Lincoln's Grand Touring hybrids will be fast, fancy and efficient
To keep things classy, Lincoln opted to go with the Grand Touring for its hybrid models name over something more pedestrian.
Lincoln just showed off its production Aviator SUV to much acclaim at the LA Auto Show , but it recently found itself in a bit of a pickle as to what to call the future hybrid version of the Aviator. Most brands would slap an "e" on the name somewhere and call it good, but to help it stand out and to avoid confusion, Lincoln went another way.
Lincoln has decided to call its future hybrid models "Grand Touring" according to a report by Automotive News. This appellation is meant to bring to mind images of powerful luxury cars from the automotive golden era of the 1950s and 1960s. Lincoln executives are hoping that Grand Touring works for them in much the same way that EcoBoost worked for Ford a few years ago.
"You can talk yourself into these letters and conventions, but when you go out into the consumer space, they're very confused," said Robert Parker, chief marketing officer for Lincoln, in a statement to Automotive News. "EcoBoost wasn't new; direct-injection technology was around in the late '80s, but nobody seemed to find the magic until EcoBoost."
The Aviator Grand Touring -- the first of its models to get the badge -- is the most potent Aviator you'll be able to buy thanks to its use of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 which sees duty in everything from the
Lincoln Navigator
to the
Ford F-150
, and even the
Ford GT
(with a number of modifications, natch). That gets paired with an electric drivetrain which, all together is good for 450 horsepower and a fairly staggering 600 pound-feet of torque.
Where Lincoln gets cagey is in the range specs of the electric drivetrain and the estimated combined fuel economy figures, though the project's chief engineer John Davis told Automotive News that it would get at least 31 miles of all-electric range, specifically in China. Lincoln is also keeping mum as to the on-sale date for the Aviator Grand Touring and any subsequent Grand Touring models, other than to say that the Aviator goes on sale next summer.
