As we write this, FoMoCo’s Lincoln Motor Company officially does business select markets, including North America, the Middle East, China and – in a limited capacity – South Korea. But that hasn’t stopped a third party from bringing Linc’s flagship – the Lincoln Navigator – to Australia – a market where Lincoln isn’t officially available.
Australia-based International Motor Cars (IMC) specializes in converting vehicles to right-hand-drive so that they may be compliant with the traffic laws in the land down under. The company is looking to add the Lincoln Navigator to its list of offerings, which also include other models not sold in Australia by their respective automakers, such as the Ford Mustang and the Navigator’s arch-nemesis: the Cadillac Escalade.
While the move is not yet concrete, a recent report by CarsGuide indicates a high probability of it taking place.
“The idea of doing the Lincolns is really just something that came about in the last few months … it’s had a pretty good response just in the last few days, a lot of people asking about it,” David Potter, the man in charge of International Motor Cars company. “It’s an expensive car… but this is a bit of a test case, it’s our first one of these.”
The IMC conversion treatment will be exclusive to the range-topping Lincoln Navigator Black Label model, and the vehicle will carry a price tag of $274,900 Australian, which is $189,645 USD, at current exchange rates. The report also indicates that the full-size luxury SUV should arrive in Australia by the end of the 2020 calendar year, though it’s currently unclear whether the model that will be made available is the regular or extended length Navigator model.
A standard 2020 Lincoln Navigator starts at $79,495 here in the States, while the range-topping Navigator Black Label starts at $97,135. That means that the A$274,900 / $189,645 price tag is roughly two times higher than that of the model in the U.S.
There will likely be a niche market for the conversion, though we’re not sure if it’s ultimately worth the inflated price, especially given plentiful availability of alternatively models provided by first-party manufacturers, including the BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class.
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Comments
Mmmm, getting into exotic car pricing territory there…must be one heck of a machine!
The Australian dollar is very low at the moment, the exchange rate is US$1.00 to A$1.56 approx.
So US$97,135.00 is approx. A$152,470.45. Then there’s the freight costs, the import duties, sales taxes, stamp duties, registration fees, GST, and the dreaded luxury vehicle tax (30% for every dollar over $57,000) to add.
The conversion costs are probably the cheapest part of the overall cost!