Ford Motor Company’s luxury division turns 100 next year. To commemorate that, Lincoln is being given its first electric vehicle, with three others to follow.
We don’t yet know the exact details of the initial EV but it’s likely to be called Zephyr. This, following the premiere of the Zephyr Reflection, a concept exhibited at the Shanghai motor show in April.
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By GlobalDataLincoln’s electric sedan is for China and will not be available in North America. At the moment, Ford hasn’t said if this car will be EV-only or available with ICE power too.
Another future model is a 4.3-4.5 m long crossover-coupe. Also set to expand the brand’s line-up in 2022, this one should be manufactured in both North America and the People’s Republic.
The new entry-level Lincoln will probably be on the front- and all-wheel drive C2 architecture. The vehicles it will be aiming to compete with include the Audis Q2L and Q3 as well as the larger BMW X1, Mercedes GLA, Volvo XC40, Lexus UX and Range Rover Evoque.
Ford made a trademark application for the Lincoln logo to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on 12 August 2020. If the marque is launched in the region, a line-up of several low or zero emissions models would be needed.
The brand’s announcement of its electrification plans in June added to the speculation that there will be an EV version of the small crossover-coupe in 2022.
Announced in November 2019 and revealed at the LA auto show, the Corsair Grand Touring is a plug-in hybrid. The 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine is paired with two motors and all-wheel drive is standard. The maximum range on energy stored in the battery is around 25 miles.
New for North America’s 2021 model year, production was delayed by COVID-19 and finally commenced in May.
Lincoln took the unusual position of placing the Grand Touring in the middle of its Corsair range, in terms of power. The output is more than that of the 2.0-litre turbo but less than the 2.3-litre turbo.
For the moment, Ford China’s JV with Changan Auto is only building non-PHEV versions of the Corsair. That should change later in 2021 with the Grand Touring added to the line at the Chongqing factory.
An electric Aviator is coming, Ford announced in May, without saying when. It will be based on a new platform, although this is highly likely to be evolved from the existing CD6, a RWD-AWD architecture. The Aviator’s Ford equivalent – the Explorer – will also gain an electric variant.
As the next Aviator isn’t due until 2027, the EV might arrive as part of the existing model’s mid-cycle refresh, which should be for the 2024 model year. It could of course be launched before then though.
The CDX747 project code is for an electric crossover similar in size to the Nautilus. At one time, it was due for launch in North America during the final quarter of 2022 and to be manufactured at Flat Rock (Michigan) on the same line as a related Ford model, CDX746.
Plans for CDX747 changed and both vehicles were to instead arrive in mid-2023 with production at OHAP (Avon Lake, Ohio). However in March, the United Auto Workers reacted angrily to a supposed move by Ford to build these models at Cuautitlan in Mexico rather than at OHAP.
Ford’s president for North America revealed plans for the Lincoln in January 2019, and suppliers named the project code seven months later, along with the Ford’s code. Speaking at a conference in Detroit, Kumar Galhotra said the architecture would be the same as that used for a battery-electric Ford which was already known about.
Production should also take place in China. The vehicle will likely be aimed at the Audi e-tron, Jaguar I-Pace, BMW iX3, Mercedes EQC, Polestar 2 and others in that size class.
In November 2019 there were reports from suppliers which named U787 as the code for an electric Lincoln SUV to be based on Rivian’s skateboard architecture. This also meant that Lincoln would in theory have had a 5m long electric crossover and a 5.4 m long electric SUV. The second of the pair was shelved in April 2020.
This GE2 architecture electric crossover could also serve as the successor for the Nautilus if there is no direct replacement for that model.
Ford and Rivian announced a vehicle project in April 2019. Specifics, such as what body style, where it would be made and so on, were not known.
As well as injecting US$500m into Rivian, Ford Motor Company was to manufacture what was or is believed to be a large electric SUV using Rivian’s electric vehicles skateboard architecture. No brand was mentioned.
Reports out of the US in November 2019 seemed to suggest that the vehicle would be a Lincoln, with the project code of U787 quoted. The brand was confirmed in a January 2020 statement. Three months later, amidst all its US plants having been idled due to COVID-19, Ford told the media that due to what it termed “the current environment”, it would no longer be going ahead with this vehicle. There was no explanation as to why, nor any specifics of where the model would have been positioned.
“Our strategic commitment to Lincoln, Rivian and electrification remains unchanged and Lincoln’s future plans will include an all-electric vehicle consistent with its Quiet Flight DNA [sic],” a statement from the brand announced. The division would instead have “an alternative vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform.”
It may now be the case that whatever type of EV eventually appears won’t arrive until the 2024 model year in North America, if at all. The large SUV had been expected to be in dealerships for MY2023.
Reports for many other manufacturers’ future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of Just Auto.
That includes Lincolns not detailed in this report such as the Aviator, Nautilus and Navigator.
Future platform intelligence
More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database which is part of GlobalData’s Automotive Intelligence Center.
The next OEM for Just Auto’s future models series will be Tesla.
