When Did Lincoln Stop Making Pickup Trucks?

Typically known for full-size luxury sedans and SUVs, Lincoln has produced two pickup-truck models: the Lincoln Blackwood for model year 2002, followed by the Lincoln Mark LT from 2006 to 2014. Both were products of their time during a massive shift in pickup culture — the meteoric rise of the luxury pickup, a trend Ford tried to capitalize on following the success of its redesigned 1997 F-150.

Neither truck saw any measure of success, regarded as little more than strange creations of early-2000s automotive culture, and Lincoln's total pickup sales rank among the fewest of any automaker. The Blackwood saw particularly poor sales and barely sustained even one model year. The Mark LT's run was more respectable (though similarly disappointing), with production lasting nine years across two generations.

Bluntly, these trucks were nothing more than rebadges, one of many similar badge-engineered models. They rebadged their respective generations of Ford F-150, marking (for their time) the highest trim available for the perennial Ford truck. Both the Blackwood and Mark LT featured all the classic underpinnings one would expect of a well-equipped F-series, such as a V8 powerplant, chrome accents, and premium interior features. It sounds like a recipe for success, but ultimately ended in little more than disappointment for Ford. Let's talk about why they ultimately failed and what replaced them, starting with the 2002 Blackwood.

Lincoln originally envisioned selling 10,000 Blackwoods a year, but severely overestimated its success. In reality, only 3,066 Blackwoods were sold, making it one of the rarest Ford pickup trucks. It was actually a nice vehicle, dependable and well-equipped. It just didn't know how to combine F-series functionality with traditional Lincoln luxury.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this thing was either a modified homebrew Lincoln Navigator pickup, or an F-series with a Navigator front end bolted on — and that's almost exactly what it was. The Blackwood, characterized by black aluminum-and-simulated-wood trim (hence the name) was by no means a bad car to drive around; even today, they're as refined and reliable as any early-2000s SUV. However, the Lincoln Blackwood was an utter failure at being a functional pickup.

The pickup bed on the Blackwood is largely cosmetic, and that's for two reasons. The first is that the truck features a hydraulically operated hard tonneau cover, substantially limiting usable cargo space to even less than the Navigator's, thanks to the Navigator's SUV roof-line. The second is that the bed is lined with carpet and fancy trim, which doesn't exactly mix well with items from a job site. It was certainly a quirky, unique design, especially with the split tailgate. But that clearly wasn't adequate for first-time buyers staring at the eye-watering $52,000 price tag in 2002 (nearly $92,000 today) for a pickup that couldn't really be used as a pickup. 

Like the Blackwood, the Mark LT was nothing more than a well-equipped (and frankly overpriced) Ford F-series underneath, sporting a top-level Triton V8 and fully appointed interior. Marketed by Lincoln as the new height of luxury, the Mark LT again fell below Lincoln's expectations, though not nearly as dramatically as the Blackwood. In fact, 10,274 were sold in its first model year – substantially more than the Blackwood, but not enough to justify its long-term existence in America. Ford ended the Mark LT's U.S. production in 2008 and replaced it with the 2009 Ford F-150 Platinum.

However, Ford continued production in Mexico, where the truck saw more success, leading to the Mexico-exclusive second-generation Mark LT. It still was nothing more than a badge-engineered F-150, though this time it stayed in production for a decent length of time, making it all the way to 2014 before it was discontinued, ending Lincoln's pickup-truck production for good. 

These days, all of the Big Three U.S. automakers produce pickups with increasing amounts of luxury features. The industry in general, and certainly Ford, evolved rather quickly to adapt to America's more-fatal-than-ever luxury-SUV obsession, with each company releasing feature-packed models as they compete with one another. Love it or hate it, luxury pickup trucks are here to stay, with these Lincolns serving as ultimately failed experiments to capitalize on the growing trend during its infancy (the Blackwood) and adolescence (Mark LT).