New Lincoln Navigator Is Selling So Fast It's Tough To Meet Demand

It's possible Lincoln has stolen away some Cadillac Escalade buyers too.

To the all-new Lincoln Navigator is an immediate sales success would be kind of an understatement. According to CNBC, the redesigned Navigator is selling so fast Ford is having trouble building enough of them to satisfy demand. This is very impressive considering the Navigator is a large SUV with a base price over $73,000. However, 84 percent of buyers are willing to pony up the extra money for the Reserve or Black Label trim, propelling the SUV’s price tag to around $90,000. If buyers add even more features, the final sum will reach $100,000.

Since going on sale last November, the redesigned Navigator has directly been the reason for sales to increase by 97.5 percent year-over-year last month. "We could have sold a lot more in January if we had had them," said Mark LaNeve, vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service. Obviously this is all music to the ears of Lincoln dealerships across the US. They have been screaming for new product for quite some time, and the new Navigator is just one of several new Lincolns to arrive in showrooms recently. Combined the ongoing popularity of SUVs in the US, partially thanks to low gasoline prices, this new Navigator arrived at the deal time.

Remember, this is the first time Ford has given the Lincoln Navigator a complete redesign in a decade. "The previous Navigator was fine, but it was nothing like this," Kelley Blue Book analyst Rebecca Lindland told CNBC. "This is a really gorgeous truck.” In fact, it’s quite possible the new Navigator has stolen away a few customers of its arch rival, the Cadillac Escalade. “Cadillac had owned that spot (large luxury SUVs),” Lindland said, “and now Ford has come in and is a fierce competitor.” Cadillac may have seen the storm coming. Last November, for example, Cadillac began offering $5,000 discounts on new Escalades as part of an effort to seduce potential Navigator buyers.

This deal applied only to current Navigator owners, but the point is clear. Based on the early success of the new Lincoln Navigator, the only problem Ford has is finding a way to build more. It’s not a bad problem to have.