Lincoln has been drifting for years, relying on rebadged Fords to keep itself afloat. But if the code-crackers at Blue Oval Forums have things right, it looks like Lincoln has been keeping a seriously tight lid on a potential Continental. Check this out:
Lincoln already has every other model revealed, including what appears to be the MKC (mis-labeled as the MKS), but according to the New York Auto Show website, there is a “Lincoln TBD” vehicle that will debut sometime between April 3-12, 2015. Seeing how tight-lipped Ford was about the GT before the Detroit Auto Show gives us hope that Lincoln has been able to keep a concept car a secret, but unlike the GT, where we knew it would be a winner no matter what Ford did, a Continental concept-to-production is essentially a Hail Mary play for Lincoln. They cannot afford to screw this up. There are three likely ways that this could work:
1. Lincoln goes after the premium coupe arena and does a two-door that takes direct aim at the Cadillac ATS. If they are smart they will go for the same power options, with the EcoBoost V6 and four cylinders. Running a front-end setup similar to the S550 Mustang would bring in a V8 option as well. We celebrate the return of the Hot Rod Lincoln.
2. They play it safe and go for a high-end four-door with a good profit margin. The engine choices would be solid but the car would have to distance itself visually from previous Lincoln-Fords…if it looks like a MKS or MKZ nobody is going to buy into it. With Cadillac bringing out the CT6 to much fanfare, this would be a great time to interrupt their party.
3. We fail, botch this guess altogether and Lincoln unveils their version of the new Ford Edge.
We hope we’re proven wrong and that Lincoln drops jaws at New York the same way Ford did in Detroit. Let’s just hope this “flying grille” treatment for the nose gets tempered down or formed into something else…it’s quickly becoming as annoying as Dodge’s “crosshairs for everything!” pattern. This rendering that Carscoops put out would be a stunner and a great throwback to a suicide-door Continental, and would cause Johan de Nysschen to absolutely lose his mind. What do you think?
Rendering: Carscoops/Josh Byrnes
I want to see a spiritual remake of the old MkVIII. Put it on a stretched S550 Mustang chassis with swoopy bodywork and a retuned 5.0L Coyote
Hopefully … something new and totally brilliant … RWD and hot rod luxury to finally start putting Lincoln back on track .
More than likely though … just another SSDD rebadged FWD Ford pretending to be a Lincoln …. at a BMW/Mercedes/Audi price tag
We\’ll see 😉
I fear you might be right. But who knows? Ford has been making strides lately and I would hope they wouldn’t abuse such a hallowed nameplate.
You would hope after the new Mustang [ minus the EcoSnooze ] that Ford would take it over to Lincoln and do something brilliant . But then again there is that ludicrous EcoSnooze powered $400k travesty posing as a GT lurking in the background … not to mention the aluminum F150 thats errr .. causing a bit of consternation as well .. so …..Best we can do is follow Agatha Christies advice . Hope for the best … but expect the worst . So the fingers are crossed … with the Stranahans on standby should the worst be the case 😉
Have you driven an “Ecosnooze” mustang? I’ll bet no, so shut yer piehole. I’ve ridden in one on several occasions and it’s a damn fun car. Revs RIGHT NOW and will fry the tires with no trouble at all. First time I rode in my friend’s Ecoboost he shut off the traction control and had it sideways in no time.
They’ll re-badge some sort of Ford product, go with a higher grade of plastic interior?, put on some blingy wheels, paint them all silver and the sheeple will follow. It’s the American way folks.
I’m just glad to see it’s not an MK(Letter) name!
But I’m with Nick – I’d like to see a large-ish coupe with a Coyote motor under the hood.
Lincoln should have been euthanized long ago. The brand has been permanently damaged by Ford’s decades of mismanagement. The “new” Continental will be nothing more than a badge-engineered Taurus. Put this once-great marque out of its misery!
Hope its not another crossover type thing. The damn potential is there but it seems they just dont get it. Very frustrating to see.
I hope this happens and its RWD/V8! Hopefully it has a proper name instead of the alphabet soup naming system used by Cadillac and all the Japanese and German luxury car makers.
Ye of little faith — GT350/GT350R/Mustang, Raptor, and Ford GT — Marks Fields has already proven himself as a no-joke car guy. So I expect we’ll see another home run. For a new Lincoln Continental that would be a clean, elegant design, RWD, hi-tech powertrain and a sweet interior.
This news should be under the Scrapple headline.
Hopefully, they won’t have Matthew McConahy doing narcissist talking to oneself commercials for these too.