The Luxury Yacht on 4 wheels makes its return: LINCOLN CONTINENTAL

Remember the good old days when grand pa could fit 6 people in the backseat of his old caprice, or let’s go further back remember when the car’s were as big as the road markers that tell you to keep in the lane today, if you do than you probably where around when Lincoln was KING. Lincolns shining moment or moment’s came between 1954 – 1968 the era when Lincoln had a car with suicide door (sorry Lambo you were beat), and a low torque V8 that could glide on the road like a Yacht in Biscayne Bay.

  




This was all great until the change, a change in the mindset at Ford to make the continental an extension of Ford Product instead of an entity on its own. Lincoln lost Lincoln and slowly but surely became just a land yacht. Fast forward to the mid-nineties and now we have a bigger dilemma the advent of the rear wheel drive sports sedan. Theee Germans ruled the roost for years until the Japanese entered the fray with the Lexus GS. Where was Lincoln in this fray during these times of war of the rear rubber. Well as we know “Merica” is slow to development and still believed in the old plush FWD car model. Lincoln’s first attempt to enter this market was with the Lincoln LS.

   

It was a massive step for a car renowned more for its plush grandparent touring behaviors than the handling and top speed parameters of a Cheetah. This car came and went, still known for its great beauty the LS was another moment in Lincoln history. Right along side of the LS was the good old continental a tribute to older times a luxurious plush ride, good power for a FWD vehicle but ultimately a car more focused on creature comforts more than dynamic agility.

Here we are back to 2016, and this is now essentially the rear drive era with vehicles needing North of 300hp just to be an entry level luxury model. Lincoln and Ford have made a good attempt in bringing back the fun with the twin turbo eco boosted Taurus and MKS. There have been success stories with FWD manufacturers that have alternated to AWD platforms (Audi) without making a chassis specific to rear wheel drive. The release of the MKZ marked the return of Lincolns Bold Younger design to shake off the old man mantra. So with these evolution and changes what does Lincoln have a store for us now:



   

Lincoln Continental 2017:
One of the best concepts upon release of the 2016 Cadillac CT6 was the Lincoln Continental concept. The auto world was floored and waiting for the official specifications to be estatic, could this be the turn around that Ford was looking for. Ford was on a run the GT concept, a successful launch of the Mustang. The brand seemed to be headed to the autobahn and was one performance sedan away from having a more focused performance oriented sedan. Well maybe to our dismay again the continental sedan was introduced as a beautiful large fwd vehicle to the disappointment of many of us car enthusiasts. But let’s truly think about the data how many of these cars need there tail hanging out on a turn or large V8 roar. Contrary to belief car fanatics such as myself are a rarity. It looks like Lincoln is going the Audi route and hopefully they can have similar success. The 3.0 Twin Turbo V6 at the top of the Lincoln range will boast over 400hp mated to all wheel drive it should perform mid pack against competitors. That’s the problem who are the market competitor’s in this mix of large AWD luxury barges.

  





Lincoln has released this vehicle it falls into the full size segment. Should we consider this a threat to the rear drive mid size luxury market segment? See Lincoln still has the MKZ a competitor of the Hyundai azera, Lexus ES 350, and to some extent the Cadillac XTS. Will this car be the midsized competitor to the Audi A6, E-Class, 5 series, XF, and CTS or is it to big to cush and stuck in the, oops I forgot Cadillac came out with a new car it’s the CT6. It’s rear wheel drive about the size of an S-Class or 7 series but not as many luxury interior features but the chassis that belongs at the top of food chain. This is a wait and see, Cadillac structural and technological advancement rear wheel drive, Lincoln Interior Luxury, ground breaking exterior design. I can’t help but ask the question Lincoln/Ford why didn’t you just keep the Jaguar XJ it was one infotainment system away from blowing away the large sized luxury market away.