The new Lincoln Continental?

My gosh. Was there a two for one sale on the tooling? Of course they’ve got the steering wheel on the wrong side. If the boss wants a new idea and you can’t come up with one, just copy somebody.

I’d rather have a Lincoln that took its design cues from a Bentley than a Lincoln that took its design cues from… who DID they take a pathetic bloated plucked-bird design they had from anyway?? Did they hire the old Aztec designers?

The new car’s a nice lookin’ car. The old one was pathetic.

Next thing you know though, Chrysler will come out with a new Imperial that looks like a Rolls.

I loved the late-'50s/early '60s Imperials with the floating headlight and taillight modules. Those were truly the glory days.

The K-car era was not a good era for design. Only for accounting.

The production car won’t have those wheels, luckily, but it will probably be less dramatic, too. I don’t like that grille concept one bit. The ‘plinth’ pushing up from the bottom is contrived and not very noticeable. The split wing grille they’ve been using hasn’t been very popular, but at least it’s distinctive and easy to apply to various shapes of car. While this isn’t a bad looking car and may sell in China, it isn’t very original and looks far too much like a Bentley, except for the tail end, which isn’t great on Bentleys and looks nice here. Still, it’s no competition for the great early sixties Lincoln, some of the prettiest cars ever made.

A few years ago I read about the Chinese simply making copies of mainline production cars and selling them at half the price. Of course with inferior materials and parts. How is this different? To simply copy a Bentley and call it a Lincoln concept car? Have we no talent?

A few years ago I read about the Chinese simply making copies of mainline production cars and selling them at half the price. Of course with inferior materials and parts

They don’t have to use inferior materials or parts to make a cheap copy. Their labor rates are 1/20th of US labor that just that alone would account for a cheaper product.

Will it be a twin when the doors are opened? I think not. And the pictures @texases provided show both cars at a distance. I don’t think any photos will show pertinent differences that make them very different cars.

I’m sure the interiors are quite different. But the body shape, specific curves, the grille, the windows all have an amazing similarity to the Bentley.

Lincoln had a NEAT Continental concept a few years ago (2002), too bad they didn’t use something like it as the basis for a distinctive car:

I like this one. It reminds me of the 1950s Continental. Does the concept car have suicide doors too?

Yep

I don’t like the door handles on the new Continental concept car

Give me regular door handles, not anything hidden or recessed

I’m not a fan. The current grilles of Lincolns suit my taste just fine. There is no mistaking it. This looks like Lincoln is trying to be something it isn’t, as many have observed, Bentley. Lincoln’s problem isn’t the current cars lack of style or panache, it’s problem is lack of refinement. Lincoln’s are just gussied up Fords. If they really want to compete, they need to up the quality of construction of their cars. They are not built much better than the Ford models, they just are more well equipped. Too bad, a Lincoln used to be a model one aspired to.

Cadillac is a gussied up Chevy. Bentley is a gussied up VW. Ferrari is a gussied up Fiat. They are cars aimed at different market segments. There is nothing wrong with that.

Oh, and thanks for the picture of the suicide doors opened up, @texases. I like it and I hope they build it. I doubt Ford will build it, but is a sweet looking car.

Most current Cadillacs are not closely related to any Chevy models, though they do share engines. I don’t think most customers care all that much, but they do want something special, and most Lincolns haven’t been. Their Ford roots showed too clearly. I also liked that 2002 Continental concept car, as it showed how a modern car could reference the gorgeous classic Lincolns of the sixties, without being too slavish. It was certainly a more original car than this Bentley knockoff. It took a long time for Cadillac to regain respectability, and I’m not sure Ford cares enough to invest as heavily in Lincoln as GM did in Cadillac. Lincoln isn’t nearly as well known in other countries as Cadillac and that’s where luxury car sales are growing. The Chinese don’t seem averse to buying cheaper copies, so a budget Bentley may be popular there.

As much as I like the new Lincoln design, I have to admit that if they’re going to compete they need to come up with a unique identity. But it has to reek luxury. That bloated body with the roadkill bird spread across the front that they’ve been using was really terrible. It reeked of compromises and far too many cooks in the design kitchen… many of which couldn’t cook.

They didn’t;t even do the sliding moonroof right; test drivers universally complained that it interfered with rear view visibility when opened. My '05 Scion actually has a better design for a sliding moon roof than the Lincoln had. Not only doesn’t interfere with rear visibility, a wind spoiler automatically rises when it’s opened.

I remember the days when Lincoln and Cadillac were both world class luxury cars. Cadillac has returned, but Lincoln is having a hard time relearning the formula. Perhaps they need to covertly study Cadillac to see how they did it.

"Most current Cadillacs are not closely related to any Chevy models, though they do share engines. I don’t think most customers care all that much, "

I remember the uproar when back in the 80’s, some Olds buyers found out they had a Chevy engine instead of an Olds and no one told them. Then later they quit calling them Olds or Chevy engines and just called them GM. Doesn’t seem to matter now.

That was a stupid controversy at the time. They thought an Olds engine was better how? Just because. Lincoln does need a clearer identity, and I think they have way too many models, with a Lincoln equivalent for almost every Ford. Cadillac has a distinct lineup, with the ATS and CTS having no sister models in the other GM brands. Lincoln more closely resembles Buick, which has models that closely parallel Chevy’s.

I don’t know how Ford can solve this. Cadillac had an international following and could be sold worldwide as the top of the GM line. Ford is bigger in many markets than GM, but Lincoln is a dead president to most international car buyers. This new Conti is clearly aimed at overseas buyers, but I don’t think it will do much to boost Lincoln with its too obviously Bentley-derived styling. It looks better than the current very bland models, but what doesn’t? I didn’t much like Cadillac’s hyper-angular styling when they first showed it, but at least it was distinctive and has given their models a strong family resemblance.

Our 1964 Cadillac Series 62 had a Rocket 429 engine; clearly an Oldsmobile engine. It really was a rocket, and didn’t detract from the car at all.