com.

Ford Motor Company

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