The 2020 Lincoln Corsair Reserve Appearance Package
Photo: Lincoln Motor Company
In an effort to capitalize on its expanding popularity in the country even further, Lincoln will begin manufacturing its new Corsair SUV in China by year’s end, substantiating a Reuters report from April 2018. Per last year’s report, the Corsair would be the first of five vehicles Lincoln will build in China by 2022.
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“It’s a huge, huge opportunity for Lincoln because we see China as ground zero for Lincoln given the size of the market and how well the brand has been received,” retiring Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York earlier this month.
Shanks confirmed that all new Lincoln vehicles excluding the Navigator (which will still be imported from the United States) will be built in China for the Chinese market. Assuming the solid number of five vehicles by 2022, this would assume that the Corsair, Aviator, Nautilus, Continental, and MKZ/Zephyr are all up for localized production. While the status of the Continental and MKZ/Zephyr are up in the air in the United States, their popularity in China would likely afford them a prolonged lifespan thanks to customers’ fondness for luxury sedans.
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Lincoln launched in China in 2014 and has seen its popularity rise considerably in the intervening years, leading to the likely conclusion of localized production. Producing vehicles directly in China would not just help the brand lower production costs, it would also allow Lincoln to forego the costs associated with tariffs created by the current U.S. administration’s needless trade war.
News Source: Reuters
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