Lincoln’s first all-electric car will basically be a Rivian SUV

Stick with me here: A Ford-owned company is using the electric vehicle technology from a Ford-backed automotive startup to build its first ever electric SUV.

The companies in this tail-chasing equation are Lincoln, the U.S. company which has so far attempted to enter the EV market with just two plug-in hybrid SUVs, and Rivian, a new EV company (with big money from Ford) coming out with an electric truck and SUV by the end of this year. 

On Wednesday, Lincoln announced it would use the Rivian base, known as an electric “skateboard,” for its future effort, which sees the car battery lying on the floor of the vehicle, similar to a, uh, skateboard. 

Although Lincoln didn’t specifically say it’d be making an SUV, the company boasted about increased SUV sales and four of its new models released in recent years. It also broke the news that its Lincoln MKZ sedan would stop production this year. (Separately, MKZs are a popular choice for autonomous vehicle companies to use for road testing.) It’s all about luxury electric SUVs these days, just look at models recently released or coming from Tesla, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, Volkswagen, the screen-filled Byton, and others.

Rivian’s SUV is supposed to convey more rugged elegance, but it’s still a higher-end vehicle starting at $72,500. Think of a Patagonia or North Face jacket, but as a large car instead.

The Rivian connection isn’t totally random. Lincoln’s parent company Ford was part of several funding rounds for the Illinois-based EV startup. Amazon also is an investor, totaling more than $1 billion raised for a company with no cars yet on the road.

For Lincoln, this is a big bite into electric. But for Ford, it’s another part of its all-electric lineup coming soon: the Mustang Mach-E compact SUV and Ford F-150 pickup truck. There’s no word yet on when the e-Lincoln will arrive or what it’ll be called. But if its predecessors like the Corsair, Aviator, and Navigator are any indication, it’ll likely be something vaguely nautical- or aeronautical-themed. Which is, you know, a great match with electricity.