Anika Begay
Lincoln is making a big change to its largest vehicle by adding a panoramic dashboard display. The 2025 Navigator SUV is the automaker’s second vehicle to get Ford’s Android-based digital dashboard, with the first implementation coming in the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus.
The new Navigator, which will debut during Monterey Car Week, takes the Nautilus’ Panoramic Display (technically, it’s two screens) with Lincoln Digital Experience and gives it a sleeker, more open feel and adds contrasting speakers to the sides. Meanwhile, the Nautilus’s same continuous curved displays run from pillar to pillar, looking more integrated, and its trim lines align with the doors.
The Navigator and Nautilus have the same functional setup, says Anika Salceda-Wycoco, Lincoln communications manager. However, the Navigator has a new entertainment feature called Pano mode, which Salceda-Wycoco says “introduces the ability to stream video and games on both sides of the 48-inch widescreen display.”
Pano mode is surprisingly absent from the Nautilus, which can only play games and movies on the smaller center touchscreen, but that could change. “We’ll talk about it first in the Navigator and have more to share in the future,” Salceda-Wycoco says. The Navigator is also the first to receive Lincoln’s “Rejuvenate mode” spa experience, which was announced for the 2024 Nautilus but didn’t make it to launch.
Rejuvenate mode adds sounds and scenery like the Northern Lights to the screens, moves the seat back, turns on massagers and heat, and releases air freshener scents for a five- or 10-minute break. Salceda-Wycoco says the 2025 Nautilus will also have the feature at launch, while Lincoln has “more to share soon on timing” for the current 2024 model year. The Navigator will include a waterfall meditation experience in conjunction with the Calm app, which will also offer owners a free one-year subscription.
Jump into the Navigator’s middle row and you’ll find an adjustable seat option with many of the front-row features (including massagers), two touchscreens for entertainment, and a 5.8-inch center control screen for climate and more. Beyond the third-row fold-flat seats is a split rear hatch that can open for you as you approach.
The Navigator also gets a completely new look on the outside, with an updated dashboard that looks more in line with the new Nautilus, including a light bar that cuts across the center. Unfortunately, the Navigator doesn’t evolve under the hood this year; it’s still a hulking gas-guzzling truck that runs on a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 with no hybrid option like the Nautilus.
Lincoln has said it plans to launch three new all-electric vehicles by 2025 and a fourth by 2026. But earlier this year, the brand’s CEO sounded pessimistic about those timelines.
