There is no doubt that the 2015 Lincoln Continental Concept looks like nothing else that currently exists in the Lincoln->ke48 portfolio, and Luc Donckerwolke, the chief designer for Bentley, has his own personal take on where this design originated. According to Car Design News, Donckerwolke posted on Facebook that he feels the new Lincoln concept is a copy of the current Bentley Flying Spur, which is a four-door version of the Bentley Continental.

He used his private Facebook account to reportedly write: “I would have called it Flying Spur concept and kept the four round lights." Comparing the two luxury sedans, the Continental Concept does have a lot of Flying Spur in its design, like the jutting grille, raised rear haunches, C-pillar shape and the sloping trunk line. Donckerwolke took things a step further by posting "Do you want us to send the product tooling?" directly to the Facebook page of Lincoln’s chief designer, David Woodhouse. That message was quickly deleted.

Donckerwolke didn’t back down from his Facebook post by telling Car Design News: "This behavior is not respectable. Building a copy like this is giving a bad name to the car design world."

And Bentley’s exterior design chief, Sangyup Lee, added fuel to the fire by saying: "It is very disappointing especially for an exclusive brand like Lincoln." These are some strong words in an automotive community that tends to be very diplomatic with such public comments.

In our initial post of the concept, we also wrote that there is a resemblance to the Kia K900, and looking at a rear view of the Continental reveals taillights that are almost identical to those found on the Mercedes S-Class Coupe. For Lincoln’s part, it says that this concept shows a “strong indication” of a production sedan that will debut next year, so it isn’t clear how much of this design will carry over.

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Continue reading to learn more about the new Lincoln Continental Concept.0}

If you look hard enough, you can start to see some design elements on the Continental Concept that may have been influenced by other vehicles. On the other hand, if a luxury brand is going to emulate one of its upmarket rivals, Bentley would be a pretty good choice.

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