You are forgiven if you haven’t thought about the Lincoln Nautilus very much lately. Or Lincoln at all. As The Drive recently pointed out, it’s a brand that seems to be in a dead sprint toward “Where are they now?” status. But Ford’s luxury brand is supposedly coming out with new stuff, and this new-for-2024 Nautilus actually seems… well, kind of interesting. An interesting Lincoln. It’s been a minute since that happened.
Lincoln showed off this new Nautilus yesterday ahead of its debut at Auto Shanghai, which is getting all of the new car news this year instead of the New York Auto Show from two weeks ago. (That’s the world we’re in these days, folks.) It’s fitting here, because the Nautilus will be built in China; as Automotive News pointed out, when it goes on sale in America, it will be Lincoln’s first-ever “import” from another country.
The Nautilus has been around since 2019 when it replaced the old MKX. My folks had an MKX for a bit; it was nice and drove just fine, but it also looked and felt like the also-ran luxury car behind the leading brands that it was. With this, however, Lincoln is trying to get into the conversation a bit more.
Besides the country it was built in, which is interesting enough, the Nautilus packs several features that make it more notable than its predecessors. First off: that interior. That’s a 48-inch screen sweeping across the entire dashboard. But somehow, probably because it’s so narrow, it manages to be a little more tasteful than some of these all-screen, all-the-time options out there. (Looking at you, Mercedes-Benz.) It’s actually two 24.0-inch screens, and a central 11-inch touchscreen sits in the center to operate the main controls. The right screen can also be turned off entirely if it’s too much. Like I said, tasteful.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Nautilus isn’t an EV. (Speaking of the Mach-E, when do the luxury versions of that platform get here?) It is a hybrid, however. The top powertrain choice is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a battery-motor system that’s good for 310 total system horsepower. The standard option is a 2.0-liter turbo four with 250 hp; that gets an eight-speed automatic transmission, while the hybrid gets a CVT. All-wheel-drive is standard.
It also has—get this—colors. While I’m sure the Nautilus will come in the standard black, white, gray, gray-gray, very gray, dark gray and silver tones luxury crossover buyers demand, it also has options like Red Carpet, Diamond Red, Chroma Caviar and Blue Panther, and the interior even has “themes” called Smoked Truffle and Allura Blue. Colors! Imagine that.
Other features here include wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Lincoln’s take on the latest BlueCruise ADAS system, and “specially curated digital scents for the cabin” where users can select their level of smell-intensity.
Will buyers care, or even really know, that this car is from China? I find that doubtful. The Polestar 2 is too, and everybody digs that thing (including me.) While the Chinese brands will have a tough time breaking into the U.S. auto market, we can expect a few more cars from our automakers to be built there in the coming years.
We’ll see if the new Nautilus can be the “game-changer” Lincoln says it is. But whenever it drops, I’m curious enough to see how it drives. And smells.
Images: Lincoln
You know what this thing needs? More screens!…
How about a second row above this one. Maybe another car width row dangling from the headliner, facing forward, so you can look at ’em in your rear view mirror. Why stop there, put a few more in the back of the seats for your passengers to look at.
Wake me up when they come up with a use for so much screen better than give me the weather (which I can learn by looking out through the windscreen)
Needs more Matthew McConaughey.
allrightallrightallright
Seeing this in the featured story banner next to the Land Rover just makes me think Lincoln just made a Land Rover clone. They’re the same car.
That wide ass screen… looks like a reverse Jordy Laforge visor (from star trek NG).
I can guarantee this conversation will happen.
Someone: “Nice car! Is that a Lincoln?”
Boomer: “Yep, my grampappy and dad worked at Ford and i only buy American”
Someone: “These are made in China though”
Boomer: “You’re a liar. Go to hell with your fake news. MAGA.”
Yup, the truth is woke.
That’s what I used to tell people about my ’15 Challenger Scat Pack (B5 Blue, 6 speed). This right here is the best damn ‘Mercian Muscle Car you can buy, and then mumble…that is assembled in Canada by an Italian owned conglomerate. Times they are a changin’.
I, for one, welcome this new Ford station wagon with the four foot dashboard.
I mean, ‘crossover’. Yeah… That’s it. Not a tall station wagon. A ‘crossover’.
I think that the interior looks pretty good but… why do we need that little tablet screen? I can’t help but feel that Lincoln kinda missed an opportunity to have an expansive array of hard buttons in the center console there. Oops.
How else are people going to be fooled into buying more stuff?
Wouldn’t take it for free, if the VIN starts with L, you can go to ….
The comeback of the Quartic steering wheel, Fifty years ago, the Austin Allegro was maybe underrated or too futurist
I’ve been in some recent Lincoln vehicles. I like their interiors. Having said that, I would dread owning one outside the warranty period.
What happens in a couple years when the software can’t be updated? You just get a bricked screen? This shit is way out of hand.
I…. actually like this. As long as that sight line doesn’t make the hood disappear. The way it wraps around is also nice. It’s like they actually designed this into the dash, instead of attaching it to the dash.
This interior is giving me Lincoln Mark VIII feelings with the double-level instrumentation. This looks so much better than other massive screen offerings (like the Mercedes interpretation mentioned in the article). I’m still not a fan of the giant stuck-on center screen. It almost looks like they went out of their way to make the screen look like an afterthought.
I also really like the front-end. It looks much better than the current corporate face, even if it does look a little too Buick-y
Great integration with the 48″ screen.
But the center screen is integrated like it was just stuck on the dash with chewing gum.
Oh great, looks like they’ve done away with hard buttons and put everything behind a touch screen. I think focusing on appealing to the tech and luxury crazed Chinese market they’ve alienated their American buyers. None of the baby boomer, upper middle class, warm weather retiree types are going to be willing to deal with a learning curve in their luxury crossover.
Will it matter in the end? Hard to know. If it sells well enough in China it might not, but Lincoln’s tiny market share here in the US is going to erode if they hop on the DURRRR WE’RE TESLA-IFYING OUR CARS, SCREENS BABY SCREENS! bandwagon. The folks who buy Lincolns are not going to be into that and I think the ship has sailed when it comes to them potentially attracting young buyers because they want badge recognition and for anyone under the age of 35 or so Lincoln just doesn’t have that.
I think the whole point of Lincoln going in the direction that they NEED to get away from being a brand that mostly appeals to older people. And out of all of the American automakers I feel they are doing the best job at rebranding themselves and making their products actually desirable again. It wasn’t that long ago when what they offered was sort of a joke. Doctored up Panther cars and then later barely disguised Ford Fusions with slightly nicer interiors. That fooled nobody. And while I am not in the market for such a vehicle I do find their more recent offerings to be pretty nice. As in as nice, maybe even nicer than what is being offered by BMW or Mercedes.
Touché. As far as design, amenities, fit and finish, etc. go they’re catching up. I don’t think they’ll ever catch up as far as the driving experience is concerned, but they might not have to. It’s not like Volvo or Lexus (outside of the V8s) make anything that’s particularly engaging to drive and they still take up a significant amount of the market share. Slash I think Acura is already set up to be the performance luxury alternative anyway with all the new Type S products.
They’ve stated they’re betting that autonomous cars will focus on comfort/ride/isolation, not driving experience; basically they won’t try to compete on ring times with Caddy, they want to appeal to high earners that commute autonomously, so I’d imagine their brand will eventually morph into luxurious pods.
Marketing photos are fun! In all of those fancy locations, the navigation is stuck on the same on ramp!
good catch! Thats funny
Holy Touchscreen Batman! Well once I looked at it, not all bad but can’t think of the replacement cost.
I’m no luddite, but I can’t fathom filling 4 feet of screen real estate (plus another touchscreen!) with information while driving. Must be hugely distracting, especially at night.
Nah, as long as the FM radio’s RBDS Program Service information continues to show only 8 characters at a time, we’ll be safe. On this vehicle, they can display them R E A L L Y B I G.
I especially appreciate the graphic that lets you know it’s sunny out. Hard to tell otherwise.
I actually like the 48″ screen. it prevents the need for a huge center stack. well implemented.
maybe it just the angle of the photo, but the seats look like they are a throwback to the a 70s Lincoln Continental with super plush couch seats.
Lincoln Mark had a similar dash setup
Ugh…. Please don’t do this. I can see it now: The big three gets addicted to sweet, sweet profits making their cars in China for dirt cheap wages. That is exactly what RCA, Philco and later Zenith did in the 1960’s-70’s when they made more and more of their TVs, radios and electronics in Japan. NONE of those brand exist anymore and the same could very easily happen for the big three if they get addicted to cheap labor in China.
I doubt there’s much risk of that. Lincoln is doing this for the same reason Buick did it with the Envision – China’s their biggest market, and this won’t be a huge seller so it doesn’t make sense to build it in 2 places.
If they started importing the Corsair from China that’d be a different story.
Corporate greed: When Mexico isn’t cheap enough.
Not really.. Cars not made in China but destined for China incur a huge duty. Ford is just making a model that is bound to sell more in China locally to skip the tax. Lincoln, Buick, Honda (Fit) just make sell the reminder to North America, we all know it won’t be a hot seller in the first place. Besides there is not spare production facilities in North America.
Will this be the first Chinese-made car sold in the US from one of the Big 3? That alone seems like a newsworthy item. I can’t see the traditional strongholds of the Big 3 being terribly enthusiastic about a Chinese Lincoln.
I’m not nationalisticat all in my car purchases but I don’t see myself buying a Chinese built car any time soon – purely from a quality standpoint
Buick Envision, actually. This was a few years ago too.
Yeah, but were any Envisions actually sold in the US?
I’m sure there was an Enterprise-ing market for them. SUV, Midsize Premium-Luxury – Lexus RX (or similar). Sometimes the truth Hertz.
Honda Fit which is sold in Canada are made in China.. isn’t the upcoming Mini EVs going to be made in China too?
Chinese cars are coming whether you like it or not. The Japanese did it first, then the Koreans and now it’s China’s turn.
In Australia it has taken 5 years for Chinese car brands to go from less than 1% of new car sales to over 10% and if they keep making cheap EVs with long warranties it will only get bigger
The circular dial is not the gear selector. You can see Lincoln’s now trademark gear selector buttons just ahead of it, below the touchscreen.
Noted and fixed, thank you!
I have to admit the screen looks great. Screens this big in cars are an abomination and shouldn’t exist, but it’s packaged nicely.
Yeah, somehow this worked out nicely here? Crazy stuff.
I wish it was a bit thinner, leaving more windscreen to see out of. I’ve been expecting this dash design for years, I’m surprised Lincoln was the first to get there.