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Lincoln takes to the Super Bowl with Twitter schizophrenia

Lincoln has officially pulled off the wraps on its ad for this year's Super Bowl. As you may recall, the company invited people to send in their tweets to help craft the spot's story line with Jimmy Fallon in the director's chair. The company chose five tweets and ran with them, and the result is, well, about as focused as your average online comment thread. We do get plenty of shots of the all-new Lincoln MKZ, as well as at least one comment on the interior leather's suppleness.
Do we learn a single thing about the brand's new honey? Nope. But there's a turtle crossing, a band of bikers, a German farming student and herd of alpacas. Mostly, the ad just makes us tired. You can check out the full spot before it airs during the big game by watching it below. We'll be busy preparing for the alpacalypse.
AOL Autos' associate editor Peter Bigelow went deeper in his criticism. Have a read: Lincoln's Super Bowl Ad is A Flop.

2024 Lincoln Nautilus pricing is already out, and it's up

The new 2024 Lincoln Nautilus was just revealed, but now pricing is already out. Not only is pricing available to walk through, but Lincoln opened up its configurator and is allowing you to build and price one. As you might expect from a new generation with a whole lot more features, the base price is up. A 2024 Nautilus Premiere starts at $51,810, including the $1,395 destination charge — weÂ’ll note that the new Nautilus will be built in China now, but the destination fee is the same as the Canadian-built 2023 model. Overall, the new Nautilus is $5,590 more than the outgoing version. Considering that AWD is now standard equipment, and the plethora of additional tech/features now present in this new generation, the increase is no surprise. The Nautilus comes with a gas-only 2.0-liter turbo engine as standard equipment, but you can select the hybrid option for an extra $1,500. LincolnÂ’s mid-level trim is the Reserve at $56,145, which adds “premium” leather seats in the first and second rows, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, unique “jewel” accented grille and 21-inch wheels instead of the 19-inch wheels standard on the Premiere. Both the Premiere and Reserve have very expensive packages that group together a bunch of premium options — weÂ’d recommend reading through them on the configurator to see if theyÂ’re must-haves for your needs. If you want BlueCruise 1.2 (hands-free driver assist system) or one of the available Revel audio systems, though, youÂ’ll need to select one of these packages. Per usual with Lincoln, the Black Label trim is the range-topper. It comes with nearly every option as standard equipment and starts at $75,860. The biggest choices you can make here are powertrain — Lincoln still charges $1,500 extra for the hybrid in the Black Label — and then picking your exterior and interior color themes. Chalet, a cream and brown theme, or Redwood, a reddish-brown and black theme, can be selected on the inside. ThereÂ’s a $3,000 Jet Appearance Package available, too, which comes with unique wheels, fully-blacked-out exterior trim and a unique interior. You can even spend $2,000 on LincolnÂ’s fancy, new Chroma Caviar Dark Grey Metallic paint, the most expensive color in the catalog. Check all of these boxes, and you can get a Nautilus up to $82,360. At that price, you could buy an entry-level Navigator or a well-equipped Aviator.

Ford rakes in record $2.5b profit during Q1 of 2016

Fears that the auto industry is due for a downturn may be fading. Ford posted record profits in the first quarter of 2016, the company announced Thursday. Chief financial officer Bob Shanks said Ford enjoyed its best quarterly performance in history, generating operating profits of $3.8 billion and a record profit margin of 9.8 percent. Overall, the company's $2.5 billion profit in the quarter more than doubled from the 2015 quarterly results. "The first quarter was an absolutely terrific start to the year, an all-time record for the company, with very strong performance across the business," said chief executive officer Mark Fields. "We're excited about our future and confident in our ability to deliver long-term growth and profitability as we expand our business model to be both an auto and a mobility company." During the quarter, Ford announced the creation of Ford Smart Mobility, a new subsidiary that would vet future mobility projects in the realm of car-sharing, fractional ownership and autonomous deployment. The company also kicked off a billion-dollar makeover of its Dearborn, Michigan campus and headquarters. The company's after-tax earnings of $0.68 per share trumped Wall Street's expectations, and were significantly up from $0.39 per share a year ago. The results were buoyed by the company's fourth consecutive quarter of growth in Europe, which comes after a long period of stagnant sales. Ford's earnings results come amid reports that April car sales are on pace to jump 4 percent year over year, which would make it the best-selling April in history. Kelley Blue Book projects that car sales will reach 1.51 million this month, placing the industry on track for 17.5 million vehicles sold in 2016. Even as SUV and crossover sales drive the market, analysts say Nissan and Honda are positioned to benefit from renewed interest in mid-size cars. "Following a disappointing March, we expect sales to get back on track in April with SAAR in the mid-17 million range," said Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book. "Increased fleet sales and rising incentive spending among automakers remain the factors to watch, but the retail demand appears to be holding steady, signaling the industry's strong run isn't over quite yet." Related Video: Image Credit: Getty Earnings/Financials Ford Lincoln 5g Connectivity mobility auto industry financial