Nautilus Club: Restyled, Renamed Lincoln to Bow in L.A.

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy
Following up on our earlier post about Lincoln’s cryptic tweet (showing eight seconds of pavement and two seconds of half a chrome wheel), internet sleuth Chris Doane Automotive has unearthed some photos which seem to show a redesigned 2019 MKX.Except this time around, Lincoln is – praise the pharaohs – deploying a real name. What did it select? Nautilus.In the photos, we see an MKX-sized Nautilus wearing Lincoln’s new corporate face, featuring the horizontal mesh grille we’ve seen on the Continental, MKZ, and Navigator. A couple of chrome spears underneath each headlight help to break up the expanse of front fascia directly south of the bejeweled spectacles.
Along the flanks, Lincoln shoppers will find a styling flourish extending ahead of the front doors, similar to what’s found on the Continental. The model’s nameplate appears here, which I think is a great bit of automotive theatre. Let’s hope this detail continues on other Lincolns.The side windows in the front doors seem to have a line of trim, evoking memories of the powered vent windows available in Lincolns of yore. Alas, I am confident it is a fixed pane of glass. Nevertheless, one can dream. I’m just glad they stuck a real (and interesting) name on the thing.
A close look at its rump reveals “2.7T” badging, telling us that the Nautilus will be powered by a version of the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engine currently found in the Edge Sport and uplevel MKX. In the 2018 MKX, this engine makes 335 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque. It’s a good mill, one which should put the Nautilus on par with its competition in terms of get-up-and-go.Quickly searching the internet, we also found a YouTube video of dubious provenance displaying what seems to be several press photos of the Nautilus in a slideshow-style film. Most of them are the same as the ones shown by Chris Doane Automotive, with an important addition: a shot of the interior. A screencap of the video is shown below.
Yesterday’s tweet promised some sort of news on today’s date: 11/28. Lincoln’s press conference at the L.A. Auto Show is scheduled for tomorrow, the 29th. It’s possible Lincoln will show the Nautilus at some sort of off-site media event this evening in a bid to grab some social media play, followed by a bigger reveal alongside the MKC tomorrow.[Images: Chris Doane Automotive]
Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

More by Matthew Guy

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 46 comments
  • RSF RSF on Nov 29, 2017

    Lincoln is back! Great products and finally real names to go along with them. Let the German brands keep those silly alpha numeric names.

  • Compaq Deskpro Compaq Deskpro on Nov 29, 2017

    I like names over alphabet soup as much as the next guy, but when I think of "Nautilus" I think of the octopus in a shell pumping away in the depths.

  • Theflyersfan OK, I'm going to stretch the words "positive change" to the breaking point here, but there might be some positive change going on with the beaver grille here. This picture was at Car and Driver. You'll notice that the grille now dives into a larger lower air intake instead of really standing out in a sea of plastic. In darker colors like this blue, it somewhat conceals the absolute obscene amount of real estate this unneeded monstrosity of a failed styling attempt takes up. The Euro front plate might be hiding some sins as well. You be the judge.
  • Theflyersfan I know given the body style they'll sell dozens, but for those of us who grew up wanting a nice Prelude Si with 4WS but our student budgets said no way, it'd be interesting to see if Honda can persuade GenX-ers to open their wallets for one. Civic Type-R powertrain in a coupe body style? Mild hybrid if they have to? The holy grail will still be if Honda gives the ultimate middle finger towards all things EV and hybrid, hides a few engineers in the basement away from spy cameras and leaks, comes up with a limited run of 9,000 rpm engines and gives us the last gasp of the S2000 once again. A send off to remind us of when once they screamed before everything sounds like a whirring appliance.
  • Jeff Nice concept car. One can only dream.
  • Funky D The problem is not exclusively the cost of the vehicle. The problem is that there are too few use cases for BEVs that couldn't be done by a plug-in hybrid, with the latter having the ability to do long-range trips without requiring lengthy recharging and being better able to function in really cold climates.In our particular case, a plug-in hybrid would run in all electric mode for the vast majority of the miles we would drive on a regular basis. It would also charge faster and the battery replacement should be less expensive than its BEV counterpart.So the answer for me is a polite, but firm NO.
  • 3SpeedAutomatic 2012 Ford Escape V6 FWD at 147k miles:Just went thru a heavy maintenance cycle: full brake job with rotors and drums, replace top & bottom radiator hoses, radiator flush, transmission flush, replace valve cover gaskets (still leaks oil, but not as bad as before), & fan belt. Also, #4 fuel injector locked up. About $4.5k spread over 19 months. Sole means of transportation, so don't mind spending the money for reliability. Was going to replace prior to the above maintenance cycle, but COVID screwed up the market ( $4k markup over sticker including $400 for nitrogen in the tires), so bit the bullet. Now serious about replacing, but waiting for used and/or new car prices to fall a bit more. Have my eye on a particular SUV. Last I checked, had a $2.5k discount with great interest rate (better than my CU) for financing. Will keep on driving Escape as long as A/C works. 🚗🚗🚗
Next