Alan Mulally, fresh off his keynote at the opening press breakfast at the 2010 New York International Auto Show, headed up Lincoln’s press conference, where Ford’s luxury arm unveiled a hybrid variant of its MKZ sedan.
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Yes, the MKZ Hybrid is more or less a Ford Fusion Hybrid in new sheetmetal, but that’s not a bad thing. The sedan apes the Fusion Hybrid’s 2.5-liter engine and twin electric motors, achieving 41 miles per gallon highway and 36 on city roads. It’s also got the Ford’s Eco Gauge system, but adds white flowers to the totally awesome and attention-grabbing green leaf driving efficiency indicator.
The other big news was Ford’s second partnering with Microsoft, following the success of Ford SYNC, to create Hohm, a collaboration with energy providers in anticipation of increased strain on our power grids as electric cars come to mass market. Hohm will schedule battery recharges for off-peak hours, which eases the burden on utilities providers and saves money for consumers. The collaboration plans to include features like notifying a driver, while in their car, they left the washing machine running during peak hours and offer to shut it down. SkyNet, anyone?
