Lincoln Continental set to replace MKS as flagship sedan

The Lincoln Continental concept, first shown at the 2015 New York Auto Show earlier this year and praise by the media for its attractive design as well as derided by Bentley for looking like their own Continental Flying Spur, has been given the green light to become the flagship of the Lincoln sedan line, replacing the awkwardly-proportioned MKS.

While the never-popular MKS was based on the fairly-attractive Ford Taurus, apparently the all-new Lincoln Continental will be loosely based on the Ford Fusion platform. Unfortunately that means Lincoln will continue to be a luxury brand without a true rear-wheel-drive fullsize sedan, but we fully expect it to be offered with all-wheel-drive to compensate.

Word is the MKS is expected to be unceremoniously killed off by 2016, which leaves only a couple of years for Ford to fill the gap. The Continental name is a revival of sorts, having been used on everything from a suave rear-wheel-drive large sedan with rear suicide doors in the 1960s all the way to a generic front-wheel-drive midsize sedan in the 1990s.