Even more dealerships of Cadillac rival Lincoln are getting the ax over the course of 2024, with an additional hundred brand retailers on the chopping block after a hundred were closed during 2023.
Per Automotive News reporting about 400 dealerships will remain after the closure of 200 retail locations is completed at 2024’s end, though as the article points out this number still exceeds the dealership lineup of most luxury marques.
The ongoing efforts by Ford to create a leaner dealership lineup for the Lincoln brand are part of a strategy to eliminate dealers who are not brand-exclusive to Lincoln. This strategy was launched in 2023 following three years of slumping sales, and is designed to “get our mojo back,” as Dianne Craig, president of the brand, put it. At the start of 2023 the marque’s dealer network consisted of 637 dealerships.
Dealerships that will lose their access to Lincoln vehicles will be given a buyout offer that includes extra Ford inventory and special incentives to offer customers. Dianne Craig noted “we have many, many dealers who were only selling one or two Lincolns a month, almost all of those out of a dualed facility.” It is these dealers who will no longer sell the luxury brand in an effort to boost sales for brand-exclusive dealerships.
The nameplate has been struggling for some time, with GM’s former CEO Dan Akerson joking in 2011 that the Ford luxury brand needed a priest to “sprinkle holy water” on it. The new strategy will see retailers who sold both Lincoln and Ford vehicles converted to Ford-only locales.
The Lincoln National Dealer Council supports the move as well, with its chairman Chris Poulos noting “If we’re to create an experience for a client that has very high expectations then you can’t co-mingle that with a mass brand.”
While reducing dealership count is a significant part of the new brand strategy, it is not the only initiative Ford is relying on. Brand president Craig says offering “a freshened portfolio” is on the horizon by the end of 2024, with refreshed or overhauled Aviator, Corsair, Nautilus, and Navigator models expected this year.
After providing these details, she declared that 2024 “is going to be a breakout year for Lincoln.”
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Comments
Lincoln will be joining Mercury soon. How sad.
Ford would rather spend the monies on another special edition Mustang that we don’t need. Stockholders should step up and force Ford to give Lincoln the vehicles we want to buy not the garbage they currently have. Not rocket science.
The only way for that to happen is for all shareholders to sell their Ford stocks permanently.
Oscar Wilde wrote, “Behind the perfection of a man’s style, must lie the passion of a man’s soul.”
They better get Matthew McConaughey back in the commercials. Keep Making Gas powered comfortable cruisers when GM is building EVs. Lincoln needs some cache back again. Good Luck!
Dear Ford. Challenge yourself to make Lincoln better or equal to Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac please. Put as much effort as you do in the zillion versions of Mustang. How about sending those dollars/ energies/ creativity/etc to Lincoln instead.
Ford Motor Company has a history of overspending on Musangs and pick-ups, while ignoring Lincoln at the same time, which means Lincoln sales will continue to decline every year from now on.
Lincoln’s cars overall are significantly more competitive in terms of design and luxury than Cadillacs at the moment. The Lyriq is the only car at the moment that is good enough to be competitive. The rest are, as every single reviewer says, just Chevys with some leather and wood pieces. You get in the interior of a Lincoln and it feels absolutely nothing like the Ford it’s based on. The chassis/drivetrain is the only thing it shares. Even then, every Lincoln has continuously adaptive air suspension, whereas the only Cadillac with continuously adaptive suspension is the Celestiq. Every refresh/redesign since the 2018 Navigator has been nothing short of segment-defining on release.
Right now, Lincoln and Buick have the most boring lineup in the auto industry, Lincoln sales have now dropped below 100,000 units/year. The Escalade has always outsold the Navigator, Navigator sales will never top 20,000 units/year, and may go below 10,000/year. The service department of the local Cadillac dealership is highly recommended by AAA. The local Lincoln’s service department is one of the worst in the area, high turnover in all categories. even cashiers. You take your vehicle to a repair a problem, when you pick it up you discover a new problem that needs repair. The local Lincoln dealership will probably close by 2025 due to very poor sales, and Lincoln will be China-only by 2030 which is okay with me.
Sister has had to drive 2 hrs to the nearest Cadillac dealer (4 times thus far on 2023 CT4 bought new) to get warranty work done. here in N MS. She actually bought it from a dealer 4 hours away as she didn’t know at that time about the nearest dealer as the dealer in Tupelo gave up his Cadillac brand rather than pay big $ to make changes to sell electric. Now has GMC, Buick, & Honda. She really likes the CT4 but says she may go back to BMW after so many warranty issues. Cheapest parts from lowest bidder applies to so many brands. “We just assemble them”.
There’s nothing wrong wirh Lincoln that persistance couldn’t fix.
They don’t “need” sedans. Ford has no platform to base one on anyway and shouldn’t waste the time and money creating one. Few if any would buy it. The only hope Lincoln has for a passenger car in the near term is something based on Mustang.
Current Lincoln interiors are excellent. The problem is in the vehicles overall design. Ford either can’t or won’t create a unique look for Lincoln and then stick to it. The current crop are Audi- esque mash ups (especially the China only Zephyr). They have been doing this for years. The now extinct Continental was an almost line-for-line copy of a Bentley. Lincoln had a chance to do something stunning and original for the return of a vaunted and deserving name, but chose instead to copy. This is the reason few know or care about Lincoln.
Corporate platform sharing is the order of the day and there is no shame in it. But that’s why design becomes so very important. I don’t care for the look of Lexus, but it’s a good example of how to do it.
If they don’t include sedans in their lineup anytime soon, they will be China only by 2030, which is okay with me.
I was a customer of one of those new Lincoln dealerships. It doesn’t matter how lovely the building is if it’s a vortex of stupidity behind the glass doors and in the shop. Lack of training, lack of parts, lack of follow through on any sort of luxury commitment, a revolving door of employees, will leave you anything but feeling luxurious. They didn’t understand their own systems. They couldn’t print paperwork with graphics of current models. They couldn’t connect their system with the Lincoln app so all the stuff about using it to schedule service and pickups was BS. I almost never had my Navigator serviced when the service advisor who checked me in still worked there when I picked it up. Usually when they checked me in they wrote notes on a piece of cardboard ripped off a box. One time they forgot my Navigator was there. I waited months for a part and when it came in they immediately sold it to another dealer. They broke a door handle once and cracked my heads up display another time. I could write for days. At one point they only had one employee in the entire service department. It was insane. After 3 years I got rid of it and back in an Escalade Sport Platinum. It was like being let out of car prison and sent directly to The Ritz Carlton of Cadillac dealers where everything is beautiful and people are smart and helpful and the stress of that maddening experience melted away, but just the site of the Lincoln star triggers me like PTSD. In my experience there was literally no substance behind the pretty visuals and serene advertisements. The Lincoln models may be 2024, but everything about how Lincoln actually operates for the Lincoln owner is still so very 1992.
The Lincoln dealership in my area is identical to yours, revolving doors with salespeople, technicians, service advisors, even cashiers, it’s not a good place to have your Lincoln serviced there. I expect this dealership to close by the beginning of 2025.
My dealership has more Lincolns on the lot than Fords, so there is obviously a problem. Next up, with the way Ford’s recent decision-making has been going (awful), Ford will reduce the Ford dealership count. By looking at F-150 sales only. Just a hunch.
Here is the deal on Lincoln. You think there has been a lot of in fighting at Cadillac it has been much worse at Ford over Lincoln.
Many at Ford wanted the division killed years ago. This is why they did the premier models for Ford.
The idea people would buy them and they would kill Ford.
But GM did well with their line and sedans. Ford gave them an extra life but all they have give is just fancy Fords and nothing that says real Lincoln.
The GM sedans are true Cadillac first and Camaro Second.
Ford is in really bad shape. They have not had really focused leadership and they have cash poor. They have had outstanding loans on plants and outstanding loans from the Energy Department.
They have lived on the truck profits but when they went to Aluminum the cost went up and profits took a hit with the increase of aluminum.
To pay for their EV programs they laid off many engineers and it has resulted in many quality issues. The Lighting and Mach E were just PR and not even part of their future EV plans.
If the government does not change the EV regulations Ford is in real trouble. I expect them to partner with another brand for EV products once they are forced to sell them in 2035.
There could be a remote chance the Ford Family cashes out of the auto business. With the low stock prices the 51% owned by the family is all that has kept them from being bought out.
While many belly ache here about Mary the truth is during some very tough times she has done a decent job. It is not a glamorous time for autos but a time to focus on core product and profits. This is why they made money this year after a tough year.
Things are not going to get much easier moving forward for any of the automakers unless they are Chinese.
At least Mary knows Cadillac is the crown jewel at gm unlike Ford who thinks F150, Bronco and Mustang are the crown jewels. You have to start to worry when someone at Ford says: “..Lincoln is important to us and will be around for a very long time….” They said the same for Mercury and within a few days guess what happened. There is no reason why Lincoln can’t be allowed to utilize S650 platform a proper LS sports sedan/coupe/wagon, a longer wheelbase version of a proper Continental and a personal Mark9/ Thunderbird with unique styling and not the boxy truck look of current designs. Dream on.
Don DeLarossa, please come back.
And Edsel Ford and Lee Iacocca. Lincoln thrived with them all.
Cadillac is much better than Lincoln in all regards but that’s a low bar. At least Cadillac is a fairly credible player.
Ford does have leadership issues starting with their inability to fix fundamental product development and manufacturing issues leading to poor product quality.
Both gm and Ford are living on truck/large SUV profits almost entirely generated in NA. By most Analysts’s estimates 80-90% of both company’s profits are concentrated there.
The Ford family does not own 51% of the company so stop repeating that false narrative. Educate yourself on the stock ownership structure of the company.
Lots of market and regulatory uncertainty for sure but plenty of self-inflicted strategic and executional missteps by management at both companies hasn’t made them look all that smart.
Lincoln is the only Brand under the Ford umbrella that I’d ever consider. They make some beautiful vehicles with especially nice interiors.
How many Lincolns how you owned the past 10 years?
Some would say that the GM fanbase is the most toxic based off of this comment section, but I still think the Mopar and Toyota fanbases are far worse. If the GM marketing machine, possibly the second best in the world behind Apple, wasn’t a factor, Lincoln would drastically outsell Cadillac across each segment they compete in. Cadillacs are just Chevy’s with some trim and, in one case, a big screen. The Lyriq is an exception, but generally speaking, Lincoln’s have much better interior quality and comfort. The Navigator is the BOF full-size class leader in terms of comfort and quality (and surprisingly, it’s the most reliable vehicle on sale today), the Aviator is so far beyond the XT6 that somehow it equals the Caddy in sales, the XT5 isn’t even in the conversation with the just-released Nautilus, and the XT4 is way behind the Corsair and GV70.
You’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter how lovely a Lincoln may be if the dealer network is incompetent. Unfortunately the quality isn’t there either. My Navigator was riddled with software problems. The infotainment center bricked countless times. The HUD screen warped. That badge that lights up on the grill? It had a short and flickered for 3 years despite replacing it three times. Window mouldings just fell off. The finish of the leather seats rubbed off the first year. USB chargers? I lost count how many times they tried to replace those. And so many other things. The worst part? The dealer was incompetent. I had to get Lincoln Concierge involved with weekly phone conferences. The dealer lied to Lincoln Concierge about status of parts, etc. Even Lincoln Concierge was pissed, but they have no real control over the dealer. You know that nifty phone as key app? For a year a software glitch in the app drained iPhone batteries in two hours. I’ll never forget getting stranded with a dead phone and no way to start the Navigator thanks to Lincoln which is the worst software company I have ever encountered. I’m not a rabid GM or Cadillac fan, but I have solid reason to dislike Lincoln.
I dislike Ford for starving Lincoln of product we all want to buy but can’t because it’s not available. S650 platform would be more cost effective if Lincoln were allowed to offer a proper LS, Continental and Mark9 and spread the costs. The sales will generate profits. The current Lincoln truck lineup still look too much like the lessor Fords even with some glam here or there.
LINCOLN, what a Luxury CAR should be and once was. Continually get offers to buy my 2007 Town Car. Last gasp of traditional American Luxury SEDANS. As for Cadillac, totally CADILLACKING! Not everyone wants a glorified TRUCK.
Friday Humor (or what is?)
Lincoln was developing a small vehicle called Focus and a larger vehicle called Direction. Now, after this announcement it appears that Lincoln will have no focus or direction. Enjoy!