Lincoln’s All-New 2019 Aviator SUV Comes With An Orchestra
The brand’s newest SUV ups the ante with musical alerts composed and played by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, hybrid performance and the ability to use your phone instead of a key
Lincoln‘s all-new 2019 Aviator is a large, three-row SUV that sits just below the brand’s largest SUV, the Navigator. It’s the first vehicle from Lincoln that’s been designed from the ground up using the brand’s “Quiet Flight” strategy.
The strategy aims to make the owner’s experience of purchasing, owning and driving the the vehicle as stress-free as possible and to exude an air of confident luxury. The Aviator also boasts the brand’s latest technology and an all-new platform. “We’re making sure that we put a few things first: beauty, human gliding and sanctuary,” says Megan McKenzie, Lincoln’s marketing manager for SUVs.
It’s available as a plug-in hybrid that provides combined or limited all-electric driving. There’s an “air glide” option that automates the lowering and raising of the suspension for easier access and optimal driving height; a camera-powered adaptive suspension system views the road ahead and adjusts the vehicle’s suspension accordingly; drivers can use a smart-phone as the entry (and start) key; “Co-Pilot 360,” the brand’s newest suite of assisted driving features, provides more autonomy to the vehicle than ever.
In what is likely the first of its kind, Lincoln commissioned the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to create musical alerts for the Aviator—actual recorded music—which announce 25 of the car’s various functions.
Nodding again to their more human-focused simpler luxury Lincoln turned to classical music for the often annoying noises a car can make. Your passenger is not wearing their seatbelt? You’ll hear a few chords on the marimba to encourage them to buckle up. It’s a gentler touch that exemplifies Lincoln’s “Quiet Flight” strategy.
“This is something that we think is core to ‘quiet flight’ and creating that sanctuary,” McKenzie says. “It is part of our DNA.”
“This vehicle is obviously super-confident. You can look at the nose of the vehicle: there’s this uprightness and the taper towards the back. All of the lines falling towards the back have this kind of in flight gesture,” chief designer, Kemal Curić says.
But the vehicle also translates that sense of in-flight service to its grounded moments. “As you walk up an approach to the vehicle, it’s going to lower to greet you so that it’s easier for you to get in and out and to load things into the rear,” McKenzie continues, touching on the more luxurious features of the vehicle. Because the car recognizes your presence (thanks to your connected phone) it allows you to approach the rear and wave your leg under the rear to open the tail gate with your hands full. “All of those different things are already taken into account through the vehicle, through the technology, using that airplane suspension.”
The aeronautical theme is most prominent in the Aviator’s Black Label edition—outfitted with a “luggage leather” interior, bright blue engine turn appliqués that refer to the brand’s legacy 12 cylander engines and nods to early aviation instruments.
From the luxurious touches inside to technological advances and the thoughtful, orchestral alerts, the new Aviator promises to be a dream drive, and is a solid new addition to Lincoln’s line up of American luxury SUVs. The all-new Aviator arrives at dealers in the summer of 2019. Learn more here.
Images courtesy of Lincoln
