2020 Lincoln Aviator vs 2021 Lincoln Nautilus

The heyday for Lincoln was more than a half-century ago. Those postwar years of prosperity and optimism were the perfect time for cars like the Continental and others. They delivered comfort and luxury, wrapped in midcentury modern styling. Even as recently as the 1990s, Lincoln was still a popular brand, riding the SUV craze with its Navigator.

But after the turn of the century, Lincoln lost its ability to create new designs and looked inward and backward. Sure, retro-themed cars like the redesigned Mustang, PT Cruiser, and Chevy HHR had turned some heads, but none of those came from luxury brands. The BMWs and Mercedes of the world were all looking forward and pushing the envelope for contemporary automotive design. Meanwhile, Lincoln offered the MKX, which was based on the Ford Edge and featured ’66 Continental styling. Neat in a vacuum, but off-base compared to the modern luxury market.

This experimental phase with various retro looks coincided with the move to the MK-# alphabet-soup naming convention and big improvements in the Ford lineup, where top-end trims of the Fusion overlapped with an entry-level trim of the MKZ. The combination left Lincoln a confusing, anonymous afterthought in the modern luxury game.

But Lincoln is finally ready to change all that. It has a new cohesive design language, its focus is once again on luxury, and the three-letter naming convention that never meant anything to anyone other than Lincoln marketers is gone. The brand led with the 2017 Continental and 2018 Navigator, which are each impressive in their own right. But the company's lineup is growing and now includes the all-new 2020 Lincoln Aviator. Named after a luxury variant of the 2002-2005 Ford Explorer, this new Aviator is also based on the contemporary Explorer platform, but it's a luxury vehicle in its own right.

Much of the success of the Lincoln brand may hinge on this midsize, 3-row luxury SUV, so you need to consider its competition, such as the Audi Q7, Infiniti QX60, and all-new Cadillac XT6. Read on to learn if Lincoln’s take on luxury will stand out in a crowded competitive field.

The car market has evolved tremendously over the past decade. Electric cars are cool, the Corvette is mid-engine, the Mustang is an electric SUV, and Ford no longer builds sedans and hatchbacks. There are a lot of firsts and a lot of rethinks about how we drive and buy cars. But it seems no matter how much has evolved, the traditional ideals of luxury in motoring are still very much a thing. Sure, some brands may incorporate performance as their luxury identity, but if you are Lincoln, it means elegant styling, plush interiors, and a hushed boulevard-cruising ride.

With the 2021 Lincoln Nautilus, Ford's premium brand has found a way to channel that traditional definition of luxury without feeling dated. The Nautilus is at once classically comfortable and thoroughly modern. With plenty of standard tech that is easy to use, the Nautilus is also an approachable, upscale SUV. Lincoln’s approach is different from that of BMW, Audi, or Lexus. So does taking a different path work better than trying to keep up with the overseas rivals? Read on to find out.