This nameplate first appeared for the 2003 model year as Lincoln’s midsize luxury SUV, developed from the body-on-frame truck architecture shared with the contemporary Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer. The original version was a short-lived first generation sold through the 2005 model year, making it one of Lincoln’s more unusual early-2000s entries: a three-row luxury SUV sized below the Navigator but positioned above mainstream utility vehicles. After that first run ended, the nameplate disappeared for well over a decade.
Lincoln revived the badge for the 2020 model year with an all-new, much more modern three-row midsize SUV. The return marked a major shift in both design and packaging, moving the vehicle into Lincoln’s contemporary “Quiet Flight” era with a focus on refined ride quality, advanced driver-assist technology, and premium family use. The revived model also expanded the nameplate’s role in Lincoln’s lineup, offering performance-oriented and electrified Grand Touring variants alongside the core gasoline model.
Because the nameplate was discontinued and later brought back, it has two distinct production periods rather than one continuous run. The original 2003–2005 vehicle and the modern 2020-onward SUV share the same marketed name, but they belong to separate eras of Lincoln product strategy and vehicle architecture.