2002 Lincoln Continental Base Sedan 4-door 4.6l Ce Addition! on 2040-cars

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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.

Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.

2017 Lincoln Continental: Was this mic-drop moment just a big flop?

The Lincoln Continental may have been our fifth-place pick for Best In Show at this year's Detroit Auto Show, but it's probably the one we argued about the most. In fact, we're still talking about it. And we'll no doubt be discussing it long after we finally get to drive the new sedan later this year. We do this with lots of cars, all the time. The Continental is an especially important, high-profile car right now. It has the task of being a torch-holder for the struggling-to-run Lincoln brand, and that's a tough job these days. But did Lincoln do right by its Continental name? Did its Detroit showcar stop us in our tracks, or were we left feeling cold? In an effort to show you our full discussion, we're trying something different. About a week after the Detroit Auto Show press days concluded, Autoblog's Jonathon Ramsey sent an email around to some editors about the Continental to open a discussion. It got heated, and fast. And while we considered summarizing it, we decided to instead post the whole, largely unedited (adjusted for typos and swear words) chain. From: Jonathon Ramsey To: Autoblog Team Does anyone else think it's a problem that the new Continental looks 85 percent like the MKZ? And another 10 percent of it looks like a Jaguar and a Bentley? Because I think Lincoln screwed the pooch. The German Three plus Porsche can make cars that look alike – they've earned the right, even if I'd rather they didn't. The MKZ looks like a car for regional sales reps. Lincoln broke the glass in case of emergency, grabbed the Continental name, then put it on a car that looks a lot like that sales-rep car, but one for regional VPs. Do we really think this can work? Because I don't. From: Steven Ewing To: Autoblog Team Personally, I'm pretty disappointed in the final execution of Continental. I'm glad Lincoln isn't obsessed with chasing the Germans, but at this point, it's not even chasing Cadillac. I think that introducing the new front end and TTV6 engine on the MKZ before the Continental was a huge mistake. And while I have high hopes for the Conti from a comfort/driving standpoint, my gut instinct is that it's going to be more "better than the MKS" than "best American luxury sedan." Introducing the new front end and TTV6 engine on the MKZ before the Continental was a huge mistake.