Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring - PHEV Power to Maintain Lincoln's Momentum

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Lincoln’s been a bit of a resurgent brand of late, and the newest crossover for future Matthew McConaughey commercials is the Corsair Grand Touring.

This plug-in hybrid crossover has electric all-wheel drive (read: electric drive motors provide most of the power to the wheels) and will give Lincoln a second PHEV offering, following the introduction of the Aviator Grand Touring.

A 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder mates with an electric motor to provide what Lincoln is targeting as 266 system horsepower. The brand’s aim? “More than” 25 miles of all-electric range.

A “PowerSplit” electric continuously-variable automatic gets the engine’s power to the front wheels when the 14.4 kWh battery is depleted; the electric motor mated to the engine provides the hybrid function, while a second motor integrated into the rear axle provides all-wheel grip or extra power as needed. It’s mechanically independent from, but works in concert with, the hybrid powertrain.

There’s a whole bunch of drive modes on tap: Normal, Conserve, Excite, Slippery, Deep Conditions, Preserve EV, and Pure EV. Preserve saves battery for a later time, and the battery can be charged up to 75 percent. Pure works to keep the car in all-electric mode as much as possible.

Inside, Lincoln uses noise-canceling technology to keep the cabin as quiet as possible. The second-row seats have 6 inches of travel and can be had as either a split bench or 60/40 split-fold. Lincoln claims that even with four passengers, the Corsair Grand Touring will hold four golf bags or four full-size pieces of luggage. Massaging seats will be available, along with 20-inch wheels.

Owners will also be able to use their smartphone as a key, not just to gain entry or open the liftgate, but also to start the engine. Standard kit is Lincoln Co-Pilot360 driver-assist tech — a bundle that includes pre-collision assist with automatic emergency braking, blind-spot detection with cross-traffic alert, lane-keeping system, rearview camera, and auto high-beam headlights. One can upgrade to Plus, which adds adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, evasive steering assist, reverse brake assist, and active park assist plus.

Should buyers find that list lacking, a head-up display will also be available. The Corsair Grand Touring, bound for assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, goes on sale next summer.

At first glance, the Corsair strikes me as a handsome yet anonymous luxury crossover that doesn’t move the needle much. And that’s fine. It’s likely to have competent on-road dynamics and just enough luxury to make Lincoln buyers happy, plus just enough green cred to make owners sound environmentally responsible at dinner parties. Certainly, it looks stylish enough that the well-heeled won’t be ashamed to be seen in it.

Lincoln’s resurgence started with the current-gen Navigator, but built up steam with the Aviator and the stock Corsair. The Grand Touring doesn’t need to be as impactful, it just needs to maintain the momentum. On paper, it appears like it will do just that.

[Images © 2019 Tim Healey/TTAC]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Scoutdude Scoutdude on Nov 20, 2019

    Count me as disappointed in the EV only range. I was expecting a real bump from what the current Fusion Energi can do. The 39 or so of the RAV-4 would have been perfect as that would get the wife or me too and from work. Either way this is looking like the wife's next car. Oh and actually that rear motor/differential is the 3rd motor in the system. The transaxle has two, the starter/generator and the traction motor. The other thing that will set this and the Escape apart from the RAV-4 is that it's rear programing will almost certainly be of the gas and go variety as other Ford products are instead of the slip then grip system Toyota and many others use.

    • See 3 previous
    • Wheatridger Wheatridger on Nov 22, 2019

      Twenty-five EV miles doesn't sound like much, but for most of us, it covers every trip to the grocery store or hardware store or library (which says something about my own life). So you have an EV when that serves best: short trips where a gas engine would never warm up and operate at its best; and a long-legged hybrid when you need to pound some serious miles and cruise 600 miles between gas stations. My C-Max Energi is is perfect for that. The current average over the past 15000 miles is 75 mpg, though I take several hundred-mile drives per week. Oh, and don't forget the nightly recharge that costs me about $20 a month. My other car, a C-Max Hybrid, gets half that mileage. At the end of the day, or the year, or the climate, what really counts is the overall efficiency.

  • Inside Looking Out Inside Looking Out on Nov 20, 2019

    Why car reviews become so boring and predictable? Is it a Canada thing?

    • RHD RHD on Nov 22, 2019

      Maybe it's because the "cars" (CUVs and SUVs) are boring and predictable.

  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
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