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Lincoln trumpets $129M investment, 300 new jobs in Louisville for MKC

Remember when we used to talk about how close Lincoln was to being axed and how it seemed any day now the Grim Reaper would use it as a car service back to the grave? Last time we did it was, oh, not even a month ago. What a difference 27 days makes: Ford and Lincoln are trumpeting a $129M investment in the Louisville Assembly Plant that builds the MKC.
In July the MKC was the third-best-selling Lincoln of the brand's six offerings, beat by the MKZ and - by a much smaller margin - the MKX. It has sold 2,895 units in the two months it's been on sale, which is more than half the year-to-date sales of the MKS, MKT and Navigator. It's already important, is what we're trying to say, and this is before the Chinese market gets a crack at it later this year.
The money headed to Kentucky will be joined by 300 new workers, another marker in Ford's march to create 12,000 hourly jobs in the US by next year. You can read more about it in the press release below.

Lincoln poised to double MKZ Hybrid production

The Lincoln MKZ Hybrid has been something of a hit for Ford since the beginning, exceeding the company's modest projected 15-percent take rate for more than two years (we say "modest" because that still means an overwhelming majority of Lincoln customers are passing up on the gas-electric powertrain even though it costs the same as the standard model). Either way, Lincoln builds 700 MKZ Hybrids at its plant in Mexico each month, but has sold 715 of them in each of the past three months. That's why, according to a report in The Detroit News, when the restyled 2014 MKZ Hybrid arrives (non-hybrid pictured), Ford is doubling production compared to 2013. Instead of the hybrid model being 20 percent of production, the new hybrid will make up 40 percent.
Ford is doing well with hybrids in general - its portion of the electrified vehicle segment jumping 12 points in a single year to 16 percent. Assuming Ford doesn't change the pricing strategy (along with the changes Ford is making to calibration to improve fuel economy), the sedan could continue to "[show] other luxury hybrids how it's done" when it goes on sale later this year.

Lincoln bringing in MKZ Hybrid over rollaway risk

Federal safety standards require that every new car needs to have the brake depressed in order to shift it out of Park. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found fault in the transmission range sensor on certain examples of the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, allowing the car to be shifted out of Park without first depressing the brake. The fear is that with this condition, affected vehicles may be unintentionally pulled out of Park, resulting in a possible rollaway. That safety concern has prompted parent Ford Motor Company to issue a recall.
The issue pertains to 7,153 examples of the MKZ Hybrid built between April 26, 2012 and September 24, 2013, covering the 2013 and 2014 model years. As a result, Ford will notify owners to bring their MKZs into their local Lincoln dealer to have the Powertrain Control Module software updated in order to rectify the problem. See the full recall notice below for details.