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Lincoln Continental Luxury Sedan Facing Discontinuation Amid Declining Sales

With great effort, Lincoln revived the Continental for the 2017 model year after a 15-year hiatus from the lineup. But the Ford Motor Company’s luxury division could’ve done better than a front-/all-wheel-drive platform, and to this effect, much better than a stretched Fusion with luxury details and a chromed grille.
Lincoln Continental 25 photos
Photo: Lincoln
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Starting at $45,160 and knocking on the door of $75,000 with all the bells and whistles ticked from the options list, the Continental was met with enthusiasm when it went on sale in the latter half of 2016. But from a high point of 1,845 sales in the U.S. of A. in December 2016, the full-size luxury sedan has been steadily declining.

In the 18 months since it became available to purchase, Lincoln managed to sell 18,846 units in this part of the world. And that’s not enough to justify the costs that went into the Continental, which are estimated in the ballpark of $1 billion (!!!).

What happens next, you ask? The answer comes from “sources intricately familiar with Ford Motor Company’s future product plans,” and it all boils down to eternal rest. Ford Authority reports “the Lincoln Continental will be discontinued after production of the current, tenth-generation model comes to an end.”

As long as Cadillac has trouble moving the CT6 and lesser sedans, why would Lincoln do better with the replacement of the MKS? This is a segment dominated by the German triad, and U.S.-based automakers fighting for a slice of the luxury pie need to do a lot better for a chance of winning the customers over to their side.

The shift towards SUVs and crossovers doesn’t help the Continental either, for buying dynamics dictate how the lineup of an automaker should look. If it wasn’t obvious enough, the Lincoln Motor Company is seeing more success with the all-new Navigator and facelifted MKX, renamed Nautilus for the 2019 model year.

In the face of adversity, is there a case to be made for a successor to the Continental? According to our friends at Ford Authority, Ford’s next-generation D6 platformcould do the trick thanks to its modular design. Capable of being configured for front-, rear-, and all-wheel-drive applications, the D6 is also expected to underpin the 2020 Ford Explorer.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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