The Lincoln Continental Concept announces the nameplate’s comeback with the brand’s logo illuminated in the grille and embedded in the 10 headlight bulbs.
Future Product Pipeline
Ryan Beene 
Automotive News
April 6, 2015 – 12:01 am ET
Under the bright lights of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the vehicles at the New York auto show are a lot like the performers on Broadway, making grand entrances and gunning for attention — some more successfully than others.
Here’s Staff Reporter Ryan Beene’s take on some of the show’s superstars, the featured players with promise and the ones destined to wait tables for a while.
> THE STARS
Cadillac loaded the all-new CT6 flagship sedan with top-notch materials and technology.
> Cadillac CT6
Now that’s a Cadillac.
Finally, GM’s luxury brand gets the flagship it deserves and sorely needs. The CT6 has the bang-on mix of presence, panache and proportions required for a top-line luxury sedan, not to mention the best grille of Cadillac’s Art and Science design era. The interior is sumptuous, and while it lacks the simple European sophistication seen at Audi, it makes up for it in material choice and comfort, with textured woodgrain and supple leather. And it features a new digital instrument panel and high-def infotainment screen that feel gratifyingly high-tech.
Cadillac claims that advanced materials have helped give the CT6 the size of a BMW 7 series with the weight of a 5 series. If this is the direction Cadillac is moving in, the future looks promising.
The Civic concept shows Honda’s fun side.
> Honda Civic Concept
The Civic Concept heralding the 10th generation of Honda’s venerable compact was the show’s only real surprise. With it, Honda showed it’s willing to have some fun in a segment where fun can be hard to find.
The concept is an amalgamation of elements that will show up on several body styles of the production car — sedan, coupe, five-door hatchback and sporty Type R, a delight for Honda fans. The Civic comes across as a mea culpa for Honda’s widely panned 2013 model, shedding the humdrum lines for expressive sheet metal wrapping a much larger footprint. Cool details include the bold grille and halo-like taillight array — assuming those make it to production (which needs to happen).
Want more good news? The Civic will come with a 1.5-liter turbocharged Earth Dreams engine and a short-throw six speed manual. My inner 16-year-old is grinning ear to ear.
The next-gen Jaguar XF features subtle updates to its exterior, interior and stance.
> Jaguar XF
Hats off to the chaps at Jag-you-are, who have updated the XF’s exterior, interior and stance in a subtle and refined way.
At first glance, the XF looks remarkably similar to its handsome predecessor, but the new crease running through the shoulder, updated side port, and new headlights, taillights and grille combine for a strong update. A longer wheelbase and shorter overall length provide more rear legroom, a shorter overall length, a better back seat and a stronger sense of stately rear-wheel-drive proportions.
Add to that a new chassis that makes greater use of aluminum — Jaguar’s calling card — and you get a stiffer body, lighter weight and better performance.
> Kia Optima
How does one improve a design so universally praised — and impactful for its brand — as the current Kia Optima? By mostly leaving it alone.
That seems to be the path taken by Peter Schreyer and the rest of Kia’s design team for the sedan’s 2016 evolutionary redesign. The softer sheet metal loses some of the sharp edges and athleticism that made the current model such a standout. But great details abound, like the chrome accent atop the greenhouse that runs through the C-pillar, the metalwork housing of the recessed headlight blubs and the smart update to the brand’s “tiger nose” grille that integrates the design with the headlights.
Kia made a name for itself through design, and while the 2016 Optima didn’t make the same splash as its predecessor, it no longer needs to. It’s a respectable update to one of the segment standouts.
> Nissan Maxima
Nissan’s latest “4 Door Sports Car,” previewed in an emotional Super Bowl ad, drew a huge crowd in New York and showed a big change toward an edgier design direction for the sedan. The more stylized Maxima has cool elements inside and out, like the chrome line on the C-pillar that creates a wishbone-shaped greenhouse, reminiscent of the short-lived final edition of the Saab 9-5 from earlier this decade.
Inside, the center cluster is cocked toward the driver, and the interior is dressed in high-end trimmings such as soft leather and stitches on darker leather panels that match the sand interior color that distinguish the Maxima from other Nissans.
> THE UNDERSTUDIES
> Lincoln Continental Concept
Full disclosure: This reporter was far from sold on the Continental concept when photos were released over the weekend.
But under the show lights, the big Lincoln has a huge presence: long, wide and imposing with acres of chrome. The interior is over the top in its opulence, with creature comforts inspired by first-class airline travel.
Give Lincoln credit for resurrecting a classic nameplate, but the Continental veers a little too close to the Bentley Flying Spur (as Bentley design chief Luc Donckerwolke correctly pointed out on Facebook).
Also, do we really need a Lincoln logo embedded in all 10 headlight bulbs?
> Lexus RX
Want to see when Lexus’ new snarling, sharp-angled design language goes too far? Look at the shardlike window behind the C-pillar. Creative, sure, but function is being sacrificed for form. Lexus is growing into its new design language bit by bit. We’ll see if the brand’s loyal buyers feel the same.
> Chevrolet Malibu
Right next to the Optima was the latest family hauler from the General, billed as Chevrolet’s best effort yet to take a bigger slice of the brutally competitive segment.
The trouble is that the competition is brutal, so customers have come to expect a highly stylized midsize sedan driven by efficient powertrains and filled with technology.
In that sense, the Malibu merely meets expectations.
You can tell Chevy designers internalized the design mandate, giving the Malibu a coupelike roofline that’s very much in fashion these days, a scalloped side treatment and a dramatic, potentially polarizing, grille.
There are a few problems. An ill-fitting seam where the passenger side door meets the dash at the A-pillar and exposed foam under the lip of the rear seat overhangs, found on two show cars on the floor, reawaken questions about GM quality. (Chevy PR boss Tony Cervone says the foam issue was a one-off slip here at the show.)
GM has never been able to crack the midsize code during the reign of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, and while this latest Malibu is a big step in the right direction, it’s still going to be hard-pressed to steal customers from the segment heavyweights, or the Koreans.
> DON’T CALL US. WE’LL CALL YOU.
The Scion iA, the brand’s first sedan, is a badge-engineered Mazda2 built in Mexico.
> Mitsubishi Outlander
Mitsubishi executives made much of the 100 changes that were made to its compact crossover, but the reality is that the Outlander is a carryover product with a new grille, fascia and taillights.
In fairness, Mitsubishi says it updated the suspension quite a bit, too, and installed lots of materials to quiet the ride.
But for a brand needing a breakout statement, this Outlander needed to say more.
> Scion iA
Scion’s first sedan is really the Mexico-built Mazda2 in all places but the nose, adding more disarray to Scion’s lineup. Mazda’s new products are sharp-looking and great to drive, but badge engineering never leads to good things. Just ask GM.
You can reach Ryan Beene at rbeene@crain.com. — Follow Ryan on
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