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Ford's Jim Farley hints at Lincoln sales rebound

If you're a fan of Lincoln, get ready for "a really great story" come May 1. That's how Ford marketing boss Jim Farley, in a call with analysts, characterized the coming April sales report for the MKZ. At the moment, there are probably few things that the executive VP could want more than a happy ending for the ballyhooed sedan that has made people cry boo-hoo for the past six months.
The massive glass roof of the MKZ is trying to support a burden that would make Atlas tap out, and it hasn't shattered, but it has shown a few cracks. The car we called "a big step in the right direction," the embodiment of the reinvention of the brand and a test of Lincoln's commitment to a new rear-wheel drive offering was given an $8-million dollar Super Bowl ad spend earlier this year, then quality control issues during its assembly scuttled deliveries. Lincoln got over that and kept up the ad blitz, now it just wants the good work to take hold.
If Farley's not leading us on, April could be the month. He said the results (so far) show "the product is being very well-received," inventory is finally where it should be and the MKZ Hybrid is doing better than expected. It bears noting that Lincoln is offering some aggressive incentive programs at the moment, including 0.9-percent APR and $1,000 off for conquest buyers stepping out of competitors' vehicles.

2020 Lincoln Navigator cut to three trims, starts at $77,120

Lincoln has reworked the Navigator lineup for 2020, a brand spokesperson telling Cars Direct it wants to make ordering the luxury SUV "even more effortless for clients." That means shedding one of the four current trims, the Select, and rearranging pricing for the three remaining variants. The entry-level Navigator Standard starts at $75,825 before the $1,295 destination charge, the total coming to $77,120. The figure represents a $2,620 increase over the 2019 model year, but as we reported earlier, Lincoln added a number of new features for 2020. Convenience items such as power running boards, heated and cooled front seats, wireless phone charging, and Lincoln's Phone as Key system are standard throughout the range. Every 2020 Navigator will also get the driver safety suite CoPilot360. That technology isn't available on the 2019 Navigator Standard, and requires the $2,640 Technology Package on the Select trim, which is already $4,000 more expensive than the base trim. With the Select gone, the next trim up is Reserve. Lincoln says 90 percent of customers choose the Reserve or Black Label trims, and any buyers planning on the former will think 2020 a good year. The Reserve could only be had as a 4x4 in 2019, but adds a 4x2 powertrain for 2020 and lowers its price. It will start at $82,660 in two-wheel-drive guise, making it $3,830 less than the 2019 model with all-wheel drive. The Reserve 4x4 will cost $85,330, for a discount of $1,170 compared to 2019. The 2020 Navigator Reserve will also add the option of a Monochrome Package, which eliminates chrome on trim like the grille and side vents, making them body color instead. It also paints the mirror caps in the body color and swaps out for 22-inch, 12-spoke black painted wheels. We don't know pricing on that yet, but the package will only be available in Pristine White, Ceramic Pearl (gray), or Infinite Black.   The extended Reserve L in 4x2 form starts at $85,860. Cars Direct didn't break out a price for the Reserve L 4x4, but assuming the $3,200 price difference between the 4x2 models holds, the price would be $88,530. That's the same $1,170 discount as on the non-L Reserve trims.    The top-shelf Black Label sticks to a 4x4-only formula, and goes up by just $375 for both regular and L versions. The regular 2020 Black Label trim will cost $98,065, the Black Label L will cost $101,265.

Lincoln goes sedan-free after sending the Continental into the sunset

Lincoln has ended production of the 10th (and, presumably, final) generation of the Continental, according to a recent report. Built in Flat Rock, Mich., the flagship model was the last sedan in the company's range. We can't say the guillotine dropped without warning; the writing has been on the wall for months. Introduced in 2016 for the 2017 model year, the Continental found about 12,000 buyers in America during its first full calendar year on the market, but sales quickly dropped. 8,758 units were sold in 2018, followed by 6,586 in 2019. 3,872 examples found a home through September 2020, and Ford Authority learned production ended on October 30. It's a shame, because the Continental stood proud as Lincoln's best effort in the luxury sedan segment in decades. It was built on a Ford platform, but it didn't exude an overpowering whiff of Blue Ovalness. Upmarket variants benefited from 30-way adjustable front seats, all-wheel drive and a 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbocharged to 400 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. Lincoln even built a handful of Coach Door Edition models with a longer wheelbase and suicide rear doors reminiscent of the fourth-generation Continental released for 1961. These were stunningly expensive at $115,470 plus destination, yet they were all spoken for in record time. Lincoln hasn't announced plans to replace the Continental; the odds of seeing an 11th-generation model in the near future are extremely low. Nothing suggests another flagship sedan is in the works, either. Like its parent company, the brand is pivoting away from sedans and towards crossovers and SUVs, which sell in far greater numbers and tend to be more profitable. Sending the Continental to the pantheon of automotive history leaves the Navigator as the Lincoln brand's sole flagship, though an electric model might slot above it in the 2020s. America's take on the luxury sedan isn't dead, however. Arch rival Cadillac recently replaced the ATS and the CTS with a pair of sedans named CT4 and CT5, respectively. Both will spawn high-performance variants in 2021. Related Video: