Rather than being the empty gesture many people thought it was going to be, the relocation of Lincoln-Mercury from Detroit to Southern California began a process that's actually moving the brands into areas not currently inhabited by its Ford big brother.
At the LA auto show this week, the Lincoln Mercury Corporation (as it's now called, with a deliberate pause where the hyphen used to be) showed off four concept vehicles that aren't supposed to be on the agenda for Ford. And, most interesting of all, the concept car that will turn into a production vehicle is the most unique of the quartet -- the Lincoln Blackwood, which can only be described as a luxury sport-utility pickup, sort of.
Each of the four leather-trimmed buckets has its own access door and there's an enclosed 56-inch pickup bed (or trunk, as Lincoln likes to describe it) with a power lid. Lincoln likes to call it the Ultimate Utility Vehicle and compares it as often as possible with its hugely successful Navigator sport-utility. This comparison is Lincoln's way of preparing potential purchasers for the pricetag Blackwood will carry when it does arrive. It will be, as you might expect, prodigious.
"The popularity of the Lincoln Navigator and the continued evolution of utility vehicles led to the development of this luxury utility concept," said J Mays, Ford Motor Company's vice-president of design. Mays explained that "Blackwood is an example of the wide range of possibilities left to be explored."
A button on the remote keyfob lifts the lid on the cargo bed to a 45-degree angle from the back of the passenger compartment. With the lid up, the double doors of the tailgate open to the sides and allow access to the bed/trunk.