Following in the footsteps of Cadillac, Volvo, and Porsche, Lincoln will begin offering cars on a monthly basis through a subscription service. Here comes the twist: they’re all used cars.
Lincoln has been making some decent moves lately, as the Continental and Navigator are properly luxurious with attractive designs, and the recent Aviator concept is a three-row CUV that will likely sell very well if it does enter production. It’s even mulling the idea of putting suicide doors back into production. But FoMoCo is still having trouble selling the flagship luxury brand’s products, and they need an injection of foot traffic as soon as possible.
Lincoln mentioned casually it would be following the push for subscription model services that competitors have been using at the LA Auto Show last December. Ford already offers a pre-owned subscription service in the Bay Area and West Los Angeles called Canvas, and Lincoln’s program will kick off in those two markets as well.
Canvas currently allows users to get off-lease Ford cars, trucks, and SUVs for just over four-hundred dollars per month. The subscription includes insurance, maintenance, and warranty coverage, plus the ability to swap cars at any time, and terms that range from 1 to 12 months. Canvas has logged more than 600 customers in those two markets, which is exactly what Lincoln needs right now.
Lincoln mentioned the program will come with Lincoln’s Pickup & Delivery program. The service will also expand on Lincoln’s Chauffeur program, which allows customers to call on a personal driver who can also assist with errands while the customer attends to other things. Without a full product line to draw consumers in, they’ve been expanding “experiential services” in recent years.
Lincoln is currently offering 2017 model year MKX, MKC, MKZ, Continental, and Navigator models on the service starting from $625 per month and ranging up to well over a grand for some models. For example, a well-spec’d Navigator can run as much as $1855 for a single month subscription with unlimited mileage restrictions.
Considering Cadillac’s program costs $1,500 per month, there are certainly ways to rationalize Lincoln’s program.