WardsAuto Podcast: Can New Generation of Products Revive Lincoln?

From nightclub valet parking to chauffeured SUVs, the Lincoln Navigator, especially in black, is a familiar sight. Other Lincoln models, though, remain as scarce as peacocks in Antarctica.

Ford’s premium brand sold a bit more than 158,000 units last year, including almost 82,000 in the U.S., per Wards Intelligence. Sales abroad primarily were in the Middle East, South Korea and China.

Twenty-five years ago, Ford had Volvo, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Jaguar in its stable before CEO Alan Mulally jettisoned those brands that were all supposed to make up for Lincoln’s lack of appeal among Baby Boomers and Generation X.

An argument could be made that Ford would have been better off starting an all-new luxury brand the way Toyota did with Lexus and Hyundai did with Genesis. But CEO Jim Farley, Jim Hackett before him, and Mark Fields before Hackett all decided to keep investing in Lincoln.

Senior Editor and WardsAuto Podcast host David Kiley takes listeners on the road to California to test drive the ’24 Lincoln Nautilus, which is built in China and exported to the U.S. The segment includes two interviews with Ford insiders about the Rejuvenation suite of features inside the car and its hybrid propulsion system, along with some overall thoughts about electrification.

Listen to the podcast here or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify and search on “WardsAuto.”