Lincoln a no-show at Portland International Auto Show

[Cosmos36]

This year, Lincoln vehicles were conspicuous by their total absence at the PDX Auto Show, the largest such event in the Pacific Northwest. Last year, Lincoln's display was a faint-hearted, dimly lit attempt to be vaguely present, but at least a Nautilus and a locked pre-production Aviator was on display. Perhaps last year's dispute over the failure of Lincoln Motor Company to gain display space in the 'Luxury Loft' along with Lexus, Jag, BMW, Volvo, Mercedes, etc. contributed to Lincoln's demise this year. On the other hand, Lincoln is not (generally speaking) a hugely popular brand in this corner of the U.S. vis-à-vis Subaru, for example.

 

The wow-factor was satisfied this year by the Corvette Stingray...WOW! However, I was extremely turned off by the omnipresence of piano black (aka gloss black) film in so many vehicle interiors...an owner's nightmare when detailing. Also, the large upright infotainment displays of some manufacturers were disturbing to me...other brands were attractive, well integrated and less intrusive. And, the wife mentioned an observation that I also concluded early in the show...with a few exceptions, the fit-finish, quality, and features of many economy and popular-priced vehicles are commensurate with what's available on those costing 3X-4X more. And finally, there were as many e-vehicles/hybrids displayed this year across all brands as were the total number of conventional models at auto shows of past decades. But, maybe we would prefer battery power to a buzzing 4-cylinder engine.

[elijahbird7]

The Chicago Auto Show always has two local news stations record a one hour program about the show.  In previous years, they would go through each Brand of cars present, showing what was new.  They no longer do that, only showing customers playing video games and Jeeps going up and down high "roads" and showing whatever is going on outside with acceleration runs.  Very boring.  Lincoln was there though and one female broadcaster said her favorite car there was a Corsair, but never showed it...