Shipping cars to America is really weird right now, and I’m not talking about private imports. A model of car can be classed under a wildly different tariff rate depending on where it comes from and what powers it, and automakers have been bending over backwards to take a more advantageous position. Volvo moved some EX30 production from China to Belgium for lower tariff rates before discontinuing it in America, Toyota’s shuffled RAV4 production allocation within North America, and now Lincoln has joined the fray. After the Corsair crossover entered purgatory for a year, it’s re-emerged with new propulsion from a different plant on the other side of the world.
While the old Corsair was available either with a traditional gasoline engine or a plug-in hybrid powertrain, this updated model takes a different approach. It uses essentially the same turbocharged series-parallel hybrid system that’s available in the larger Nautilus, albeit with output reduced from 310 horsepower to 305. That’s a big jump in power from the 266 horsepower provided by the old plug-in hybrid powertrain, and you don’t have to plug this new Corsair in. It simply recharges as you drive, making it more ideal for condo-dwellers looking to save on fuel, and it comes with a proper mechanical all-wheel-drive system.
So why go with a new powertrain? Well, the Corsair’s been subject to a bit of a map change. It’s been kicked out of its former Louisville, Kentucky assembly plant so that facility can be re-tooled for the Ford Fathom compact electric pickup truck. Lincoln’s sent production over to China, specifically to the Changan-Ford joint venture. This would present a problem if the model were to continue with its old plug-in hybrid powertrain because gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid vehicles get an HTSUS number of 8703.60.00, a unique identifier for a genre of goods used to classify tariff rates. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this HTSUS number was included in the federal government’s 100 percent tariffs on Chinese-built EVs announced in 2024. By switching to a standard hybrid powertrain, Lincoln’s able to save a whole bunch of money on importation. Talk about tariff engineering.
Beyond the country of origin and method of propulsion, the biggest changes to the Corsair are styling-related. The entire front clip’s been reworked to look more like the outgoing Nautilus, including fresh headlights with daytime running lights that spear into the grille, a flatter grille design, and a recess up the center of the hood. It’s a bit odd considering the Nautilus was just facelifted to tone down its lighting signature, but that’s product development for you. Not everything happens at the same time.
Around back, a new taillight treatment with far more intricate elements adds another touch of Nautilus DNA while looking far more upscale than the rear lighting on the old Corsair. Oh, and you also get three new wheel designs including a swooshy five-spoke option. Overall, it’s a much larger exterior update than the Corsair’s previous facelift, which basically just enlarged the grille.
Stepping inside the updated Corsair, the biggest change you’ll find has to do with the optional seats. The latest 24-way massaging thrones are no longer hard-backed, instead adopting a one-piece, fully upholstered backrest treatment. Beyond that, there’s a new interior color option on hand, BlueCruise 1.5 is now standard across all trims, and some of the materials have changed. That’s it. No panoramic display setup as you get in the Nautilus and Navigator, no major changes to the dashboard or steering wheel. It still looks plenty nice with stitched materials, metallic accents, and rich colors; just don’t expect any dramatic changes inside.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new traditional hybrid powertrain means the 2027 Lincoln Corsair splits the price difference between the old gasoline-powered model and the old plug-in hybrid model. It starts at $48,790 including a stiff $2,295 freight charge, which is $670 more than the least expensive all-wheel-drive Lexus NX 350h hybrid. That’s a lot more power than its main rival for not much more money, but don’t expect this current situation to run for long. Lincoln recently announced it’s bringing some production back to America from China by 2030. While the Nautilus headlined that story, the Corsair could join it. International trade really is a strange thing right now, isn’t it?
Top graphic image: Lincoln
It looks nice… and… uh…
When I see a Lincoln SUV on the road my only thought is “I’m definitely going to have to pass this car soon,” or “I have plenty of time to pull out in front of that driver.”
The funny thing is a buddy of mine bought a used MKX with the 2.7T ecoboost and apparently it’s quite fast for a mid-size CUV if one actually uses the pedal on the right
Push button shifters are an absolute non-started for me. Not that I was in the market for a Lincoln or GMC Acadia anyways. But still.
It doesn’t look horrible I guess but $50k seems a little pricy, maybe of they slap some cash on the hood these will move at an ok rate.
I really hope they change the name of the Fathom
Yeah, the Fathom isn’t a good name. It has a negative connotation (usually); when you want to describe the same thing positively you would usually use wonder. It’s also an obscure word nowdays, people might think it’s just a fake Phantom but with a F because Ford. It also just doesn’t sound like a car.
I keep pronouncing it in my head as Fat Hom, doesn’t exactly inspire positive vibes for a car.
The current Lincoln lineup looks a lot better than the old MK# generation. But $49K. Whoa!
I like lincoln but the price they want for them yeah idk. 2-3 years old tho hell yeah.
I almost forgot that Lincoln is a going concern as a manufacturer. You hardly see any on the roads any longer.
They did edge up 2% last year to 107,000 units, but that just means they outsold Infiniti and Genesis and basically no one else
In their heyday, they sold more Town Cars than their entire lineup combined does now
That’s wild-
how many Town Cars, exactly?
Peak sales year was 1988 (last full year of the ’80-’89 body style) at over 201,000. But, the Town Car exceeded total 2025 Lincoln brand sales in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995. It was the best selling luxury car in the US for the bulk of the ’80s and ’90s. The best selling Lincoln last year was the Nautilus, at 33,744 units, the Town Car outsold that through 2006
Woah, nearly double!
I actually…like this? Lincoln’s SUVs have looked really good as of late although I’ll admit the front end of this is a step backwards.
But I like the color, and I really like the interior. Primarily because the whole dashboard hasn’t been dedicated to S C R E E N and there appears to be actual buttons. And look at that! There’s a bezel around the instrument clust…um, screen. So at least you’ll be able to see it on a sunny day. It just looks like a nice place to be.
The light brown leather in the article photo is especially yummy.
its makse sense they moved production to china. the plant here will make the fathom a car people might actually buy. this is a lincoln a car like 1500 people in the US actually probably buy a year. even with tariffs they are basically just keeping the brand afloat on life support as it is and need to support ford more
My neighbor has a Lincoln. As a hobby I now look for them on the road, but I think I’ve seen three other than his in two years. 1500 might be optimistic.
The Corsair is a nice looking car. Way more than I would ever consider paying but nice
Expensive? Then why are they making it in China?
They make it in China because that is the primary market. In a normal timeline that is what companies do and then ship cars to smaller markets. It is the efficient way to do things and a win for customers
Yes, a $50,000 car is expensive. More than double what I have paid to date for a car.
That’s nice and all – but let’s talk about the color.
Is that a Medium Blue Metallic?
Gosh, that looks nice.
If colorful cars come from China, count me in.
Ford always has nice blue choices.
My bosses wife got a new Lincoln Corsair last year in a really nice shade of blue. Lincoln has been making some really handsome looking vehicles lately, and I think the style of the current crop will age really well.
“ and you don’t have to plug this new Corsair in.:”
It’s a nice looking vehicle. But the removal of the plug-in capability is a big downgrade in my view.
I would rather have the lower power of the previous powertrain and retain the plug-in capability.
For those of us who live in the city, being able to plug in and do short trips in EV-only mode provides a huge efficiency benefit.
In my C-Max Energi, in ideal conditions the best range I got between fillups (of around 45L of fuel) was 2358km… which worked out to 2.01L/100km (117 mpg using US gallons, 140mpg using Imperial gallons).
No way will you be able to get anywhere close to that in the regular hybrid C-Max.
My next vehicle purchase will either be a BEV or plug in hybrid.
A regular hybrid like this won’t be up for consideration unless it was sold at a BIG discount.
You have to wonder, is this just a quick removal of the onboard charger and software, or something way more difficult to add later.
It’s a completely different power train. The Corsair GT PHEV and Escape HEV/ PHEV used a naturally aspirated 2.5L Atkinson Cycle I4 PFI engine in the hybrid system not this 2.0L turbocharged HEV
I wouldn’t want a turbo in my hybrid. Too much complexity and too much heat under the hood. Let the battery boost acceleration instead.
Hyundai has been doing it for years with their 1.6L GTDI Turbo hybrid and conventional 6 speed planetary automatic in the Santa Fe/ Sorento and Tuscon/ Sportage twins as well as the newer 2.5L turbocharged HEV in the Palisade and Telluride. Toyota’s hybrid max 2.4L is also turbocharged with a normal automatic transmission instead of the E-cvt of the lower powered HEV setups. Ford already sold this exact power train here in the Chinese Nautilus as well as the larger 3.5L powerboost hybrids etc. It’s not exactly a new concept
Given it’s just a standard hybrid now, it probably only has a <1.5kWh battery so there isn’t much to charge.
It is likely to be way more difficult as the plug-in option involves an additional plug, a physically larger battery, modified programming and other stuff.
The Discontinued Escape and Corsair PHEV batteries have roughly 10X the capacity of that generation Escape HEV. It of course is physically much larger too. That means that instead of a small pack in one corner of the under floor there is a large pack running from side to side. That side to side bit means no path for mechanical rear drive. For the Escape PHEV they just said no AWD for you. The Lincoln had to have AWD as standard so they stuck a 3rd motor under the rear to give the rear wheels some power but not as much as the mechanical HEV. So lots of significant differences between this and the old PHEV version.
I’ve owned two C-Maxes, a hybrid and an Energi. The hybrid held steady at 37 mpg, the PHEV averaged 70 mg when new, and has declined to the high 50s with battery decay. So the PHEV option increased fuel efficiency by about 40%. I like that!
Yeah I see the lack of a PHEV version as a huge minus. We’ve had several HEV and PHEV Ford products over the years. At least one from every generation. The wife had both a C-Max and C-Max Energi, we averaged about 39 MPG in the HEV while the Energi averaged near twice that when the battery was in better condition. M230y daughter still has the Energi and only manages ~50 mpg running average but the 13 year old battery is getting pretty weak and she does a lot of driving so not too bad overall. To replace the Energi my wife got an Escape PHEV over 3 years ago.
Fast forward to may and I was getting tired of my MKZ hybrid that I’ve owed for 7 years. I did look for a Corsair GT but happened to come across an Escape PHEV equipped identically to my wife’s, except color with 1/2 the miles for a really good price. So now we have two. I used mine today and on the current tank with about 770 miles on it is showing over 230 MPG and the needle is at 3/4 of a tank. The wife’s current tank is at about 210 MPG. That is with only charging the battery to 80%.
On road trips it will do over 40 MPG as long as I stay out of states with 80 MPH speed limits.
So yeah I highly recommend your car’s spiritual successor. With the one caveat that there as a point in time when there was a no charge order and currently they are under a “order” to limit charging to 80%, which we normally do, but also not to use EV Now, EV Later or Charge Now modes and we did frequently use the Now/Later modes to maximize efficiency.
The one possible big upside to the battery concerns I’m hoping for is that they decide to replace all the battery packs. A new pack on our soon to be 5 year old cars would be nice.
” there was a no charge order and currently they are under a “order” to limit charging to 80%, which we normally do, but also not to use EV Now, EV Later or Charge Now modes and we did frequently use the Now/Later modes to maximize efficiency.”
Oh well that sucks… and it’s news to me. Did some checking and found this:
https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us/en/articles/2025/recall-update-2020-2024-ford-escape-lincoln-corsair
Yeah I agree… for what is described there, it sounds like the permanent solution is to replace all affected/defective battery packs with one that isn’t defective.
And I suppose this is the issue why they didn’t go ahead with the PHEV on the new Corsair. If they are going to offer it, they have to figure out the permanent solution to this existing problem.
No I think the went hybrid only for the reason stated in the article, putting a plug on it would have made it fit into the 100% tariff category and simply unprofitable to import.
The real solution is to change suppliers. The Escape PHEV was delayed due to this issue occurring in the Kuga PHEV. They held it back to give time for Samsung to fix their production process that simply had to high of a failure rate. Samsung claimed they had it figured out and the Escape PHEV was introduced to the US. Then once they were out in the real world they found the problem was still present in both the Escape and Kuga, hence 24S79 and now 25SC4.
Yeah, I came into this article hoping it was still a PHEV. I also don’t like the framing of “you don’t have to plug this new Corsair in. It simply recharges as you drive,” as if the PHEV doesn’t do everything the hybrid does and then some.
I’m not going to say a PHEV is the right choice for everyone, but it feels weird to present a regular hybrid like this.