Lincoln Continental vs Lincoln Navigator

There was once a time when American luxury really meant something. But it seemed like that time was long past. Sure, the 1960s boasted Cadillacs and Lincolns cruising along America’s expanding interstate system. But somewhere along the way, that “special” feel that American luxury cars once boasted faded, like so many Route 66 pit stops.

Who was to blame? Well for starters, once-special features became available among more affordable cars. So luxury brands had to rely on build quality, which suffered through the decades. But looking at the 2018 Lincoln Navigator, has American luxury finally returned?

You’d be forgiven if you couldn’t remember what a Lincoln Navigator was or looked like, but it wasn’t always this way. The Navigator first hit the market in 1997, amidst the height of the SUV craze, and was an instant hit. Although it became a status symbol, it was one of many big SUVs that had a hard time in the mid-2000s as gas prices climbed.

But Lincoln’s problems were more than external. Its lineup of vehicles had gotten stale, with anonymous styling and an alphabet soup of vehicle names. Meanwhile, Ford put all its effort into its “Blue Oval” products, and many of its cars, crossovers, and SUVs are now available in trims so well equipped that they almost negate their Lincoln counterparts.

This is all important, because for everything going wrong with Lincoln, its latest wave of styling is a bright point. The Continental, debuting Nautilus, and Navigator are all sharp-looking vehicles. And if the Navigator is any indicator, Lincoln may have finally found its mojo again.