Future Lincoln: The Luxury Car Stylings of 2025

Future Lincoln: The Luxury Car Stylings of 2025

When Ford killed Mercury but kept Lincoln alive in 2010, it was clear the automaker still had hopes for the struggling luxury brand. That same year, Max Wolff became Lincoln's first-ever design director, tasked with revitalizing the brand's image. Previously, Wolff had been a pivotal member of the Cadillac team during its own design overhaul. Fresh styling cues, such as Lincoln's waterfall grille, have trickled into the lineup over the past few years, but the MKZ concept, which debuted at the 2012 Detroit auto show, was supposed to show off a bold new design direction. Reviews, however, were mixed.

Now Wolff and his team are not limiting themselves to their own ideas. They recently teamed up with the transportation design department at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit to mine the minds of the industry's next generation of designers. To provide real-w orld experience for the students, CCS classes often collaborate with carmakers on design projects, but the relationship is mutually beneficial: Automakers scope out top talent and reap a little inspiration in the process.

For fall 2011, Ford and Lincoln challenged CCS students in the senior studio class to design a 2025 Lincoln with seating for four or more. Each student had to select a target market for the vehicle, and the design had to be viable (sorry, no fusion-powered carbon-fiber coupes this time). They then spent two weeks researching, six weeks sketching and rendering, and six weeks creating one-quarter-scale clay models. Each week members of the Lincoln design team would drop in to provide guidance. At the end of the semester the school selected four of the top models for exhibition at the 2012 Detroit auto show. These are the four models that made the cut, with an explanation straight from the students' mouths.

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