Lincoln Town Car.
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The last Lincoln Town Car ever produced came out in 2011. Sales had gone down to just under 9500 in its last year. Which was still a little bit more than the Navigator. However, while Town Car numbers were down every year, Navigator numbers kept going up. So far the Navigator’s highest year was 2019 with over 18,600 units. Which is actually not that much more than the last years of the Town Car.
Lincoln brought back the Continental sedan for the 2017 model year and it wasn’t the success they had hoped for. Production stopped just 3 years later. And of course, blaming it on “Americans don’t want sedans anymore”.
What Americans didn’t want was a Lincoln Continental based on the Ford Mondeo. Sure, it was longer, but it just didn’t look the part. And it wasn’t a replacement for the Town Car either. It was also pretty expensive and had tons of super cheap-looking plastic chrome trim inside.
What would work better is a larger RWD sedan like the last Town Car. Of course, that Panther platform is long gone, and adapting the current Mustang platform would probably be very costly.
This might sound blasphemous to the old guard, but a large EV platform would be the only way to revive the Town Car. It would instantly become quieter and more powerful than it has ever been. Without even trying hard.
No one really knows what Ford is doing with their future EVs, (maybe not even Ford itself). We only know a 2nd generation Mustang Mach-e is still scheduled for the end of next year, and 2 new smaller models are coming later this year. A small pickup and of course an SUV. Both are based on a brand new simpler EV platform. And they will probably be called “BRonco something”.
A large EV platform for big 3-row SUVS has been delayed. That is probably the only one a new large sedan could use.
Cadillac is working on 2 new EV sedans. We are supposed to see these “soon” as they say. Let’s hope it will push Ford to compete by adding a new sedan to their SUV-only lineup.
As I recently found out, the Town Car still has tons of fans. Of all ages, it seems. It was a super reliable car and many of them can be bought for around $10,000 or so. Making it a great deal for those looking for a big luxury car that isn’t too old.
From the many comments I’ve been getting on the few Town Car articles I’ve been posting, it seems there is still some demand for old-fashioned big American luxury cars. It would really be interesting to see if a new Town Car could find enough buyers to stay around for a few years…
I disagree that the way to revive a large car is EV only. I would rather say that it should be a flex platform capable of EV, PHEV, or HEV…which is what Toyota is doing. And that car should sit just a little higher than they’ve been making sedans in the last 20 years. Not an SUV, just being taller. Why do people move to SUVs? Because they have space. Nowadays, they have to scoop the roof out in a Camry for 6ft tall drivers to be able to fit. There’s nothing luxurious or even desirable about that. It was for when ICE was the only option and sedans had to get super aero to function as the company’s compliance vehicles for their bloated low-mileage SUVs. Hybrids (and I mean the recently much improved hybrids) have changed that dynamic, where an SUV can hit 35-40mpg combined. Its time to rethink their choices on sedans.