Lincoln has already dipped their toes in the EV ocean with their two plug-in hybrid SUVs. Now they want in on the AEV action too, although their plans to go all-electric with the Mark series might be an attempt to save their struggling sedan and SUV segments. Lincoln has never manufactured an all-electric vehicle before and Mark E shall be the first-ever AEV from the house. The electric luxury SUV aims to compete with the likes of Cadillac Lyriq, Audi e-Tron, Tesla Model X, Jaguar I-Pace, Rivian R1S, etc. In fact, Mark E might have been heavily influenced by R1S had Lincoln followed their earlier plans. It will come equipped with Lincoln's best features, primarily luxury along with the latest tech thrown into the mix. With the name Mark, Lincoln wants to take us back to their glorious old days.
The Mark series was first introduced in 1956 as a successor of the Continental, the greatest mafia car of all time. The name originally came about as an indicator of the version or model number, but soon became a brand name altogether, because of the huge popularity it gained among the fanatics. The latest Mark E was scheduled to be built upon the flexible skateboard platform of an American EV start-up, Rivian. However, the tie-up with Rivian was not random. Ford had reportedly invested big money (around $500M) in the Illinois-based auto company and bought access to their skateboard architecture as part of the plan. The SUV in question was announced in April 2019 after Ford made its investment in the 11-year-old start-up public. This sort of partnership will possibly make more appearances in the future where different brands and companies will share their electric powertrains and mechanical engineering in a rush to develop the most innovative vehicles out there.
The first all-electric SUV from Ford, Lincoln Mark E is reported to be launched by 2022, and here’s everything we know so far, about it.
The Original Lincoln-Rivian EV Deal Has Been Cancelled
Lincoln announced recently that they have cancelled the original Lincoln-Rivian deal because of the COVID-19 pandemic according to the statement made by the company’s officials to the Automotive News. The project has apparently been shelved considering the 'rapidly changing current environment'. Although there is no doubt that the auto world has taken a massive hit with numerous factories having been shut down, several new launches pushed back and sales at an all-time low, but this has to be the first ever formal cancellation of a vehicle due to the Coronavirus.
With that being said, a fully electric Lincoln luxury SUV is still in process which means that Lincoln still has plans to develop their own AEV. It will most probably retain the old name. However, the new Mark E will no longer ride on the Rivian skateboard platform. As far as the tie-up is concerned, Lincoln has not denied a future possibility of working together with Rivian. From the looks of it, the dead deal is more of a temporary hold. It could be due to the pandemic, or some financial constraints. Either way, for now, Lincoln probably wants to work alone on its AEV to have more flexibility and no strings attached timelines.
What’s New In The 2022 Lincoln Mark E
Planned and announced in early 2019, Mark E was originally slated to release sometime in 2022. Now that the collaboration has been cancelled and Lincoln reportedly manufacturing the SUV on its own, the release dates will certainly be pushed back. Since they have already announced that Mark E won’t be sharing the chassis, powertrain or skateboard architecture with Rivian, the luxury AEV might share a few parts with the Ford Mustang Mach-E instead, which has an EV platform developed by Ford. Moving on, even though the brand name Mark is pretty old and has survived for 30 odd years, the suffix 'E' shall be the first of its name and a totally different model, of course.
Pricing And Specifications Of Lincoln Mark E
There isn’t any official statement yet but according to the market speculations, Mark E will have an estimated starting price of about $70,000. It might go up to $85,000 depending on the trim. The AEV might share Lincoln trim levels like Standard, mid-range Reserve or Black Label, or it might have its own exclusively designed trims. If the model follows the Lincoln hierarchy, the Reserve will be the best option for the first buyers as it would combine the best features from all the trims. It might have a base price of around $75,000. The newer Mark E might share a powertrain with Mustang Mach-E which has battery sizes of 75.7 kWh to 98.8 kWh. It might have a fuel economy of around 74MPGe to 101MPGe. With Rivian skateboard, Mark E might have offered about 400 miles of range but now that the deal has fallen apart, only time will tell.