Are Lincoln suicide doors about to come back???

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This is what Lincoln tweeted today.

There were rumors a few months ago about the Lincoln Continental getting suicide doors for its 2020 “facelift”.
Which sounds pretty weird to me.
Since Ford isn’t making sedans anymore and is just looking for any excuses they can think of to drop the last two Lincoln sedan models.
And since they only sold 12 000 Continentals last year.

A brand new design and re-engineering of the doors seem like an extravagant expense for such a poor seller.

On an SUV? Sure. Except the Aviator just came out and the Navigator is almost brand new.
And I really don’t think the next compact SUV (Currently called the MKC) would get these suicide doors.
That seems more appropriate for a larger or top of the line model.

So what is going on with mentioning what they call “center opening doors” now?
Or “stay tuned”.

What do you think???

Conversation 12 comments

  1. Vince, the Continental is outselling the 7-series, CT6, the A6, the V90, the A7, the G90, and many other cars in the same size or price category.

    It is having poor sales, but that is about average for this segment that is declining as more people shift away to similarly priced SUV's. The S-class will struggle to reach 15,000 sales in the US this year. The best selling large car is the Model S at around 25,000 sales a year. Everyone else is just struggling to sell 10,000.

  2. The Continental starts at about $46 000. So it cannot be compared to cars like the 7 series, S-Class or others who start at $85 000 and higher. Or even the Genesis G90 which starts at almost $70 000

    The Lincoln is closer in price (but still cheaper) to a 5 series which sold over 40 000 units last year.

    The Lincoln has NOT been outselling the Audi A6.
    Audi sold over 16 000 of the A6 in the US last year. Which is a third more than the Continental.

    Even the Genesis G80 (closer in price and size to the Lincoln ) sold over 16 000 units last year.

    Of course, all these numbers are still pretty low. But all better than the Lincoln Continental.

  3. a Continental sedan with suicide doors earlier in March of this year at a closed-door dealer meeting in Las Vegas, showcasing what it called a "Coach Door Continental," and indicated to those present that the feature will appear on the next major refresh of the sedan. That next major refresh is expected in 2019 as a 2020 model, which suggests that we're only a short time away from the debut of the production version of the updated sedan.

  4. With crossovers being the mainstream, sedans are becoming more niche, more sporty. Look at the new Lexus LS. Is THAT a conservative design? Nope. So future sedans can be more stylish, with less practical and more interesting features than their boring CUV counterparts.

    I could see the current Continental being rebodied and turned into the entry level car ($40-60k) with the new Continental being the flagship in the $60-80k range.

  5. Elsewhere, I saw a fuzzy image of the sedan with both doors open…. Unlike the old pillarless samples from the 60s, it has full pillar right there… Unfortunately it is straight, and right where a conventional front hinged rear door would have a pillar. They are not taking any ergonomic advantages of the configuration. They could have angled that pillar to improve driver visibility and rear seat foot access without sacrificing structural integrity.
    Oh well… I'm thinking too much outside the box…

  6. What I have heard, from a friend who owns a '66 Continental and follows the news closely, is that they are producing 80 of these to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Continental in 2020. I don't think the structure of the car is being radically altered, and the conversions will be done by an outside company, like the convertibles that were made by ASC for Chrysler and others over the years.

    If it proves very popular, they will produce more, but they aren't converting all Continental production. More of an attention-getting move, which will probably bring some more people in to see the Aviator and other models.

  7. I think Rolls Royce top of the line model, Ghost, Phantom already has theses “suicide doors” for many years.

  8. Vince, I'm going by this year's sales. Look it up on Goodcarbadcar.

    So far in 2018, Continental has 7588 sales, Audi A6 has 7503, Volvo V90 has 7288, Genesis G80 has 7141, Lexus GS has 6017, Infiniti Q70 has 4150, etc. Continental is outselling all of those cars in this climate that is hostile to sedans. All of those cars can be optioned up from their base price to 15 or 30 grand more in their highest trims, competing in price with large luxury cars.

    Then look at large cars. The Continental comes in 5th place, just behind the Porsche Panamara by 200 units (7782), and ahead of the 7-series by 300 units (7288). The rest of the cars on that list, such as the 6-series, Genesis G90, Jaguar XJ, Audi A8, and Kia K900 are irrelevant because barely anybody buys them, selling 3,000 units to juse a few hundreds.

    So when all is said and done, the Continental is currently outselling the Audi A6, Volvo V90, Genesis G80, Lexus GS, Infiniti Q70, Audi A7, Jaguar XF, Acura RLX, BMW 7-series, BMW 6-series, Genesis G90, Jaguar XJ, Audi A8, and Kia K900.

    The midsize and large cars that sell more than the Continental are the Tesla Model S and 3, Mercedes S and E class, BMW 5 series, Lexus LS and ES, the Lincoln MKZ, and the Porsche Panamera. The continental is struggling to survive but it's doing a hell of a lot better or equal to most other mid-size and full-size sedans.

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