The Lincoln Continental Coach Door finally fulfills consumers’ tastes for an imposing American luxury car, but Ford Motor Company only committed to building 80 of the sedans, and they’ve all sold out.
It appears as though Ford drastically underestimated the demand for a new Continental with the iconic suicide doors that appeared on the fourth-generation of the luxury cruiser. The automaker has now committed to building a 2020 model year run for the Continental Coach Door – not surprising
considering it sold the initial lot of 80 in just 48 hours.
The majority of customers interested in the Continental Coach Door were from New York, Los Angeles and Miami, Lincoln marketing director Robert Parker told The Detroit Free Press. Some buyers were car collectors, while some others were wealthy individuals who wanted to customize the car to their liking. One wanted the limited edition plaque on the car matched to their birthday. Another wanted the vehicle matched to the color scheme their private jet.
Lincoln has also received calls from wealthy buyers abroad who want to buy a Continental Coach Door.
“We’re hearing not only from here in the U.S., but other markets that are interested, too, be it Dubai or Shanghai,” Parker said.
The high-priced sedan, which will start at over $110,000, has been a boost for Lincoln. “December 2018 was the brand’s best month in 28 years,” Parker said. The Navigator also sold well in December, with Lincoln selling over 2,000 examples of the full-size SUV – more than in any other month in 2018. The Navigator is another big ticket item, with prices starting at around $73,000.
It should have been no surprise that consumers wanted a new Continental with suicide doors, though. One look at an internet comment section would have told the marketing department that. They also received requests to build the car from potential buyers, though, some of whom were extremely passionate.
“One guy from Tulsa has become a pen pal” Parker told The Free Press. “I even got a Christmas card from him this year. Over Thanksgiving, he was texting me because the rumors were heating up.”
(source: The Detroit Free Press)
Comments
Since Lincoln stopped producing the famous Town Car, there is high interest in a luxury vehicle that can compete with Cadillac, and with all the imports at a lower price.
Except that Cadillac is trying to compete with German makes. Lincoln is taking the “American luxury” route.
While that’s true, this poorly managed company does not have qualified personnel to pull off the trick.
Lincoln should keep producing the Continental in both traditional and coach trims and sell to the commercial market. I think there is definitely a desire to have a premium AWD American luxury car in the commercial space.
This would be a hit for “black cab” taxis, airport taxi services, corporate shuttle services, and the like. I recently was shuttled in an XTS to the airport, and was underwhelmed by it’s interior and design. I bet Lincoln could produce a sumptuous people mover out of this Continental with focus on rear seat comfort.
The coach doors are a good start. Now how about a version with subframes (or an actual full frame), air springs, 17″ or smaller wheels, soft springs and active roll control. In other words, a car actually fit for chauffer service. The old Town Car lacked an adjustable rear seat and coach doors, otherwise it was superior for the passengers to anything on the market below the Maybach level.
I would not call making 80 copies as a celebration of Lincoln’s 80th anniversary “underestimating demand”. They decided to make ONLY 80 copies, and they sold out quickly.
Well it’s not like the regular Continental was selling particularly well. They’re probably selling the minimum to recover development , development, marketing, and partner costs since the people actually building the modifications are Cabot.
These Special Editions are a marketing godsend.
I hope Lincoln learns from this and does more in the future.
The demand is there. For too long, they walked away from it
Ford does that a lot. There is still a serious market for sedans, the problem is that we are tired of boring sedans. Even if ford kills off its V8, people are still looking for sedans, high performance, hybrid and even electric. Ford would have done so well if they had a sedan to compete with the Charger, the Lexus GS, BMW-5 series, E-Class, Audi S5, etc. A rear wheel drive platform sedan that could be offered with AWD. The Australian Ford Falcon would have been an awesome car and would have easily outsold the fusion and the Taurus and Lincoln would have benefited from it as well, making a sister car to the Falcon. Ford still has the opportunity to do so with the upcoming CD6 chassis, bringing the falcon to America and fitting it with a 2.3L base Ecoboost engine 350hp/350tq and a performance variant with the 3.5L V6 pushing out 450hp/510tq or upgrading that with a hybrid 10-speed driveline and boosting the 3.5L numbers (and the 2.3L numbers even higher. Fit it with Brembo brakes, magnetic ride, an upgraded focus RS derived AWD system, a drive modes with a sport mode similar to the Ford GT (minus the suspension drop), a factory lowered suspension, and things like that and ford would have a hot selling sedan to rival the Dodge Charger. Just make sure it doesn’t sound like the raptor and make it sound more like the Ford GT (obviously not exactly but more of a sound like the GT than the raptor). Bring out a range topping electric version to dethrone the Telsa Model S along with a Lincoln Variant on the same chassis and call it a day.
Do you have any remnant coach door edition Lincoln Continental for sale? Further, are you planning on remking more of these since they sold out within twenty four hours, and obviously way a marketing error. I thought Ford was in business to make money, and this certainly was a money maker.
They should bring the car back, since it was so popular, and obviously a money spinner. 80 coach door edition contenentals was a very poor business decision, that must have raised the displeasure of Ford directors. To make amends they should reissue a 2025 edition to celebrate 85 years of Lincoln luxury vehicles.