Spy Photos: 2013 Lincoln MKT Drops the Waterfall Grille

I agree with p71 above. The JC Whitney grill makes the current version look polished.

I agree too.

To me, the current Lincoln grill design is flat out repulsive and is as big a turn off as the "smiley grill" that Acura used for a couple of years. I definitely would not buy one, based on the grill alone.

p71, I see you are still at it with your anti-Ford tirades. We miss you at BON........(not!)

It does look better. At least they got rid of the overbite look. I still don't think it will sell well. If the rest of the car looked as good as the interior, and performed as well as the Eco-Boost......it would have been successful.

The updated grille looks worse. Especially on the passenger side where much of the plastic areas are visibly closed off. The grille slat style wasn't the problem. Lincoln needs to get rid of the overall mustache shape.

Oh Timmy....still bitter I see.....clearly you do miss me...hell, you cheerleaders talk about me more now than when I was there...including the 'selective enforcer'!
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This is typical Ford...this is one of their seven new/refreshed models for Lincoln...which makes it very clear Ford has no plan with Lincoln and that the half-assed re-badges will continue.

Remember, Saint Al said Ford was 100% committed to Mercury at the end of January 2010....and then at the end of May/Early June, Mercury was killed.

So take it with a grain of salt when Ford says anything....and specifically when they flap their lips about Lincoln.

Ick is that ever worse. It looks like a bad aftermarket "solution"...

Dear Lincoln-

Please do the right thing and just drop the FLEX MKT altogether. It's just looks way too much like a futuristic hearse.

As for the revised grille; I'll wait till I see it on the MKS or MKZ before I make a final judgement.

Am I the only one who cringes when they see one of these new painfully grilled Lincolns on the road? Powerful ugly.

Good news for Ford, Lincoln still looks like crap even with the new and improved whale grill! Now it looks like a Bayleen whale!

Ahhh...mattie the crybaby....I see the Ford bashing continues...did you get new paneling in moms basement yet?

Sorry....I think it is a nice re-fresh....MKT sales have no where to go but up, and this should help...

I like it. I think when it's fully shown, that the grill will better fit the style of the vehicle. Also, not all of the chrome is factory finished yet. When it is, It'll give a much more upscale look.

I agree with most of the posters: I prefer the old grill. Nonetheless, whichever grill it has, it still looks like a hearse...

Here's an idea for Lincoln--make a super luxury version of the Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD.

"Ahhh...mattie the crybaby....I see the Ford bashing continues...did you get new paneling in moms basement yet? "

Ford bashing??? Not sure where you are getting that...but I do like how all the Ford apologists yell and scream that it doesn't matter how many of these terrible vehicles they sell a month...because regardless of how many they sell, Ford is making tons of money on them because they share so much with other vehicles....but then, in response to the half-assed refresh that we see above, they say things like, "well...they only sell 400 a month so they had a limited budget...". So which is it...either it makes tons of money (not a chance...it's lost money since day one) or it doesn't make money and that is why this refresh consisted of swapping one horrendous grille for another (BINGO!).

Oh and BTW TT, I bought a Ford powered vehicle in July...so...I'm really not a Ford basher as you falsely put it...

I'll reserve final judgement for when the production version is shown, but based on these pic's I don't think the fine slat version is a particular improvement over the wide slat

Yikes, I don't think that new grille is an improvement either, just awful.

Adding my voice to the "new looks worse" chorus...

The 2013 Lincoln MKT.

Now with even more Baleen whale.

P71: "clearly you do miss me."

LOL, no not even a bit. I saw you on here..people should know that you've been kicked out of several car forums for rudeness and not following rules. Your reputation follows you.

Anyway, Lincoln has new designers, 3 billion dollars, and has thinned out the overlapping dealerships. Although the MKT is a newer design it's not their long range future. Ford, due to PAG and Nasser, ignored Lincoln since 1998 when they were still quite successful in terms of volume........and the last year of the Mark VIII btw.

If Hyundai can make a $67K Equus, Lincoln, (which has more cache as a LUXURY brand) with the right cars (RWD sedan/coupe for two) can make a worthy come back.

Agreed with the masses...new looks worse, like a bad eBay aftermarket grille. Ick.

Timmmm55:

Uhh..."several"??? Try one...because I was a Ford owner on a Ford site...who didn't blindly agree with everything Ford did. That, and challenging the moderators to back ANY of their assertions...which they couldn't do.

And Lincoln has ONE billion dollars...not three. Get your facts straight.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/21/ford-pumping-1-billion-into-lincoln-revival/

Ford has no idea what they are doing with Lincoln...hell, Ford is still a mess. Ford needs to invest AT LEAST $1 billion in every single Lincoln model to make the "transformation" even remotely successful. One billion over several models gets you a new grille and that's about it.

As is so often the case, Ford fails yet again.

Will Lincoln try to reintroduce the Explorer-based Aviator? (hopefully not; but just wondering....)

I try to refrain from making negative comments about cars- but this bears a striking resemblance to a humpback whale.

Dont like it...it reminds me of the front grill on an old Mitsubishi Galant....I never liked the front grill on an old Mitsubishi Galant.......both look like an old gas furnace you would tell you're children to stay away from to avoid being burned.

Looks like someone went to Auto Zone and purchased a plastic chrome plated grille and slapped it on. All we need now is a decal of Calvin pissing on a Cadillac symbol and the refresh will be complete!

Frankly I see absolutely no improvement here. If this is what Lincoln has in mind for their future then they should indeed just shut the whole thing down.

They obviously have the same team that created the original which was incredibly appealing to only a few designers and a small few customers.

It shouldn't hurt anyone that is a "Ford", "Lincoln" fan when they hear comments that are critical of these designs. These same designers gave the Navigator the awful 'Makeover' by adding the Garish Grill and Long Taillights to what was a simple elegant design.

All Lincoln has to do, is get in the same design language they had in the late 90's and 00's when the looks were somewhat distinctive, but not overly so. Much better sales numbers than.

Just compare today's Escalade with Today's Navigator, or SRX with this MkT, sure some people may like Lincolns better, but Sales numbers talk far better than any comments on IL or any other Blog.

Good luck Lincoln I'm rooting for you but not sure anyone in the Design house is speaking honestly with each other. Seek out the negative opinions and listen!

How 'bout that 96' Taurus that all Fords Designers went gaga over?? Look what that did to those Sales numbers...Please come out and get some constructive criticism or you'll end up like the Designer of the AMC Pacer who said, "I will go to my grave wondering why that car didn't sell?"

Wow great job lincoln you managed to make an already ugly car even uglier with this new baleen whale grill, and simultaneously make it look cheap as well. This looks like some cheap bad aftermarket grill kit......Lincoln has lost it completely. They should have just killed this thing off, decided whether they want to be a luxury brand or marginally nicer fords, and make their products look better better, driver better, and more competitive such a shame once a great american legend......

After market crappy billet grille anyone? That looks so cheap. Save yourselves Lincoln.

I liked the old grille better than this proposed new one...Otherwise, I still wouldn't buy either one.

I think the new grille looks slightly better than the old but, when the light is hitting it, you can see that the actual grille opening is only about a third the size of the grille.

The rear end still looks like *ss.

Ewww. It looks like a filter-feeder.

I see a Mitsubishi Diamante... Anybody else?

The new grille is marginally better. If this is all Lincoln can do to this vehicle for next year, clearly the bosses at Ford are still don't have a clue what they're going to do at the luxury division. I'll assume they're seeing what's going on in the market and will then use one of the new platforms that are now available? They better soon do something to better compete in the luxury market.

Sigh, they have given us some great cars over the years. What happened?

This is the perfect hearse to bury the Lincoln legend with. As a Mopar guy I laughed all day when I saw these pictures of this poor job of facial reconstruction. it looks like a high school metal shop put this new grille together. I always thought Lincoln's grille was the least of it's problems but this new look is cheap and hideous. As an American, I'm sad to see another great historical Detroit carline on it's deathbed. Tragically done in by cheap plastic surgery. This "new and improved" MKT crossoverthing is the first factory vehicle to ever look like it was designed for a campy TV show like the Munsters or Batman. Chuck Barris would have loved this grille but executed it better.

I think it should be called the MKV it looks more like a minivan than the R class. The back end needs a lot of work too, they need to do something to make it look less like a PT Cruiser is Humping a 1990s Mark 8.

I badly want Lincoln to experience the renaissance that Cadillac has achieved, but it ain't going to happen until they dump all of their stylists. Every single one of them. Otherwise, they need to save themselves the time and money and pull the plug.

i like the front design but... ewww wtf rear is so ugly... i thougt this is chinese car loll..