Black Inside Woodgrained Mate. Flat Touch Screen Radio All Seats Are Heated&cool on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lincoln Aviator concept takes a shine to Shinola

At the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Lincoln is displaying a special Aviator concept that was created in collaboration with the Detroit-based Shinola brand of watches and accessories. The SUV features unique exterior design elements, but the most eye-catching aspects are found in the cabin. The interior is awash in Shinola's whiskey-colored leather, which for once in an automobile actually looks like real cowhide. The rich, brown hue contrasts sharply with off-white cloth seat inserts and more off-white on the dash and door panels. Tying the two colors together is a neat center stripe on the seats that is another Shinola signature design element. The dash and center console also are adorned with a metal mesh trim, said to be inspired by Shinola watch bands. The exterior, meanwhile, is finished in pearl white, similar to Shinola's mother of pearl watch faces. The wheels and grille insert are matte copper. For now, the Aviator Shinola concept is just a design exercise. But a good portion of the Lincoln brand's recent comeback can be attributed to its emphasis on interior design, and specifically, an imaginative use of color and materials. So, we could see Lincoln making a collaboration like this official. After all, they've done it before. A Shinola Aviator is just the hipper, modern version of the same idea that sold the Continental Mark V back in the day, as the commercial below reminds us. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Driving the Lincoln Aviator and flogging Abarths at Laguna Seca | Autoblog Podcast #593

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. To begin, Greg takes a moment to remember the fastest woman on four wheels and former host of Autoblog's "The List," Jessi Combs, who died this week. Then our editors turn their attention to the cars they've been driving, including the Lincoln Aviator, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier, as well as Joel's recent stint in the Fiat 500 Abarth and Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, including track time at Laguna Seca. Finally, they turn their attention to a listener in Germany who is looking to replace an aging Volkswagen Eos with a newer convertible in this week's "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #593 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Remembering Jessi Combs 2020 Lincoln Aviator and Aviator Grand Touring 2019 Ford Ranger 2019 Nissan Frontier 2019 Fiat 500 Abarth and 124 Spider Abarth at Laguna Seca Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.  

Dealers mobilize to protect their margins from automaker subscription services

Six individual auto brands — Lincoln, Cadillac, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo — have established or are trialing a vehicle subscription service in the U.S. Three third-party companies — Flexdrive, Clutch and Carma — run brand-agnostic subscription services. And three automakers — Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and General Motors — have also launched short-term rental services. Dealers, afraid of how these trends might affect their margins, are building political and lawmaking campaigns to protect their revenue streams. So far, three states are investigating automaker subscriptions, and Indiana has banned any such service until next year. It's certain that those three states are the first fronts in a long political and legal battle. Powerful dealer franchise laws mandate the existence of dealers and restrict how automakers are allowed to interact with customers to sell a vehicle. On top of that, Bob Reisner, CEO of Nassau Business Funding & Services, said, "Dealers and their associations are among the strongest political operators in many states. They as a group are difficult for state politicians to vote against." In California earlier this year, the state Assembly debated a bill with wide-ranging provisions to protect against what the California New Car Dealers Association called "inappropriate treatment of dealers by manufacturers." One of those provisions stipulated that subscription services need to go through dealers, but that item got stripped out when dealers and manufacturers agreed to discuss the matter further. In Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a moratorium on all subscription programs by dealers or manufacturers until May 1, 2019, to give legislators more time to investigate. Dealers in New Jersey have taken their campaign to the state capitol, asking that the cars in subscription programs get a different classification for registration purposes. Automakers run the current subscription services and own the vehicles. Sign-ups and financial transactions happen online or through apps, leaving dealers to do little more than act as fulfillment centers to various degrees, with little legal recourse as to compensation amounts when they're called on to deliver or service a car. That's a bad base to build on for business owners who've sunk millions of dollars into their operations.