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NEWS & OPINION; Auto Talk - Lincoln Blackwood - Brief Article
Reitzle on Blackwood SUV: `This is American Luxury' The U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York last month formed the backdrop for Lincoln's preview of the production-ready Blackwood, a new upscale model that looks like a jumbo luxury sport/utility with a pickup bed in back.
Lincoln says the Blackwood breaks all the rules of luxury vehicles, completely erasing the lines between luxury cars, sport/utilities and pickups. It is scheduled to go on sale in the first half of next year and, according to Jim Rogers, Lincoln's general marketing manager, it will be expensive. No precise price was announced, but $50,000 was hinted.
The Blackwood will be built on an F-150 pickup truck line at Ford's Kansas City plant. Mr. Rogers says that Lincoln intends to sell less than 10,000 Blackwoods in its first full year.
Gerry McGovern, chief of Lincoln Mercury design, describes the Blackwood as epitomizing American luxury. When Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, saw the Blackwood, he lifted both arms and said, "This is American luxury."
>From the front to the B-pillar, the Blackwood is virtually identical >to the Lincoln Navigator and offers the same drivetrain. The 5.4L >300-hp V-8 is mated with the 4R1000 4-speed automatic transmission.
The Blackwood has a front suspension consisting of coil springs and shock absorbers with variable-rate damping. The rear suspension is a hybrid of leaf and air springs that Lincoln claims eliminates abrupt spring-rate transitions that occur in conventional truck leaf spring designs.
The unique back end is climaxed by the 27.5-cu.-ft. brushed stainless steel trunk that's covered with side-hinged Dutch doors and an automatic tonneau top that can't be removed. The top opens electrically with the touch of a button, either from the key fob, interior overhead console or through a code on the driver's door keypad. The tonneau is equipped with pinch protection and safety sensors that reverse the motor if an obstruction is detected. The "trunk" - Lincoln insists the rear is not a pickup bed - is lit by light-emitting-diode (LED) strips.
Although the Blackwood's interior is roomy enough for six, it has only four bucket seats. The front seats can be heated and cooled, depending on weather conditions. Front and rear seats are separated by consoles with molded-in cupholders. There is a seven-speaker Alpine audio system. The only optional feature is a console-integrated satellite-based navigation system.
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