1962 Lincoln Continental on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2013 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost

A Bench-Warmer In Waiting
I hail from Cleveland, and that means I'm familiar with sports franchises that are always falling short of championships. The Indians, the Browns, the Cavs - they've all come close, but being a resident of C-Town means learning to appreciate the effort more than a reward that never seems to come. So I can appreciate the situation in which Lincoln finds itself today, one where the past is full of repeated attempts to be competitive, and looming on the future's horizon is the next hope on which everything hinges.
That next hope for Lincoln is not the car you see here, but rather the smaller, all-new 2013 MKZ sedan. Like LeBron James entering Gund Arena for the first time, the MKZ will enter dealerships this fall as the brand's chosen savior, markedly more stylish, advanced and desirable than anything offered by Lincoln in recent memory. And that would make this car, the 2013 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost, one of the other 20 guys whose names I can't remember who played alongside LeBron during his rookie season.

Analysts warn Lincoln shouldn't follow Ford out of the sedan market

Lincoln looks set to mimic Ford's on-going shift away from sedans. The move makes sense on the surface, but analysts warn the luxury brand needs to keep some low-riding models in its portfolio. The company's current lineup includes two sedans, the MKZ and the Continental, plus five SUVs. The sedans aren't long for this world, according to The Detroit Free Press. The publication learned Ford's Hermosillo, Mexico, factory will stop manufacturing the MKZ in late 2020 or early 2021, and it pointed out UAW documents note Continental production will continue "through its product lifecycle." In other words, it's the last model on the Continental branch of the Lincoln family tree. These two nameplates represent 23.3 percent of Lincoln's annual sales so far in 2019, which is a surprising and respectable statistic. One in four cars the company sells is a sedan. The problem is that they accounted for 27.6 percent of the firm's sales in 2018, and that number will continue to fall in 2020 as customers flock towards crossovers and SUVs. And yet, exiting the sedan market isn't the right answer for a company that wants to re-establish its reputation as a luxury automaker. Eric Noble, the president of consulting firm CarLab, told The Detroit Free Press about 40 percent of American buyers in the market for a luxury car choose a sedan. The Chinese market — where Lincoln hopes to gain a secure foothold in the coming years — also has a healthy appetite for sedans. Going SUV-only is a strategy that might work well in the United States, but it doesn't suit Lincoln's ambitions. Germany's big three luxury brands all have a flagship sedan at the top of their range. We can't argue against sales data; the sedan market is shrinking. There are ways to keep buyers in the fold, however. The Continental is a stellar effort from the brand, and a solid foundation on which to build. Noble pointed out Lincoln could use the rear-wheel drive platform found under its Aviator and Ford's latest Explorer to build a four-door model with a fastback-like roof line in the vein of the Audi A7. It's a sleeker, sexier body style that tends to attract more buyers than a more conventional three-box sedan, which is often criticized as old-fashioned. Automakers can normally get away with charging a little bit more for these cars; the A7 is more expensive than the A6, for example. Electrification could be the Lincoln sedan's saving grace.

2020 Lincoln Corsair First Drive | Compact 'American luxury'

SAN FRANCISCO — Lincoln almost left the building. Word is that former Ford CEO Alan Mullaly, who had come from the airline business and did not have any special affection for historically significant auto brands, was ready to kill off Lincoln after Ford divested itself of its European luxury portfolio. Other Ford executives were able to persuade him to keep it, but then had to come up with a way to make the division relevant. Selling warmed-over Fords wouldnÂ’t cut it going forward, and attempting to emulate the Germans (as Cadillac has tried to do) didnÂ’t seem viable. It was decided Lincoln would proffer “American luxury,” but what did that mean? The 2020 Lincoln Corsair is the latest answer to that question. Like its preceding bigger siblings, the Navigator and Aviator, it offers true design differentiation from Ford with a look all LincolnÂ’s own, and an emphasis not just on luxury features but a better ownership experience. Proper names are back too, which is why we're reviewing the "Corsair" and not the second-generation MKC. Like that predecessor, the Corsair shares its architecture with the Ford Escape, albeit the all-new version. Despite their common bones, none of the body panels are the same. Instead, the look is right at home with the brandÂ’s larger SUVs, featuring many of the same styling cues that include the now-familiar Lincoln grille, gently tapered roofline, blacked out pillars and long, slim taillights  The Corsair has more sculpted flanks and a more pronounced shoulder, but the resemblance to the Aviator in particular is strong, and it's no surprise that both SUVs were penned by the same man: Kemal Curic, who has now ascended to the head design spot at Lincoln. Compared to the MKC, overall length is 1.4 inches greater, the wheelbase is 0.8 inch longer, and the vehicle is 1.1 inches lower. That puts the CorsairÂ’s exterior dimensions between the Audi Q3 and Q5 or the BMW X1 and X3. Its closest dimensional doppelganger is the Cadillac XT4, which will likely be its closest rival. The CorsairÂ’s interior echoes the exterior design with a horizontal theme that makes the cabin feel bigger. Vents stretch across the dash, and above them (in the Reserve model) is an inset band of striped silver metallic trim. The center stack floats above the console, making for an airier environment and leaving room for additional stowage, which is plentiful.