Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant will build the new Lincoln MKC, the company announced today.Production on the small premium utility vehicle is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2014.No new jobs are planned for the production of the 2015 Lincoln MKC, but the vehicle is expected to add to the security of the plant.Lisa Drake is the chief engineer for the Lincoln MKC.The Lincoln MKC includes features such as a built in modem and something Lincoln is calling “approach detection.”“If you have your key fob in your briefcase or in your purse, as you’re approaching the vehicle it will actually intuitively know that you’re within a certain perimeter and it will turn on your signature lights in the front and your rear taillights and also shine a Lincoln welcome mat onto the ground," she says.The base price for the Lincoln MKC is $33,995, she says.She says the small premium utility vehicle segment has grown 200 percent over the past five years.The Lincoln MKC and the Escape are similar sizes, but will be largely different, she says.“Although it doesn’t share most of its underpinnings— we have unique brake system, unique suspension and other things—we did have some facilities equipped in Louisville to be able to take the new MKC product," Drake says. "Although we did put substantial investment in the plant in order to build the Lincoln and with the level of quality that would be needed to compete in this segment.”The car should be in showcase rooms by late spring or early summer of 2014. Here's from the news release:
