2022 Lincoln Navigator
Lincoln
DETROIT – Ford Motor plans to expand its hands-free freeway driving system to the automaker’s luxury brand Lincoln with the 2022 Navigator SUV starting next year.
The system enables hands-free driving on more than 130,000 miles of dedicated highways in North America. It controls the speed and steering of the vehicle and at the same time monitors the driver’s attention through an infrared camera system.
The technology will be called ActiveGlide for Lincoln instead of BlueCruise, which the company claims will be used for the Ford brand.
Ford’s systems are similar to General Motors’ super-cruise technology and would also compete against Tesla’s autopilot, which federal security agencies opened a formal investigation against Monday based on reported accidents.
2022 Lincoln Navigator
Lincoln
No vehicle sold today is completely self-driving. All driver assistance systems still require the driver’s attention.
Lincoln’s ActiveGlide will be standard on the top two trims of the Navigator. The company declined to reveal prices for the 2022 models. The average price paid for the SUV this year is around $ 92,000, officials said.
The addition of ActiveGlide is part of a multitude of updates to Lincoln’s flagship SUV for the 2022 model year. Other changes include interior and exterior design tweaks, over-the-air updates and the integrated voice assistant Amazon Alexa. It also adds two new interior options for its high-end Black Label model.
2022 Lincoln Navigator
Lincoln
“Navigator is our flagship product for Lincoln. It’s the ultimate expression of who the brand is,” Laura Clark, Navigator’s brand manager, told CNBC in an interview. “We are really very proud of this vehicle.”
The SUV Navigator, which was completely redesigned in 2018, is an extremely important vehicle for Lincoln. It brings in younger, wealthier buyers, and is responsible for roughly 33% of the brand’s conquering customers, according to Clark.
Navigator sales were up 33% through July compared to the same period last year. The company sold 15,252 Navigator SUVs in 2020. By comparison, GM sold 24,547 Cadillac Escalades last year – Navigator’s main competitor.
