Cars.com 2004 Auto Show

Calling the Mark LT “the industry’s first luxury pickup truck,” Lincoln seems to be disavowing its Blackwood, as buyers largely did when it arrived in showrooms in 2002 after a lengthy delay. “This will do substantially better in part because the functionality is higher,” said Darryl Hazel, Lincoln-Mercury president. “The 4x2 and 4x4 is available from the beginning and there’s no restriction on color.”

The Blackwood was rear-wheel drive only, and it only came in black.

The notion of a luxury pickup baffles many, but growth in annual sales from 1.1 million to 2.3 million units within the past decade has been fueled by consumers who buy the vehicles for personal use. Lincoln believes that demand and further growth exist for luxury pickup variants as it does for SUVs.

“Who will buy a luxury vehicle that can work as hard as this one?” Hazel asked. “People who own land, have big toys and know how to work, travel and play in style.

“You can see where the market’s going,” he added. “I think people are much more interested in expressing themselves distinctly. This vehicle allows them to do that. But it also allows them to legitimately perform work functions. We don’t say that this is for everyone, but there’s a clear niche and we really are very optimistic.”

Equipped with the F-150’s uplevel 300-horsepower, 5.4-liter Triton V-8 engine as standard equipment, the Mark LT can tow 8,900 pounds and haul up to 1,620 pounds of payload.

The Mark LT is recognizable as a Lincoln, as it borrows from the Navigator’s styling. It has similar taillights and grille, the latter bearing a solid center upright. The whole truck is fairly festooned with chrome and other brightwork. Of the two vehicles, the Mark LT is closer to what the eventual production vehicle will be, but it is not a final prototype. For example, J Mays, Ford Motor’s group vice president of design, said the grille on the Mark X concept introduced here would influence future Lincoln grilles, potentially including the Mark LT’s.

“We’re still working on all the grilles, frankly,” said Hazel, “but what you see is pretty close to what you’ll see when it comes out.”

The interior is similarly in question. Now that the F-150 has such high-quality interiors, one wonders what Lincoln will have to do to one-up them. The Mark LT show truck’s cabin is indeed lush, with pale-yellow leather and enough brightwork to match the exterior, but we’ll have to wait for the production version to see if the quality endures. There are many Lincoln design cues, but overall the interior design resembles the Ford F-150’s more than it does the Navigator’s.

Asked what volume Lincoln plans for the Mark LT, Jim O’Connor, Ford North America vice president, said, “We’ll probably do around 15,000, maybe a little more.”

Pricing is not finalized, but Hazel said the LT would be “very competitively priced. It will be less than a Blackwood.”

The Lincoln Blackwood’s original sticker price was $51,785.

The Aviator Concept is more of a traditional concept car, replete with a glass roof and 21-inch wheels. The model year remains unknown, but Lincoln has committed to the use of this platform. The change reduces the maximum occupant count from seven to five, with no third-row seat, though the two rows present are both adjustable. Phil Martens, Ford Motor Co. group vice president of product creation, said, “When you really look at the usage profile of the Aviator, most often it’s a five-seat package. People use the seven seats occasionally.” Martens said the vehicle could be stretched to accommodate another row of seats, but “that might be a separate product.” He gave no further details, but Automotive News today reported that Mercury will market a sport wagon, possibly based on the 2005 Ford Freestyle, which has three rows of seats.

The smaller platform also has reduced cargo capacity in the concept. The Aviator Concept has 30 cubic feet of cargo volume between its combination liftgate/tailgate and the backseat, which is greater than the 13.8 cubic feet behind the current Aviator’s third row but falls short of the 44.5 cubic feet behind its second row when row three is folded.

Another feature that’s likely to appear in the next-generation Aviator is a new 3.5-liter Duratec V-6 engine that generates 245 hp and 240 pounds-feet of torque. The concept also has a six-speed-automatic transmission, all-wheel drive and Hill Descent Control (HDC). Developed by Ford’s Land Rover division, HDC uses antilock braking to allow the vehicle to descend a steep incline in a more controlled manner than a driver could achieve by modulating the brakes manually.

If the production Aviator adopts this feature, it will expand Ford’s spreading of its divisions’ best technologies and hardware to other brands.