JDR76

There is one listed on cars.com near me for $89,999.

SNiiP3R

iTrader: (3)

Lincoln and Acura are smoking the same joint.

LOWFAST

I will wait to see one in person before passing judgement. Also best to wait to see where they fall with incentives, give it 6 months, and then decide on how good of a "value" it is or is not. I would guess you will see $10-15K on the hood after a very short period of time, it is just how Ford and the other American auto makers roll.

TangoRed

At this end of the price range the Germans will play ball with that range of discount as well. Also, realistically the majority of Continentals out on the road won't be fully loaded black label models.

SW17LS

Even well equipped not even top tier let alone black label cars are $65-70k.

TangoRed

I mentioned in an earlier post that the price was certainly high, I was focusing more on the most recent posts discussing $70k+ price tags.

JessePS

It is like a mix of a Hyundai/Maserati. If you like American made cars and want luxury and are willing to spend $80,260 on the top of the line. Which in its self is about $12k more than a Equus. You would go for that. It is great that they are stepping up their game. They have a lot of competition out there and they will need to do a great job to make it work.

BrownPride

With the Black Label package and all the goodies (excluding Rear Seat stuff) it does come out at a hair under $70K. Typically, large American luxury sedans like the Deville/DTS were priced in the $40-$50K range which made them appealing to your "buy American" type who likes Caddys and Lincolns. I still think this will do alright on the market, but they won't move many Black Labels.

I saw on in person at NAIAS earlier this year. It was rotating and under the show lights so it should have look really good, but I didn't come away very impressed. Maybe it was the wheels or the very square "blocky" side profile and rear end. Not an ugly car by any stretch of the imagination, but a bit "meh" to me. The Cadillac CT6 is more attractive but is also a lot more expensive.

SW17LS

My point is that a Continental does not have to be a black label to have a price well into the $70s.

Toys4RJill

The Lincoln cars do not compare or compete with the German branded cars. Ford has finally realized this, they are going after those who would pay substantially more than a Lexus ES, Buick etc etc. There is a significant part of the US population that still loves higher end Ford or GM products. For reference, there will aways be buyers who will pay more for an entry level 2.0t Lexus GS with faux leather when they can instead purchase a higher 400 horse, more luxurious appointed Lincoln. Same thing for those who will pay more for a Lexus IS250 with faux leather a less options when they can instead pay the same or even less for a Toyota Camry 3.5 V6 fully optioned. This is the magic of branding and marketing.

For reference, those who really love cars and really understand certain things will appreciate RWD, or longitudinal V6 or V8 or even a straight 6....for the record, the Continental has strut suspension which lacks double wishbones at the front and the rear. Its FWD with a ton of power but yet the MPGs are not the greatest.

The best case comparison I can make for this Continental is the mid 90s Cadillac STS.

A large discount for a North American car is the norm, even at $10K I am sure Ford is going to make a big profit on this car. I don't know Ford cars as well as I know GM cars but GM has a lot of higher end priced vehicles that people forget. The GM trucks, and SUVS can get pretty high up in price and from what I understand, GM has a slightly higher than average retail transaction price for their Cadillac cars.

SW17LS

Everything competes with everything.

I agree with you that there's a strong following for Cadillac as a brand, I'm not so sure about Lincoln. There's something about a Cadillac, it has an American swagger about it. Even I would like a big black Cadillac sedan, there's something very uniquely American about it.

But, Lincoln has been so old for so long, we're talking no style or gravitas since like the mid 80s, except maybe the Mark VIII...at least Cadillac has had stylish cars in there. The Sevilles, Eldorados, etc.

mmarshall

Lincoln tried a major styling change, on the Town Car, in 1997-98, when it switched from basically a three-box design (which they had used for decades), to an all-new look that featured styling cues from Jaguar, Kia, and BMW. For a time, there was considerable resistance to the new design from the seniors and limo/executive car businesses that made up most of Town Car sales. Older (pre-1998) Town Cars, for a while, kept a lot of their value, as they were actually in demand more than new ones (their owners liked that three-box design, and held onto them). Eventually, of course, the old ones wore out, and the public gradually accustomed itself to the new Jaguar look...........Town Cars were built that way until they were discontinued.

SW17LS

LOL, Mike. The 98+ Town Car was never considered stylish. I understand that they modernized the look, but nobody bought a Town Car for the style...people did buy Cadillacs for their style.

And did you seriously just put Kia in between Jaguar and BMW...in 1998?!? Why would anybody borrow styling cues from Kia in 1998?!?

Be real here.

mmarshall

Well, you're half-right. Here is the 2004 Kia Amanti.....although much shorter in length, the styling similarity to the post-1997 Town Car (and to some Jaguars) is obvious. But I had forgotten that the Amanti did not debut until 2003, so it looks like Kia actually copied Lincoln and Jaguar, not the other way around. And, sorry.....I mistakenly put BMW instead of Mercedes...the headlights are straight off a 90s-vintage E-Class.



I disagree, though, and will continue to, that to say that the 1998 Town Car was a major styling change is worthy of an LOL....and of "getting real". It was a controversial redesign when it happened, and suddenly residual values of older Town Cars shot up overnight......until the public accustomed itself to the new design.

I remember shopping with a friend of mine at the time (he had actually been my old Flight Instructor) who had retired from flying, and was working part-time as a limo-driver. He felt it was a good time for his company to look at some new TCs, as the styling change was lessening demand and making dealerships give steep discounts to move them (we actually did take home a new black Signature Town Car for the company)

SW17LS

If anybody styled anything after that hideous Kia they deserve all the failure they get. Remember I have a Kia, but that Amanti on top of being ugly is a terrible car.

A big styling change doesn't mean that it created a stylish vehicle. Like you said, the styling was controversial, and buyers didn't like it. It'd be hard to find somebody that thought a Seville STS wasn't a good looking car, as an example. Even later DTS sedans had "something" intangible about them.

Cadillac has something that Lincoln hasn't had for 30 years. That's hard to come back from...especially with no dealer network and an incessantly mediocre product line.

It's why the Escalade has caught on more than the Navigator. Now it's a much newer vehicle, but even when it wasn't. Cadillacs have something that Lincolns don't. They have something Lexus doesn't have IMHO...