Ford’s first EV on Rivian’s platform is a Lincoln

Last year, Ford had already announced that after joining Rivian, it also wanted to use the US start-up’s skateboard platform for a future e-vehicle. Now things are getting a little more concrete: Ford confirms that its Lincoln brand is working on a new electric model based on the Rivian skateboard.

Ford does not yet give more details about the planned Lincoln electric vehicle, but Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe revealed that it would be an SUV-like model. According to Scaringe, the Lincoln would be a “very different product from our SUV, but it’s still in the SUV space.”. Rivian plans to start production of the R1T e-pickup and the R1S e-SUV this year.

While the Rivian models are about factors such as versatility, practicality and driving performance, Lincoln seems to want to emphasise comfort in its electric SUV. At least that is what Lincoln president Joy Falotico suggests. The new model will take “Quiet Flight DNA” (as the Ford subsidiary describes its product philosophy for relaxed and comfortable driving) to a new level.

The choice for an SUV concept seems obvious not only in view of the Rivian platform but the US market is also moving more and more towards SUVs. While Lincoln has introduced four new SUV models in the past three years and they are selling well, the company has announced in the same press release that it would discontinue the MKZ sedan.

The parent company Ford is also increasingly moving in the direction of electric mobility. According to Carscoops, Ford has received about 32,000 reservations for the Mustang Mach-E to date. Each of the pre-orderers has paid a deposit of 500 dollars. There are also indications in US forums that there are no customer reservations with numbers between 1 and 4,000. Speculations indicate that these 4,000 vehicles could be demonstration cars and other demo vehicles – which would push the number of actual pre-orders back below 30,000 units.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUxciROK00M&feature=youtu.be

Meanwhile, Ford has also launched a marketing campaign to underscore Ford’s new focus on electrified vehicles. In Europe, the first clip featuring the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E can already be seen on television and various online sites. By the end of 2020, Ford plans to launch 14 electrified models on the market and wants to make this clear with the claim ‘Ready for Tomorrow’ in their advertising campaigns.

carscoops.com (Lincoln), lincoln.com, carscoops.com (reservations), ford.com