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Lincoln hopes month-by-month leasing will woo luxury clients

Lincoln is launching a new subscription-based service that will allow customers to lease any of its vehicles on a month-by-month basis as part of a new suite of services aimed at offering flexibility and converting buyers. The luxury brand has also been operating a pilot program in which dealers bring Lincoln vehicles to consumers' homes for them to test drive on their own time — and sometimes even complete the entire sales process at their homes. Lincoln also announced on the heels of the L.A. Auto Show a new collaboration with Clear, a company that provides expedited screening at security gates at airports and sports arenas, plus an expansion of its Lincoln Personal Driver service, formerly known as Lincoln Chauffeur, to Dallas. Kumar Galhotra, Lincoln's president, said the company is trying to create a brand experience for consumers that is warm, human and effortless, and that the new services are based on consumer research that equates time with luxury. "We take this philosophy of warm, human and effortless, and we really embed it" in the vehicles and ownership experience, he said. Lincoln plans to launch its vehicle subscription service early next year, likely in "a couple California cities," Galhotra said, that allows consumers to lease any Lincoln vehicle on a monthly basis. While Lincoln did not announce pricing, the program is based on Ford Credit's Canvas program, which offers monthly subscriptions to pre-owned Ford vehicles and come with insurance, maintenance and warranty coverage. The service is so far offered only in the Bay Area and parts of Los Angeles. The service appears to be similar to the $1,500-a-month Book by Cadillac service and Care by Volvo. Robert Parker, Lincoln's global director of marketing, sales and service, said the service will allow consumers the option of upgrading to larger-size vehicles without being locked into a traditional two-year lease. "We acknowledge the fact that we are a challenger brand. We're not at the scale of the Germans," Parker said. "We certainly aspire to continue to grow, that's not our No. 1 focus.

2024 Lincoln Nautilus pricing is already out, and it's up

The new 2024 Lincoln Nautilus was just revealed, but now pricing is already out. Not only is pricing available to walk through, but Lincoln opened up its configurator and is allowing you to build and price one. As you might expect from a new generation with a whole lot more features, the base price is up. A 2024 Nautilus Premiere starts at $51,810, including the $1,395 destination charge — weÂ’ll note that the new Nautilus will be built in China now, but the destination fee is the same as the Canadian-built 2023 model. Overall, the new Nautilus is $5,590 more than the outgoing version. Considering that AWD is now standard equipment, and the plethora of additional tech/features now present in this new generation, the increase is no surprise. The Nautilus comes with a gas-only 2.0-liter turbo engine as standard equipment, but you can select the hybrid option for an extra $1,500. LincolnÂ’s mid-level trim is the Reserve at $56,145, which adds “premium” leather seats in the first and second rows, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, unique “jewel” accented grille and 21-inch wheels instead of the 19-inch wheels standard on the Premiere. Both the Premiere and Reserve have very expensive packages that group together a bunch of premium options — weÂ’d recommend reading through them on the configurator to see if theyÂ’re must-haves for your needs. If you want BlueCruise 1.2 (hands-free driver assist system) or one of the available Revel audio systems, though, youÂ’ll need to select one of these packages. Per usual with Lincoln, the Black Label trim is the range-topper. It comes with nearly every option as standard equipment and starts at $75,860. The biggest choices you can make here are powertrain — Lincoln still charges $1,500 extra for the hybrid in the Black Label — and then picking your exterior and interior color themes. Chalet, a cream and brown theme, or Redwood, a reddish-brown and black theme, can be selected on the inside. ThereÂ’s a $3,000 Jet Appearance Package available, too, which comes with unique wheels, fully-blacked-out exterior trim and a unique interior. You can even spend $2,000 on LincolnÂ’s fancy, new Chroma Caviar Dark Grey Metallic paint, the most expensive color in the catalog. Check all of these boxes, and you can get a Nautilus up to $82,360. At that price, you could buy an entry-level Navigator or a well-equipped Aviator.

NHTSA upgrades Ford floor mat unintended acceleration probe

According to a Bloomberg report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has upgraded an investigation into complaints of unintended acceleration lodged against Ford vehicles. The investigation began in June of 2010 when just three complaints had been received and it only concerned the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan, but this was at a time when the phrase "unintended acceleration" made grown men go pale. With 49 additional complaints received since then, the investigation has been reclassified as an engineering analysis - the last phase before a recall - and it has been expanded to include the Lincoln MKZ, making for a total of "around 480,000" units affected between the three sedans from the 2008 to 2010 model years.
The ostensible cause is that floor mats are trapping the accelerator pedal, but according to a Ford statement at the time, the entrapment is due to owners placing the optional all-weather floor mats, or aftermarket floor mats, on top of the car's standard floor mats. NHTSA has backed up that assessment, pinning the blame on "unsecured or double stacked floor mats."
On the face of it, it would appear that NHTSA has upgraded the status not because of Ford's error, but owner error, and Ford has stated publicly that it is "disappointed" in NHTSA's move. On top of NHTSA still being skittish after that other unintended acceleration debacle, it could be seen to be taking its time investigating all of the variables: it's reported that Ford changed its accelerator pedal design in 2010, a "heel blocker" in the floorpan has been considered a potential culprit in how the floor mats could be trapping the pedal, some drivers have said the floor mats weren't anywhere near the pedal, and according to a report in the LA Times, in "a letter sent by Ford to NHTSA in August 2010, the automaker said it found three injuries and one fatality that 'may have resulted from the alleged defect.'"