New Navigator rolls up to challenge Escalade

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of torque on the 2015 Lincoln Navigator’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine.LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Lincoln executives call the 2015 Navigator a moderate refreshening. But the new Navigator, just arriving in dealerships, really has a bigger role: to begin reclaiming a piece of a segment Lincoln pioneered in the 1990s and then ceded to the Cadillac Escalade.With sales of full-size luxury SUVs perking along, Lincoln hopes to remind customers it is still a force to be reckoned with. The real action will come in two or three years, when a redesigned Navigator arrives. Lincoln executives won’t talk about future product plans, but industry analysts predict the next-generation Navigator will have an aluminum body, just as the coming 2015 Ford F-150 pickup will.In the ’90s, Lincoln beat Cadillac to the punch and invented the full-size luxury truck-based SUV segment with all its attendant bling. The Navigator arrived in 1996 as a 1997 model and trounced the Escalade, which came a year later, the first four years the two were on sale.Navigator sales peaked at 43,859 in 1998, its second full year. The Escalade passed the Navigator in 2001 and has never looked back, dominating its Lincoln rival by a margin of 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 in recent years.“We created the category when we launched it 17 years ago,” said Lee Jelenic, Lincoln marketing manager, speaking to reporters at the Navigator media launch here this past week.Neglected nameplateThen things got complicated for Lincoln. The Navigator -- along with the rest of the Lincoln brand -- got lost in the shuffle as Ford Motor Co. management turned its attention to its more glamorous European luxury brands: Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.Lincoln let the Navigator languish with little investment either in the vehicle itself or in marketing to support it. Lincoln last freshened the Navigator in the 2007 model year, adding a long-wheelbase version, an independent rear axle and a hydroformed front end.Even without significant advertising, Navigators have sold steadily at about 8,500 a year since 2009.Now, with Ford’s European brands gone, Ford has spent the last several years reinventing Lincoln as an American-style luxury brand appealing to younger customers whom Lincoln refers to as “culturally progressive.”Lincoln sales have recently languished near the bottom of a luxury category dominated by the big German triumvirate -- BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi -- along with Lexus.Lincoln promised four new products in four years, including the 2013 MKZ sedan and the 2015 MKC. The MKX replacement comes next year, followed by a full-size sedan, possibly called the MKS, the year following. The 2015 Navigator is an extra vehicle. Unlike the other four, it will not be introduced in China, where Lincoln sales begin early next year.The revamped Navigator is a modest effort, in line with Lincoln’s incremental approach to rebuilding the brand. But the changes are significant. Gone is the 5.4-liter V-8 engine, replaced by a more powerful 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 that cranks out 380 hp and 460 pounds-feet of torque burning premium fuel, which is optional. In the Lincoln application, the engine gets 16 mpg city, 22 highway and 18 combined.The Navigator also gets:The MyLincoln Touch infotainment system for the first time, along with the latest generation of Ford’s Sync voice recognition.Lincoln Drive Control, also known as continuously controlled damping, a system of sensors that electronically adjusts the suspension.Electronically assisted power steering.A new exterior look featuring Lincoln’s new signature “split-wing” grille. At the rear are Lincoln’s new full-length taillights with about 170 LEDs.Two packagesLincoln is offering the 2015 Navigator in two packages: basic Select and upscale Reserve. It also is offering two wheelbases: standard, at 119 inches, and extended, at 131.Prices start at $62,475, including shipping, for the regular wheelbase Select model with rear-wheel drive and go up to $75,065, including shipping, for the long-wheelbase Reserve edition with four-wheel drive.Carey White, Navigator marketing manager, said about 60 percent of Navigator customers trade in their old Navigators for a new one. Lincoln hopes the new vehicle will nudge the conquest rate upward.Lincoln sold 8,613 Navigators in the U.S. last year. White says the brand is aiming for sales of more than 10,000. The average age of Navigator buyers is about 61, said White, who said Lincoln is targeting younger buyers.“Our target is 50-60 years old with household income over $200,000,” he said.When dealers get sufficient volumes -- by the end of October -- Lincoln will kick off an advertising campaign, the first real advertising presence the Navigator has had since it was freshened for the 2007 model year.The Navigator began shipping from Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville earlier this month.

New Navigator rolls up to challenge Escalade

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