Ensuring simplicity in the ordering process, both for the consumer and the dealer, is a motivating factor in paring down the number of options to sift through on the all-new 2020 Lincoln Aviator luxury three-row SUV.
“We want to lower a lot of the complexity,” Jim Rideout, product plans manager for Lincoln Motor Company of Canada, told Automotive News Canada at the Aviator launch event in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. “Whether it’s standard or optional, there’s not a multitude of having to distinguish what I want and don’t want. It makes it very easy for our client and also makes it easy for our dealers.
“The U.S. has taken a similar approach in also lowering the order complexity, [but] I would say we have probably gone further than what the U.S. has done.”
For Canada, Lincoln is opting to entirely skip the entry-level model being sold in the United States, which comes with cloth seats and is rear-wheel drive, architecture the Aviator shares with the next-generation Ford Explorer. Instead, Canadian Aviator models begin at the Reserve level with leather upholstery, all-wheel drive, and a starting price of $71,100. (All pricing includes $2,100 freight and PDI.)
“Our research shows that [all-wheel drive is] almost a prerequisite for luxury,” Rideout said. “And in large utility, our data shows that, even when we look at some of our competitors, the take rate on non-leather is extremely small.”
The lowest-price Reserve models with no add-on packaging are not yet accessible in the brand’s online configurator. Start-up production for Canada is focused on mid- and high-equipment units — those that include optional features such as a panoramic sunroof, the Co-Pilot360 Plus safety feature package, 22-inch alloy wheels, and the Illumination Package with adaptive cornering headlamps and a back-lit Lincoln Star grille — which means that online pricing currently starts at $77,100. Lower-priced models will become available within the next 30 to 60 days.
A plug-in hybrid Grand Touring model entered production two weeks ago and is projected to arrive in Canadian dealerships sometime either very late this year or early in 2020.
