Case Study

Lincoln Gives Its Big SUV a Face-Lift

Ford Plans to Formally Unveil the Restyled Navigator at the Chicago Auto Show

By 

JOSEPH B. WHITE 

The face that launched a thousand supertankers is getting a makeover.

Ford Motor Co. F -2.28% 's Lincoln brand is giving a new face and some new features to its venerable Lincoln Navigator, the model that jump-started the fad for supersize, fuel-thirsty luxury sport-utility vehicles when it first made its debut in the late 1990s.

The restyled Lincoln Navigator from Ford. Ford Motor Co.

General Motors Co. GM -2.65% 's rival Cadillac brand at first balked at following the Navigator, then countered with its own plus-size Escalade SUV, which later grew into a family of luxury versions of GM's largest SUV models.

A four-wheel drive 1999 Navigator had an estimated fuel economy of 12 miles per gallon in city and highway driving. That later improved to 15 miles per gallon. The 2008 recession and a series of gasoline price spikes slashed sales of the Navigator and Escalade, and ultimately killed off GM's Hummer brand of big, high-price SUVs.

But the Navigator and the Escalade survived and both are now getting makeovers. GM is planning to roll out a redesigned Escalade this spring. The revamped Navigator will be in showrooms this fall, Ford said in a statement. Ford sold just 8,613 Navigators last year, up 2.9% from a year earlier, but about a fifth of the model's peak sales in 1998.

The refreshed Navigator will get a new grille, with horizontal wings like its smaller siblings, the Lincoln MKZ sedan and Lincoln MKC compact utility vehicle. A new package of options will include 22-inch wheels and leather wrapped seats in all three rows.

Lincoln plans to formally unveil the restyled Navigator at the Chicago auto show.