Ford has reportedly spent over $1 billion to bring the Lincoln Continental back to the market, some 14 years after it was originally discontinued. Now, sources “intricately familiar with FMC’s future product plans,” say that the continental will be discontinued once this generation exceeds its lifespan. While those that are fans of the Continental may shutter after reading those words, there’s a good reason – you’re a dying breed. And, so is the large sedan, apparently.

Why is Lincoln Discontinuing the Continental?

Since Lincoln has reintroduced the Continental, it’s sold just 18,846 units (as of Feb 2018.) That wouldn’t be bad had it been on the market for a few months, but it’s been on the market for almost two years, with sales of the new model commencing back in September of 2016. So far in 2018, just 1,573 units have been moved with January being the best month at 815 examples. So yeah, if you wonder why Lincoln will ditch the Continental, it’s because people just don’t want it.

So, now you have to almost feel bad for Lincoln. It reintroduced the Continental, a name that should be very familiar, right smack dab in the middle of a period where people are buying SUVs like they are going out of style. It was a gamble to present a new luxury sedan, but Lincoln went for it anyway, and now it’s taking the heat. Of course, it may have stood a chance had Lincoln went with a RWD setup as opposed to FWD and AWD or offered up some kind of performance. After all, big luxury sedans also need performance if they are to compete in today’s market – that’s just the way the world works now. At least until everyone gets tired of SUVs, that is.

With that said, Lincoln’s resident big luxury sedan is on its last leg. It’s only a couple of years old, so Lincoln and FoMoCo could drag out the lifespan another 5 or 7 years in an attempt to gain back that huge chunk of cheddar spent on its development, but I wouldn’t count on it. This miserable bastard will probably hang around a couple more years then die a slow, lonely death that most of the world will hardly notice.

References

Lincoln Continental

Read our full review on the 2017 Lincoln Continental.

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