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Lincoln Continental – New for 2017

2017 Lincoln Continental F342017 Lincoln Continental R78Lincoln Continental Concept Makes Splash at 2015 New York International Auto Show  Lincoln Motor Company has shown its new Lincoln Continental Concept at the 2015 New York International Auto Show.  Kept quiet until the week before the show, Lincoln clearly timed the release of the Continental Concept to coincide with the first public showing of the competing Cadillac CT6 sedan. Ford (Lincoln) used a similar tactic to take the wind out of the sails of the Acura NSX introduction at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show with its striking Ford GT.

The rhapsody blue 4-door sedan will replace the slow selling MKS at the top of the Lincoln sedan lineup.  This Continental has presence the MKS does not and abandons Lincoln’s dorky winged grill front end design.  The front end is now relatively Jag-esque with a bold grill opening.  The grill texture tastefully uses repeating Lincoln stars.  The blue interior clearly focuses on the right rear seat where the Chinese CEO will ride as his chauffer pilots the Continental through the streets of Shanghai.  It is somewhat incredible that it takes Chinese input to convince a major American car maker to do the right car and abandon it clumsy naming scheme.

The engine is described as a 3.0L EcoBoost V6.  The platform was not discussed, but it likely is not the old D3 platform the MKS rides on (Volvo S80/Ford Taurus/Ford Flex/Lincoln MKT) that, while very structurally sound, is expensive, heavy and outdated.  We would guess that the Continental rides an lengthened and widened CD4 platform (Fusion/MKZ).  While CD4 is front wheel drive, Continental will include an AWD version and this feature may be standard better compete with the CT6 and import brand rear wheel drive luxury marques.

Nomenclature Minutiae  A bit about the name.  The Continental name has been in the Lincoln line-up on-and-off since the late 1930s.  The first Continental (Mark I – 1939 – 1948) was an Edsel Ford creation to give Lincoln an exclusive coupe positioned atop the lineup.  It never used “Mark I” officially, but now that monicker is commonly used for the first car.  The second Continental coupe was launched in 1956 and discontinued after the 1957 model year.  Then “Continental” became a model designator for a few years (1958 – 1960) before finally the top of the line Lincoln Continental Town Car was added.  In 1961, the iconic slab-sided Lincoln carried the Continental name.  The Continental name would continue on the big Lincoln from 1961 through 1980.  During this period, there were Town Car and Town Coupe models of the big Continental. Lincoln developed a derivative of the Ford Fox platform to replace the Lincoln Versailles.   This car carried the “Continental” badge and Continental was dropped from the big sedan that became the Lincoln Town Car.  It was sold from 1982 through 1987.  The Fox Continental was replaced in 1988 with a front wheel drive Taurus based Continental.  This generation lasted until 1994 when it was replaced by the ninth generation Continental (1995-2002).  Frankly, from 1982 through 2002 the Continental was relatively non-competitive and demonstrated that Ford really did not have its heart in the luxury car business.

Lack of nomenclature discipline led Lincoln to add “Continental” to the newly re-introduced Mark coupe line in 1969 – 1969-1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III, 1972-1976 Lincoln Continental Mark IV, 1977-1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V, 1980-1983 Lincoln Continental Mark VI, 1984-1992 Lincoln Continental Mark VII, 1993-1998 Lincoln Continental Mark VIII.

3 Comments

  • Cory Spencer| April 4, 2017 at 12:57 am

    On March 28,2017 I went to Enterprise to rent a car for vacation and I wanted a compact car but they were all out. The only car they had were left was a Chevy Impala, Chevy Camaro and a Lincoln Continental. I drove a Impala before, I never drove Camaro,but when I saw the Continental it grab my attention.l hurried up and grab it. I was so impressed with the style and luxury of the car. I drove it from Union City GA to Columbia SC a 3hr 30min drive and it took a half tank of gas to get their. Everywhere I went in Columbia SC people stop and ask about the car and said how nice it looked. Sadly I had to return it back on March 31,2017 , but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I call my wife and said let’s take a weekend trip to the beach for spring break with the kids.That’s when I call Enterprise and ask them could I rent that same car I return this morning and could you hold the keys for me. They said yes, so I hop in my truck and hurried down to Enterprise to get the Lincoln Continental. My wife the kids and I drove the Lincoln Continental to Pensacola FL. The kids was impressed with the car also,the loved it and the features. Cars on the interstate drove up on it an drove on the side of it as if they wanted to pass me but stayed on the side and look at it. The Lincoln Continental grab attention in Pensacola FL too. They also love it too. On April 2,2017 I drove to Mobile Alabama to visit relatives and every where I went in Mobile people said that they like the Lincoln Continental. Some said it looks better than the Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, Chrysler 300, Nissan Maxima and Chevy Impala. My nephew said it looks better than a foieng car. I drove alot of rental but this is the best car that I ever rented.#10.My wife is a Nissan person,but when she drove the Lincoln Continental she said she rather have the Lincoln Continental. I would trade my Chevy truck in for this car or the Nissan Pathfinder. Y’all did a great job on the Lincoln​ Continental.

    • Cory Spencer| April 4, 2017 at 11:02 am

      I would love too get my wife that car and trade the Nissan Pathfinder in for it. This’ll the best car I’ve seen this year. Hands down#1 car of the year

  • ezra Khaski| January 20, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    best looking car

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