I almost don’t believe what I am reading. Could it be that someone at Ford finally gets it? Has Mulally succeeded in wresting control of the company from the accountants? The GT proves that Ford has the engineering and design talent to compete with any car company in the world. What has been missing is the courage to build cars that are at the high end of their categories and then price them accordingly. Incredibly, no one at the company had figured out that performance luxury car buyers care about the product features and not about the price. That’s why they happily pay ultra premium prices for BMW M cars and Mercedes AMG cars. The motto at Lincoln should be: “We build they best luxury cars in the world. Period.” They should not be trying to undercut on price, they should show us what they can offer for the same price as a Lexus or Mercedes. They may be surprised by the market’s reaction. Have the courage to believe in your product, or get out of the business.

Well, maybe, just MAYBE Ford execs are actually beginning to listen to their customers and not just the market clinics and are going to do it (Lincoln MKS) right the first year out. A V8 in a Lincoln…just as it is supposed to be!

P.S. I agree with DomKing….

Remember when Lincoln’s slogam was “what a luxury car should be” …and the Mark VII, Mark VIII and Lincoln LS were true luxury and performance Lincolns.

Yes, Lincoln and the people behind the marque should quit running scared and just have the courage to take a risk and go forward and upward to battle Lexus and it’s age-old American Rival, Cadillac

Give ‘em Hell, Mulally!

Very well said DomKing. I’m right there with you on all of that. This appears to be a big improvement for Ford. Congrats! Now keep it up.

Great Example of quality and Design! This is the Direction Ford needs to go and its finally the right one. THE GIANT IS AWAKE, and its using the whole tool box! So long to over priced imports!

I believe it when I see it.

so wait, is it a fwd biased chassis or rwd??

LED headlights? holy ****, awesome
lincoln was the first with xenon HIDs and theyll be the first with these as well

thank god it has a V8 too, it would have just been a zephyr/joke without it

Dont forget that its the Yamaha V8, which is a very very good engine

Im not really a fan of the mks but, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

this suv looks really refresh and cool!

Lincoln really has the historical gravitas to mix it up with top manufacturers. Hope they roll up their sleeves and really get after it.

it’s a sedan.

This is really cool by the way, so many new (viable) options coming up in the automotive worl for enthusiasts.

FWD for sure.

Well stick two fingers in my ass and wiggle them around!!! If you really want to compete with 3 series and C class you need sedans coupes wagons and convertibles, just like Impala had in the 60s not just one V8 engine. Woop dee doo

Perhaps their is a glimmer of hope for Lincoln after all. With the exception being the new Navigator I really like the direction Lincoln is going and wish them well. That said, this is just the first step of many needed to be taken for them to reach Cadillacs level, let alone Lexus or BMW.

SSTRFSTR, If you read the text a little bit, you’d see that they said:”Power will go to all four wheels trough a 6 speed automatic transmission”. But anyway, this is very good news for ford. if they keep this up maybe they can save theirselves out of the trouble they are in now…time will tell i think.

Well said, DomKing. And the car is pretty damn nice looking too. It looks quite a bit like the European Mondero, which is very good to see. This design, plus a 315 hp engine will truly be a bold move. Keep it up, Ford!

The awd system is supposed to be rear biased, but I hope they find a few more ponies in that motor…315 isn’t real impressive for its target market, and Ford has to get past the “good enough to compete, but not to lead” funk they’ve been in for awhile now.

It’s true. As crazy as it sounds, 315hp barely cuts the mustard these days. With the BMW 335i, Infiniti G35, and Lexus IS350 all with over 300hp 6 cylinders, and priced in the mid-30’s, Lincoln is going to either need more HP or offer this car at a lower price, which isn’t likely considering it would conflict with the price of the MKZ (unless this car will replace the MKZ).
I think they should lose these stupid letter names too. They’re difficult to remember, confusing, boring, and they have no meaning to customers. Zephyr was a great name, and they killed it. Foolish!

This is a smart idea. Teh Yamaha V8 is a great engine.

However.

Teh new 335xi sedan will probably crush it in handling, accelleration, fit and finish, and possibly price.

Well Done, Lincoln – one iceberg avoided, now here’s a few more…

1)  Nobody will remember this car without a name.  We already don’t know what Cadillac is what anymore – give us some names!  (Lincoln names from the past:  Cosmopolitian, Premier, Capri….)

2)  This had better have a LWB version, or have as much room as the LWB Lexus, MB and BMW’s…

3)  The V8 is good to start – now bring us a 5-liter version and/or get busy on a Hybrid-V8…

4)  As long as you’re moving the tooling to Canada, this is the time to reskin the Towncar again.  Make it aggressive and somewhat reminiscent of the late 60’s Continentals and improve the fit and finish  (the sound of the doors closing shouldn’t remind us of toolsheds) and you’ll make bank!!!  Bring on a 4-door convertible version and you’ll dust Chrysler’s 300 and Cadillac DTS & XLR in one fell swoop – and probably end up in the Neiman Marcus’ Christmas catalog!

AWD is nice, hopefully it has a good torque split, doubt it though considering this is just a COOL looking S80

and good point bepsf, now all lincoln has to do is get rid of that stupid naming system. its awful
but bad point with the hybrid
hopefully we’ll get a diesel, as ford is focusing all their efforts on diesels hereforth, not hybrids.

Lincoln is half dead. I hope this reignites some customer support, but with excellent Japanese & German offerings in this price range, it will be a difficult battle.

I agree – a powerful TDI would be great in this Lincoln
(the Jag 2.7L TDVi would be a good start – gotta love 35 mpg & 321lb/ft torque!)

wtf…..atleast the volvo motor isn’t going to get whored around.

Oh Good Grief – now no V8?

Just someone please turn off the lights and lock the doors…

Who cares? Lincoln=Dead Brand. I’ll take a Passat 3.6L anyday.

LED headlights. That would be great. 20 inch wheels. This is what ford has to do. They need to exceed the competition in some areas. v8, who cares? They don’t need it. BMW has been selling more 3-series each year with the same inline-6.

Ford must keep this product cheaper than the German competition. for $44k I’m still buying a 335i, but for $38k I may consider

I’m wondering why some folks think this is a 3-Series competitor?  That would be the MKZ/Zephyr…

This is a size-class larger (think 5-Series/E-Class/A6/S80/M35/GS350) and clearly NOT a sports sedan…

OH WHAT THE HELL LLN

No V8 and will compete with 5 Series, E Class- in your dreams.
Bye Lincoln. You used to be the President’s ride…

I saw that coming.

its hilarious to see how much positive press Ford had going for a day or two with this misprint. somehow i knew it was too good to be true.

How can Lincoln expect to gain ground on sales when they don’t match the competition? They need to think more about what the consumers want. The MKS could be an awesome car but it needs to match or exceed the power of the competition.

Apparently they don’t get it, now that this update shows that there won’t be a V8. No V8=bad idea.

Whats wrong with a V8?

lol…..there is somthing that we don’t know of no known, but we do know now.

Ohh!! Son of a biscuit!!!!

Oh well, I started this whole mess with laurels and kudos to the new Ford management. All I can say now is: Holy Cow!! This is like a bad episode of Dallas (hmmm, giving away my age). C’mon now, nobody could make up this stuff. Yesterday, Neiman Marcus announced that it took 92 seconds to sell all 50 of their limited edition BMW M6 convertibles at $140 000 a pop. Yet, Lincoln’s strategy for the same size car is to offer it only with a V6 to keep the price down. Sometimes I think that American auto execs are actually double agents under the spell of foreign mind doctors. That’s the only explanaton that makes sense because no one could actually be that incompetent………….

“That’s the only explanaton that makes sense because no one could actually be that incompetent…”

Well apparently, they are – after all Ford management got themselves into this mess, didn’t they?

Looks like they’ve smacked the iceberg & they’re still going full-steam ahead…

LOL!!!

This is too comical for words. First, no V8, then a V8, and NOW no V8??

I’m done. I was hoping that Ford/Lincoln would pull it together, but I see the the crazies are still running the asylum.

I’ll remember Lincoln for the proud car it once was, instead of the parody that FOMOCO execs allowed it to become…

Lincoln will easily be able to get 300 h.p. plus. Ford’s 3.5 v6 makes 265 h.p. Lincoln will use a 3.7 v6, I can see a base h.p. rating of 285-290. Add a turbo or supercharger and you are easily looking at a 330-350 h.p. rating. Technology over old thinking is the way to go. Ford is thinking globally here, v6’s can make the kind of power customers are used to, and meet the fuel ratings they now demand. The best of both worlds can be met by better technologies, like direct injection, varible valve timing and lift systems, and new more efficient turbochargers. Not just the old thinking of putting a bigger engine in all the time. So let’s wait and see.

What a complete joke.

Oops. I take back the FWD comment. Reading > me.

Still, a MKS with AWD is about as fun as a Ford 500 with AWD.

I recall an internet survey Lincon had a few months ago regarding the MKS. They were specifically asking about drivetrains.

They asked:
FWD, AWD or RWD layout?
V6 naturally aspirated, V6 twin turbocharged, or V8 naturally aspirated?
automatic (various speeds), and would you consider a manual transmission option?

Hopefully, they got it. Finally. I expect rear wheel drive and one hell of a V6 engine.

Forced induction and Lincoln: two concepts that do not belong together.

I have been reading this site for a year now and just registered because of this post. I have seen this car in person and all I can say is WOW! Ford (Lincoln) has a home run on their hands. Don’t jump down Ford’s throat too quick. The car will be launched with the 3.5L six bumped to 285hp from the MKZ engine’s 265hp. Six to Nine months after the initial launch they are going to follow it up with an optional Twin Turbo 3.5L making 375hp that performance wise will dominate any car in the class from what I understand. The reason for the V8 being dropped is 1) it was a very expensive engine to produce and would have bumped the price point from where Ford wanted it. 2) By the time the car was launched, Ford didn’t believe 315hp would be enough to compete in this segment. 3) The twin turbo 3.5L is more fuel efficient than the V8.

Well, if what Jimmy8 says is true maybe the 375hp TTV6 isn’t a bad idea after all…

Yah, if jimmy8 is right this doesn’t sound like that bad of a deal after all. If you ask me, the twin-turbo V6 with 375 hp sounds much better than the V8 anyday (better fuel efficiency too)

Hmm, if Jimmy8 is right, then yes I agree a twin turbo V6 would actually make more sense, but then why have we not heard **** about that from this site or any other site , and only from a random poster on here? I hope hes right though.

Well, if Jimmy8 is right and there will be a TTV6 in the works in the future, here is the question: why not offer it right at the beginning??

Ford really doesn’t have the luxury of sitting to see what may happen. I myself would wait for the TTV6 and not even consider the earlier MKS with the normally aspirated V6.

Oh well, it will make for good theater to see what happens next….

Just as the Zephyr had the smaller engine when it debuted, so will the MKS. The twin turbo engine is still in development and won’t be ready for the launch, just as the 3.5L wasn’t ready for the initial Zephyr Launch. Does Ford they like the idea? No. But they do realize it is important to get this vehicle to market, and 285hp will be plenty enough for 2/3 of the people looking to buy this car. You do realize the 2006 Lincoln LS V8 engine only made 280 hp right? I may look like a random poster, but I do own a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealership and have seen this car in person. I am not promising anything, but I am telling you what I have heard from Ford.