But should it be a generic sports sedan or something special like a CLS-like Mark IX 4-door coupe? 

I suspect it was a long term contract with the Getrag JV plant but Fields made a fatal error by accepting the idea that the problems could be fixed in production when engineers were  warning that would be difficult, hard to countermand your boss when he wants a solution.. (we’ve been in those kinds of meetings when a Dilbert moment happens)   The 1.5 EB was basically plug and play in C1 thanks to Escape, could be others but Ford knew that vehicle weight played a big role in PS not suitable in anything bigger than Fiesta or Ka   Back up right to the start and Focus/Fiesta could have used the small 6F  instead of PS and been the equal of the Mazda 3 and 2 in terms of reliability 

I hope one day an insider will explain why they made that decision.  It would be more understandable if they were saving money by not doing the development of the 1.5/6F but that work was already done in Europe.  Plug and play.  There had to be some kind of contractual issue with the suppliers.

if you’re doing one you might as well do both.   Flat Rock certainly has the capacity.  I would think the Lincoln would use the Aviator 3.0LEB rather than the Coyote.

The other big advantage of smaller turbo six is when they idle for hours at accident scenes or whatever.. the smaller engine definitely uses less fuel as the v8 cylinder deactivation only works at cruising speeds.. That was the big selling point for Ecoboost to law enforcement agencies plus the pursuit rating of course..

They had a fix for it in the rest of the world, moving to 1.5 EB with conventional 6F trans in 2015 but USA refused to drop Powershift and continued selling for like another three years… I can attest that the EB 6F combo was chalk and cheese comparison with the previous Powershift. So sad that Ford just didn’t go with 6F right form the start……it already had mid gear lock up function.

Nearly all the V8 classics are now exhausted. over 95% of 1500 inventory is now I-6 turbos….   Even before V8s were ended, Ram was having big issues convincing buyers  to lake up the I-6 turbos and now that inventory has spiked, it a lot harder..

Since Cerebus did a bang up job of managing Chrysler all those years ago………not.   Clearly a play by a person desperate to be noticed by his future boss……    

I still think a Lincoln sedan makes far more sense than a Mustang sedan

I see Navigator and Escalade limos a lot