From nightclub valet parking to chauffeured SUVs, the black Lincoln Navigator is a familiar sight, especially in black. But other Lincoln models remain as rare as peacocks in Antarctica.
Ford's luxury brand sold just over 158,000 cars last year, including about 82,000 in the United States, according to Words Intelligence. Overseas sales were mainly in the Middle East, South Korea, and China.
25 years ago, Ford kept Volvo, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Jaguar in-house until CEO Alan Mulally dumped all the brands that were supposed to make up for Lincoln's lack of appeal among baby boomers and Gen Xers. I was holding it.
One could argue that Ford would have been better off launching an entirely new luxury brand, as Toyota did with Lexus and Hyundai with Genesis. But CEO Jim Farley, Jim Hackett before him, and Mark Fields before Hackett all decided to stay invested in Lincoln.
David Kiley, senior editor and host of the Wars Auto Podcast, takes listeners to California to test drive a 24-year-old Lincoln Nautilus that is built in China and exported to the United States. This segment includes his two interviews with Ford insiders about his Rejuvenation feature suite inside the vehicle. We discuss cars and their hybrid propulsion systems, as well as our overall thoughts on electrification.
Listen to the podcast here or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform like Apple Podcasts or Spotify and search for “WardsAuto.”
