Joint Ford-Rivian Electric Vehicle Will Wear a Lincoln Badge; MKZ Bites the Dust This Year

by Steph Willems

Published: January 29th, 2020

joint ford rivian electric vehicle will wear a lincoln badge mkz bites the dust this

It seems $500 million buys you a new Lincoln model, at the very least.

Ford Motor Company’s half-billion-dollar investment in electric vehicle startup Rivian will indeed spawn a new Lincoln model, the automaker announced Wednesday. At the same time, Lincoln confirmed that the midsize MKZ sedan won’t live to see the end of the year.

That Ford and Rivian plan to jointly develop a new vehicle on the latter company’s “skateboard” EV platform is not news; the Blue Oval made that clear from the outset. What remained a mystery was the vehicle’s bodystyle and badge.

“Working with Rivian marks a pivotal point for Lincoln as we move toward a future that includes fully electric vehicles,” Lincoln President Joy Falotico said in a statement. “This vehicle will take Quiet Flight to a new place – zero emissions, effortless performance and connected and intuitive technology. It’s going to be stunning.”

The news confirms last November’s Reuters report that claimed a Lincoln vehicle would emerge from the partnership. Sources with knowledge of the program said the platform underpinning Rivian’s R1T pickup and R1S SUV would form the basis of a Lincoln SUV due out in mid-2022. Given the size of the R1S (seen below), the model — reportedly codenamed U787 ⁠— is assumed to be a midsize, three-row vehicle.

When it arrives, the jointly developed model will join two plug-in hybrids in Lincoln’s lineup: the Aviator and Corsair Grand Touring. The automaker didn’t mention an on-sale or production date, nor a production locale, though Rivian owns an assembly plant in Normal, Illinois that could potentially handle the build.

In the background of all this, Ford r eportedly plans to build two midsize (Edge/Nautilus-sized) EV crossovers at its Flat Rock, Michigan assembly plant for the 2023 model year, each bearing a different badge. The production codes for those vehicles do not match the Rivian model.

Exciting stuff for tech geeks and greenies, but for traditional Lincoln lovers, it’s a sad day. In the same announcement, the marque took the opportunity to proclaim the demise of the MKZ sedan.

“As Lincoln adds a new luxury electric vehicle to its lineup, production of the MKZ sedan will end this year in order for the Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico to prepare for production of new Ford vehicles,” the automaker stated.

Sharing the same platform as the equally doomed Ford Fusion, the MKZ was not expected to live beyond 2021. It seems its death will occur just a bit sooner than initially thought.

[Images: Lincoln Motor Company, Rivian]

#ElectricVehicles #EVs #Ford #JointDevelopment #Lincoln #ProductPlanning #Rivian

Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 19 comments

Akear on Jan 30, 2020

I keep hearing about this so-called Lincoln renaissance, but I still see they are being outsold by Cadillac by more than a 2 to 1 margin. In short sales are lousy. Obviously, the public prefers Cadillac mediocrity.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- SaulTigh on Jan 30, 2020
  
  I'd be curious how the number of Lincoln dealers compares to Cadillac dealers. My pretty prosperous neck of the woods went without a Lincoln dealer for 10 years after the previous one went belly up in the great recession. It took the surviving Ford dealership that long to build a new building and pick up the brand. So far they seem pretty successful with it. Seeing quite a few of the various SUV models on the road around here. I still feel kinda burned by Lincoln. Loved my '08 MKZ until the Cyclone water pump of doom struck. My wife liked the car too, and we still talk about how if that hadn't happen we'd still be driving it. Handsome, reasonably powerful, and a very lovely shade of metallic red.
  
  Like
- ToolGuy on Feb 01, 2020
  
  @SaulTigh "I’d be curious how the number of Lincoln dealers compares to Cadillac dealers." - Lincoln has around 1,100 dealers in the U.S. - Cadillac has a little over 900 (about half of these sold fewer than 50 vehicles in 2017)
  
  Like
Tankinbeans on Jan 30, 2020

I can't look at a Rivian without seeing a Ba-Bomb from Super Mario Brothers. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but any Recommendations Rivian I got would need to be named a Mario Bros appropriate name, like Goomba.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
Redapple2 Love the wheels
Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.