Ford has doubled down on its commitment to its flagging luxury brand, Lincoln. Sales at Lincoln have been unimpressive to say the least, and the lineup of re-badged Fords is hardly inspiring. But there’s another problem with Lincoln’s lineup, and that is the complete lack of a dedicated rear-wheel drive performance vehicle. In fact, with the death of the Lincoln Town Car, there’s not a single rear-wheel drive vehicle in the lineup, period.

Ford Inside News has dared to ask if Lincoln even needs rear-wheel drive. If you ask us, yes, it absolutely does.

As we’ve opined before, Ford needs to insert some flare and pizazz into the Lincoln lineup. The EcoBoost-powered MKS is a great car, but only available with all-wheel drive. Everything else in Lincoln’s lineup is front-wheel drive without even a whiff of performance potential. That wasn’t always the case, though the last dedicated rear-wheel drive Lincoln was mediocre LS. Before that there were the Mark coupes, but it has been near a decade since Lincoln had a performance rear-wheel drive coupe.

A good first step would be a Lincoln sports car based on the Ford Mustang. If you look at all the other major luxury brands, the one thing they all have in common is offering a rear-drive coupe or sedan. Even Lexus has its LFA supercar, and Acura is bringing back the NSX as a hybrid sports car. While we don’t foresee such a vehicle happening until the new Mustang makes its debut in 2014 as a 2015 model, Ford better step up their luxury performance game. Otherwise Lincoln stands to be left behind and forgotten as the luxury regime that just couldn’t keep up.