Lincoln Motor Company
The Lincoln Motor Company Plant, built in Detroit, Michigan, by Henry Leland in 1917, was closed after 1952; subsequent Lincolns were produced alongside Mercury Montereys and Mercury Montclairs. For the 1957 model year, Ford opened Wixom Assembly in Wixom, Michigan, as a facility to specialize in Lincoln production. From 1957 to 2007, the facility produced Lincoln vehicles nearly exclusively, along with the Ford GT and several generations of the Ford Thunderbird.
For the 1956 model year, Ford Motor Company created the Continental Division, slotted above Lincoln as the flagship marque of Ford Motor Company. At its launch, Continental introduced the Continental Mark II as its model line, intended as a successor to the 1940-1948 Lincoln Continental personal luxury car. Offered as a two-door hardtop coupe, the Mark II broke from a number of American styling precedents of the time. While fitted with whitewall tires, the exterior was fitted with minimal chrome trim on the body sides; tailfins were left off of the body completely. In place of the bumper-mounted spare tire of the original Lincoln Continental, the trunklid of the Mark II showcased the design element, with a large imitation spare tire bulge (which fit over the actual spare tire inside the trunk). The Mark II was largely hand-built, with extensive quality testing done to each engine and transmission before leaving the factory.
Lincoln Motor Company
While Designer Editions were discontinued, the LSC (Luxury Sports Coupe) made its return as the flagship Mark VIII model. During the 1990s, the Mark VIII competed in the mid-size luxury coupe segment, which was in overall decline. Though positively received by critics and buyers, the Mark VIII was withdrawn after the 1998 model year, outliving the Thunderbird and Cougar by a year. As of the 2019 model year, the 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII is currently the final version of Lincoln Mark series.
As the division entered the 21st century, Lincoln began a period of major transition. In addition to ending production of the long-running Mark series, the Lincoln Navigator SUV had entered production, nearly unchallenged by European and Japanese manufacturers. As buyers of mid-size coupes in the luxury segments had shifted towards sports sedans, Lincoln developed an entry for the segment in the place of the Mark VIII. For 2000, Lincoln introduced the Lincoln LS mid-size sports sedan; coinciding with Premier Automotive Group (see below), the LS was developed alongside the Jaguar S-Type. Though the two vehicles shared a common chassis and related powertrain, no body panels were common between the two vehicles. The shortest Lincoln ever produced at the time, the LS was developed to compete with European and Japanese-produced counterparts, in line with the Cadillac Catera. While the Catera was imported from Germany (as a rebadged Opel Omega), the LS was produced alongside the Town Car and Continental in Wixom Assembly.