Ford engineers a tech barrage with 2020 Lincoln Aviator

Ford Motor Co. officially launched its 2020 Lincoln Aviator at the 2018 Los Angeles auto show, with the all-new three-row midsized luxury SUV featuring a barrage of equally new and significant technologies. Production is slated for 3Q 2019 at Ford's Chicago assembly complex.

Aviator debuts Ford's first RWD/AWD vehicle platform, coded CD6, that was engineered from a clean sheet to support both conventional gasoline-ICE and plug-in hybrid models. It also features the much-anticipated electrified variant of Ford's 10R 10-speed automatic transmission, which will also be used to “hybridize” the F-Series pickup. Known internally as MHT (modular hybrid transmission), the electrified 10R packages the e-motor on the input side, between the engine and gearset. It retains its torque converter. Non-hybrid Aviators will use the conventional 10R60 unit.