What the Trunk Should Have Been (IMO)

[Fox9350]

They probably avoided a hatch because of development costs and not wanting it to be the only option as it might turn off too many buyers. I'd personally like to see the hatch as a 3rd option to the current trunk based fastback and convertible. There's always dreaming about future years but I doubt they'll do it.

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[S550Boss]

IF they can get this thing selling in far greater numbers than the current car, then a truly all-new from-the-ground-up platform might be financially justifiable next time out. There will certainly be a domestic sales bump when this comes out, but then a decline (new and more competitive Camaro comes out), another bump when it gets more new engines in a couple of years, but then again a decline. The cycle repeats, especially if they don't do continuous improvements.
But what's different this time is exports - and that might just keep sales steady and growing. The future depends on them, they will make the budget for a new truly new car (if it can be done at all), and they will also shape more of the next car than they did this time.
And what could be a nice bump (and cost saving) would be reusing this platform for a Lincoln. An MKR-type product would be a great showpiece for Lincoln. But it's hard to imagine it the way they are pushing their MKZ and the upcoming new (and a far better product) MKS. An MKR would take away desperately needed buyers from both those products. And the S550 platform is comparatively low-rent compared to GM's Alpha platform. In a premium platform comparison, it would likely be too much so.