Lincoln Promises 'Elegant' EVs, but Will They Be Visible?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Numerous observers walked away from the North American Auto Show, and more specifically Cadillac’s NAIAS Eve unveiling event, wondering whether electric crossovers are even more homogenous looking than their internal combustion brethren.

So, when Ford’s North American president, Kumar Galhotra, claims a Lincoln vehicle born of the Ford Mach E (or some similar name) will carry on the brand’s tradition of “quiet luxury,” one wonders how a vehicle without the need for a traditional grille will avoid getting lost in a sea of anonymity.

Galhotra’s comments came during his appearance at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit on Wednesday. While the unnamed Lincoln, which borrows the electric platform used by Ford’s 2020 crossover, doesn’t have a launch date, there’s no doubt it’s on the way. The exec claims it won’t resemble its Mustang-inspired Blue Oval sibling.

“You can make beautiful vehicles in different ways,” Galhotra said. “The BEV technology gives us so much freedom to sculpt that vehicle exactly how we want it. We’re going to create elegant Lincoln BEVs.”

Expect a vehicle that echoes the brand’s ethos of “understated, quiet luxury,” he added.

Why all the concern on the part of this writer? Take a gander of what we’ve seen emerge from the industry over the past couple of years. Here’s Cadillac’s vision of its upcoming EV:

Meanwhile, Chinese startup Byton hopes to get this EV to the U.S. market at some point in the near future:

While not a crossover, Lucid wants its Air to capture luxury customers, too:

Infiniti’s QX Inspiration concept heralds a production crossover in the brand’s electrified future:

Further down the price ladder, EV crossovers (both planned and in production) from Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Kia also took an eraser to their front ends.

While Hyundai and Kia’s EVs get a pass due to the existence of pre-existing ICE Konas and Niros, ground-up creations — with some exceptions — prefer to trumpet their greenness with deleted grilles. And what’s Lincoln’s most prominent design cue?

It’s even harder to make a crossover stand out from its competition when there’s no need to fill front-end real estate with a massive portal, meaning Lincoln’s designers will have their work cut out for them. Too quiet, and Lincoln won’t be heard.

[Images: Ford, Nissan, Byton, Lucid, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen, General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Jan 17, 2019

    Either build the car with a hoodline that looks good without a grill (look to the early 90's...Lexus SC, Saturn S series, etc) or put a fake grill on it. Cars like that Infinity and even the post refresh Tesla S that have a space for the grill and then have no grill look stupid. People just want it to look good.

    • See 1 previous
    • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Jan 18, 2019

      @trackratmk1 Then give them a fake grill. Is the Toyota 86 not sold in Europe? It has a reasonably low hoodline.

  • EBFlex EBFlex on Jan 17, 2019

    Lincoln struggles enough trying to make normal vehicles appealing. This is like trying to climb Everest without legs.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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