Ford has been throwing some curve balls at us in recent years. The new Bronco, the baby Bronco (the Bronco Sport), and producing an electric crossover with the word "Mustang" in the name were fairly substantial surprises to pretty much everyone when they first launched. Now though, if you want to have even the faintest clue about what the blue oval and its luxury division, Lincoln, may do next, you may want to look to China, something the CEO Jim Farley seems rather keen on.
For starters, there is the basic way cars as a whole are used in China. Over there cars are not just seen as a way to get to and from points A and B, but also as a place to transition from work to home.
With how crowded it is in urban China, not to mention that an entire extended family might live together in the same space, behind the wheel is one of few places the Chinese motorist can get some alone time to decompress.
As a result of this and other work-related developments related to COVID-19, it is not unheard of to start and end your work day in the car during the commute in China.
Farley says this means that what we typically think of as automotive luxury will dramatically change from slabs of wood, strips of leather, and blocks of metal to the most user-friendly and interactive software and user experience available.
According to Farley, manufacturers may be looking to take a similar approach to luxury that Apple has always done with the iPhone.
Farley told Newsweek "We probably love our analog watches, but what makes a premium Apple Watch or iPhone? It’s not the physical form. When we go digital the ’premiumness’ comes from different things rather than the physical body structure. It will come from software."
"Now it’s going to be our software, our autonomous features. Customers are wealthier in Lincoln so yes, I’m going to push our team saying, ’Yes, I want our most advanced partial autonomy system in a Lincoln. I want the very best display technology, the best integration of all of this complicated information coming into the car" said Farley.
It may seem a tad ridiculous but think about it, what is more, irritating and less luxurious than an old laptop or infotainment system that is flat-out bad? Your heart rate increases as you furiously stab and curse at the "touch" screen or sticky trackpad.
We may see Lincoln get special features that may eventually make their way to lesser Ford products. Sort of like how GM’s "autonomous" driving software Super Cruise was at first only available on Cadillacs but is now on other higher profile GMC and Chevrolet models.