Are they wanting to be a Luxury auto brand or not?

Makes no sense to drop the Black label from a version of their auto's if they are trying to be an exclusive luxury auto company.

Imagine the loyal Lincoln buyer.

Buyer 1 - Hey I see you have a brand new 2019 MKZ, is that a Black label like my 2018?

Buyer 2 - Um, no it is their top of the line 2019 MKZ Reserve II. What do you get with the black label? They did not have it available when I bought?

Buyer 1 - My Black Label gives me "membership privileges" such as 4-year maintenance plan, and getting special access to events and restaurants.

Buyer 2 - O'h that would be nice. How much did you pay for yours?

Buyer 1 - I paid X amount for a Black label Reserve II, How about you.

Buyer 2 - Ummmmm, I also paid X amount but I did not get any of those features.

...............

Now that I wrote this up, I double checked pricing and I see that prices are $3,000 higher for the top end line without the black label features. WOW, did Lincoln screw the pooch on this one.

https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2018/Lincoln/MKZ/Black-Label-AWD/Pricing

So a 2018 fully loaded Black Label MKZ AWD is $47,812

So a 2019 fully loaded Reserve II MKZ AWD is $51,740

This so does not make sense to me. 

My guess is the take rate on Black Label Lincolns is really low, like less than 5% so they don't want all these trim levels.  And I imagine Lincoln doesn't want to have to provide extra privileges because that just costs money year to year that they have to pay.  

And look at the interior of the MKZ, $51,000 for that thing is criminal, plus the Fusion underpinnings.  I think even at $10,000 off sticker, there are better choices on the market than the MKZ, which is why after 2020 there won't be an MKZ.

Black Label was just plain overpriced on the MkZ and yet at the same time the car badly needs that interior to even be competitive.

Now half of those buyer perks every Lincoln owner gets - and that’s again just a move to be competitive in this segment. 

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

My guess is the take rate on Black Label Lincolns is really low, like less than 5% so they don't want all these trim levels.  And I imagine Lincoln doesn't want to have to provide extra privileges because that just costs money year to year that they have to pay.  

And look at the interior of the MKZ, $51,000 for that thing is criminal, plus the Fusion underpinnings.  I think even at $10,000 off sticker, there are better choices on the market than the MKZ, which is why after 2020 there won't be an MKZ.

Oh, I'm sure will be quite the rebates on it....

Granted, I like the way it drives....

That 3.0 turbo would be cool.  I bet a year or two old MKZ's with it will sell way cheaper than new.  Might be a good stealth machine and cost effective.

However, it would have the dull MKZ interior and would be a heavy pig like the Fusion.  Tradeoffs, ok.

You'da had to be pretty crazy to pay insane dough for the black label unless there was MONSTER rebates on it.  Buick may be making money off that Avenir stuff for now, but For Lincoln the extra jacked up trim maybe isn't paying off.

Black Label does well on Continental and the SUVS it is offered on... but the MKZ does so poorly (undeservedly so) that I would imagine the number of Black Labels sold is numerically quite small.  A CPO MKZ is a luxury car steal, especially if you can find the Turbo V6 model.