2001 Lincoln Ls Base Sedan 4-door 3.9l V8 on 2040-cars

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What will the next Presidential limo look like?

With recent news that the Secret Service has begun soliciting proposals for a new armored limousine, we've been wondering what the next presidential limo might look like. The current machine, nicknamed "The Beast", has a design based on a car that's no longer sold: the Cadillac DTS. If General Motors gets the job again, which wouldn't be a surprise considering the government still owns a chunk of the company, the next limo's shape would likely resemble the new XTS (below, left). But Cadillac hasn't always been the go-to car company for presidential whips.
Lincoln has actually provided far more presidential limousines throughout history than Cadillac. In fact, the first car modified for Commander-in-Chief-carrying duty was a 1939 Lincoln K-Series called "Sunshine Special" used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the last Lincoln used by a president was a 1989 Town Car ordered for George H.W. Bush. If President Obama wanted a Lincoln today, it would likely be an amalgam of the MKS sedan and MKT crossover, as illustrated above.
And what about Chrysler? The only record we could find of a President favoring the Pentastar is Nixon, who reportedly ordered two limos from the company during his administration in the '70s, and then another one, known today as the "K-Car limo," in the '80s after he left office. Obama, however, has a personal - if modest - connection to Chryslers, having owned a 300 himself before he took office. A 300-based Beast (above, right) would certainly earn the U.S. some style points.

Lincoln bringing in MKZ Hybrid over rollaway risk

Federal safety standards require that every new car needs to have the brake depressed in order to shift it out of Park. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found fault in the transmission range sensor on certain examples of the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, allowing the car to be shifted out of Park without first depressing the brake. The fear is that with this condition, affected vehicles may be unintentionally pulled out of Park, resulting in a possible rollaway. That safety concern has prompted parent Ford Motor Company to issue a recall.
The issue pertains to 7,153 examples of the MKZ Hybrid built between April 26, 2012 and September 24, 2013, covering the 2013 and 2014 model years. As a result, Ford will notify owners to bring their MKZs into their local Lincoln dealer to have the Powertrain Control Module software updated in order to rectify the problem. See the full recall notice below for details.

Lincoln teases a new Continental with suicide doors

Lincoln posted a photograph of its Continental from the 1960s on its social media channels today with a cryptic message to go along with it. Here's the post below: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The last line, "#TBT ... or is it?" sounds like Ford's luxury arm is trying to tell us something about what's to come for its current Continental. If we use Lincoln's post as an opportunity to speculate, one might presume that a Continental with suicide doors is coming our way soon. Beyond planting the idea in our heads, Lincoln doesn't appear to have anything else to say for the time being. Right now, the only car you can buy with suicide doors is a Rolls-Royce, most recently in Wraith form. If Lincoln decides to offer suicide doors again, you can bet the car is going to get some attention. The question would be if a special car like this could draw any of that attention away from Lincoln's SUVs such as the Navigator and new Aviator. We've seen reports that the Continental would not be moving on past this generation, so maybe Lincoln is trying to get as much play out of this car as possible. A more recent report calls it dead after the 2020 model year, meaning that if we do see a suicide-door Continental, it wouldn't be in this world for very long. Lincoln says to "stay tuned" at the end of its post caption, so watch out for Continental news dropping in the near future. We can all hope it's going to be good news ... View 20 Photos Related video: