The reborn Lincoln Continental has taken its lumps recently, with the flagship sedan suffering from the combination of declining sedan sales, and the spike in CUV and SUV demand. That isn’t stopping Lincoln from teasing what could be the return of an iconic feature to the Continental that would be a bold effort at bringing more exclusivity, heritage, and distinctive design touches to its luxury laden four door just in time for the 2020 model year.
The seemingly innocent post on the company’s Instagram page starts out as the typical Throwback Thursday post, with a shout out to the 1960’s Continental and its trademark center opening suicide doors. But our attention is focused in the end of Lincolns post caption, with the words “or is it,” and “stay tuned.” catching our attention. These small clues have us believe that something is indeed up at Lincoln, and that this seemingly innocent post could be the first solid indicator that big changes are coming to the Conti’s doors soon.
Rumors about the return of these doors have swirled quietly for the past few years, with Lincoln either staying quiet on the matter, or choosing to discretely deny them when pressed further on the subject. The return of these doors would certainly bring an extra degree of opulence to the Continental, and would be a feature that no other flagship sedan in its segment offers. Currently the only luxury car offering that offers suicide style doors is the Rolls Royce Wraith, but its lofty price tag puts it out of reach of all but the most elite and financially powerful luxury car buyers. If Lincoln were to offer suicide doors once again on the Continental, the low price tag here as well as the history surrounding this feature would certainly bring some much needed attention to the storied luxury brand.
With separate reports suggesting that the Continental will not be getting a second generation model, this move could be Lincoln’s attempt at getting the most of what it can out of the current generation model before it is formally put out to pasture possibly in the 2020 model year. This makes sense since the suicide door equipped model could appear as a special limited edition model to formally help send the car off with a bang, versus a mere whimper. Lincoln’s post says to stay tuned for more information, so look for more Continental themed tidbits to emerge closer to its debut possibly at the 2019 North American International Auto Show.
In a related item, a lone image of the Continental with its suicide doors fully open has recently emerged on the Ford enthusiast forum FordInsideNews which appears to have been smuggled out of a recent Lincoln dealer meeting. The grainy image also appears to reveal a potential moniker for the model, with “Lincoln Coach Door Continental” prominently displayed on a giant video screen. Either way, we are very excited at the prospect of a production version of this model reviving this special door configuration, and we look forward to seeing more from Lincoln on this subject over the next few weeks.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.