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GM design boss Welburn says Lincoln isn't a Cadillac rival [w/poll]

General Motors Vice President of Global Design, Ed Welburn, had some dismissive words for a certain cross-town luxury brand during an interview with Car and Driver. When asked about his thoughts on Lincoln, Welburn deflected, before saying, "I don't consider Lincoln to be a competitor for Cadillac."
"They're not a global luxury brand. I don't consider them a competitor. Are they a competitor for Buick? Quite possibly. But not for Cadillac," GM's head designer explained. Welburn, who's been at the helm of GM Design North America since 2003 and is the first to hold the position of VP of Global Design, has been instrumental in the styling renaissance at GM, so predictably, Car and Driver's interview with him focused on the design aspect of cars.
During the interview, Welburn explicitly denied plans for a reborn Cadillac XLR, even as a new Chevrolet Corvette is hitting the market and strides are being made with Cadillac's V-Series performance arm saying, "We have a lot of cars that we're working on for the Cadillac brand. The XLR is not one of them right now."

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Ford recalls over 500,000 trucks and SUVs, including Explorer, F-150, and Lincoln Aviator

For the second time in a month, Ford is recalling the brand-new 2020 Explorer and 2020 Lincoln Aviator for minor safety issues. This recall, which also affects certain 2018-2020 Ford F-150s, 2019-2020 Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks, 2018-2019 Ford Explorers, and 2019-2020 Ford Expeditions, pertains to potentially faulty seat-back reclining mechanisms. In total, the recall touches 550,186 vehicles. A mechanical part meant for relaxation and comfort has the Ford Motor Company stressin'. Ford says potentially affected vehicles might be missing the "third pawl required for seat-back strength" in the reclining mechanisms on certain seats. Because of this, the seats might not properly keep a person in place during the event of a crash or otherwise.  In the F-150s, F-Series Super Duty trucks, 2018-2019 Explorers, and Expeditions, the recall affects vehicles with manual driver and/or front passenger seat-back recliners. On the 2020 Explorers and Lincoln Aviators, rear outboard seats with manual recliners are of concern. Of the more than 550,000 vehicles, 483,325 vehicles are in the United States, 58,712 are in Canada and 8,149 are in Mexico. Thus far, Ford is not aware of any injuries from the issues. Ford says it expects most vehicles will not need repair, but dealers will inspect the seat structures out of precaution. If fault is found, dealers will replace the seat structure altogether. For this recall, Ford's reference number is 19C07. Contact your dealer for more information. Featured Gallery 2020 Ford Explorer View 47 Photos Recalls Ford Lincoln Truck SUV