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Lincoln Continental with suicide doors sold out, but Lincoln will make more

The Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition was announced just late last year, but now we have news that it's coming back for a second run of cars. All 80 initially planned have been allocated at this point. Lincoln wouldn't give an exact final price, but says it's somewhere north of $110,000. A fully-loaded Black Label car goes for a bit over $70,000, so it appears to be about a $40,000 premium for the Coach Door Edition. We're told that customers will be notified about their success at grabbing one in February, with shipments commencing over summer. Lincoln originally decided to build 80 of these because it's officially called the "80th Anniversary" car. Now that there will be a second year of production, we reached out to see if Lincoln will continue to produce the same number, or switch it up. Judging by the internet's excitement about this expensive sedan, there's a lot of interest in it. If you missed the reveal the first time around, you can read our full breakdown. To be succinct, it's a normal Black Label Continental that's been stretched by six inches and had suicide doors fitted to it. Sweet. There's also a full flow-through center console for the two rear passengers. Lincoln contracted Cabot Coach Builders to manufacture it; the two have worked together in the past. It's great to see Lincoln will be building more of these flagship-type sedans for the world. One could even make the argument that every new Continental screwed together should look like this, for history's sake. Related video:

Lincoln Sync 3 Infotainment Review | Clean and eminently usable

Many of the newer Lincoln products might be vastly different in design and experience than their Ford counterparts, but infotainment software is still heavily shared between the two brands. That said, Lincoln has made a great effort to make its version of Sync 3 feel more upmarket and premium compared to Ford’s. If you can think of it in terms of Android smartphones, Sync 3 in Ford vehicles is like stock Google software. Sync 3 in Lincoln products is akin to SamsungÂ’s UI, which amounts to a totally new look and added features. The core interface remains the same across the two brands. LincolnÂ’s snazzy new look can be customized with a few different color combinations, but they generally all consist of muted tones that exude old-world luxury more than the heavy-handed blue hues on Ford's version of Sync. One convenient commonality between the two is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability, both of which require wired connections. Some may find the functionality of the Apple/Android interfaces to be compromised as detailed in our Ford Escape interior driveway test). Sync 3 has a bottom bar of quick toggle, commonly-used apps, and a Home button in the top left corner. It makes getting to any particular set of menus quick and painless. Squared-off icons are used within menus with large font and intuitive scrolling functionality. There are no redundant scroll wheels or touchpads to control the screen interface in any of LincolnÂ’s vehicles, so youÂ’ll need to be comfortable with a touchscreen. Thankfully, there are hard buttons on the dash for the climate controls and common audio functions.  Lincoln Sync 3 Infotainment View 10 Photos In the Lincoln Navigator weÂ’re using to demonstrate the technology, Sync 3 is smooth and generally free of hiccups. However, itÂ’s not infallible and tablet-smooth as plodding through BMWÂ’s or MercedesÂ’ latest infotainment systems is. Lincoln uses Sync 3 on all of its current models, and in the Navigator, itÂ’s playing on a large 10-inch screen. The added luxury features for Lincolns tends to dictate all of the extras you see in the software. There are settings for a vast array of ambient lighting, hugely complex seat controls (for the 30-way massaging seats) and a number of customization options for the excellent Revel audio system (optional). Lincoln differentiates itself even further with the fully digital instrument cluster flanking the big screen.

Lincoln's $5B revival bid hinges upon new D6 chassis

It's no secret that Lincoln has received short shrift from the Ford Motor Company for years, and former CEO Alan Mullay even wanted to kill the whole thing off when he ran things. Today, things appear to be trending in a different direction. Fresh investment has helped enable a sizable marketing push for its well-regarded MKC compact crossover, a couple of awards for the company and plant the seeds for a major expansion into China. While the situation is still in the early going, it looks like Lincoln is on a tentative (if long) path towards a turnaround. If new reports are accurate, the brand is poised to build on that momentum with its largest investment in new products in years thanks in large measure to a new modular platform codenamed D6.
According to four unnamed insiders speaking to Reuters, FoMoCo is investing over $5 billion over the next five years, partially to create a new modular platform to underpin multiple Lincoln vehicles - and possibly some Ford products, too. Development is reportedly being overseen by the division's new boss, Kumar Galhotra. At the moment, specific details about the D6 chassis aren't yet known, but it's rumored to have the flexibility to support front-, rear- and all-wheel drive vehicles. According to Reuters, the first model using the framework could be an MKZ replacement and seven-passenger MKT successor in 2019.
Until the D6-based models hit, expect to see continued expansion from Lincoln. Ford management isn't trying to turn around the division overnight and is planning "in terms of generations of products," according to current CEO Mark Fields. The strategy unsurprisingly includes a production version of Lincoln's recent MKX Concept, as well as an all-new Navigator using aluminum-intensive architecture. Reuters also claims the MKS is due for renewal in the meantime, including with a longer-wheelbase version to appeal to the brand's new Chinese buyers.