After three consecutive years of U.S. growth, Lincoln sales edged down 0.5 percent in 2017 and hit a self-imposed stumbling block last year.
Deliveries fell 6.8 percent in 2018 as the brand dialed back on fleet in a quality-over-quantity approach, but 2019 could reverse that skid.
The new Aviator just launched to rave reviews, and the Corsair (a redesign of the MKC) is on the way this fall. Including the Navigator and Nautilus, the brand will have overhauled the core of its lineup in short order.
MKZ: The luxury version of the Ford Fusion midsize sedan will suffer the same fate as its mass-brand counterpart: It will be killed in 2021, and the confusing MK naming scheme will die with it.
Continental: The large sedan got a publicity boost from a limited-run special edition with suicide doors. It made just 80 of the Continental Coach Door Edition for the 2019 model year and will produce some 2020s, although officials declined to provide a number. After that, the vehicle will die, at least in the U.S., with plans to end production in Michigan in 2021. It most likely will live on in China, though.
Corsair: The compact crossover formerly known as the MKC will go on sale this year. It rides on a new front-wheel-drive platform that also underpins the next-generation Ford Escape. It gets two four-cylinder gasoline engines: a standard 2.0-liter with an estimated 250 hp and 275 pound-feet of torque and an optional 2.3-liter with a targeted 280 hp and 310 pound-feet of torque. While the engines are carryovers from the MKC, they're combined with a new eight-speed automatic transmission. A plug-in hybrid Grand Touring model will follow next year. The Corsair will be due for a freshening in late 2023.
Nautilus: The midsize crossover got a new name (to replace MKX) and some new tech in a freshening late last year. Sales have responded, jumping 19 percent in the first half of 2019. The Nautilus will be redesigned in 2022, likely moving to the same platform as the Corsair and Ford Escape.
