Photo: Lincoln
Lincoln Motor Company delivered 27,554 vehicles in the third quarter of 2020, down just 1.4 percent from last year’s record Q3 performance. A testament to the auto industry’s impressive recovery in the wake of COVID-19, Lincoln posted a 3.5 percent increase in sales at retail, driven by a 10.2 percent retail gain for SUVs. Overall, SUVs were up 5.8 percent for the quarter with 22,591 sold.
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Leading the charge for Lincoln between July and September were the new Corsair and Aviator. The former has positioned itself as the brand’s top-selling vehicle with 7,044 sales in the third quarter, good for an 8 percent year-over-year increase. Sales of the Corsair are ostensibly flat to date at 18,177 vehicles delivered — particularly impressive given the lingering impact of the pandemic on auto sales.
The all-new Aviator continues to be a hot vehicle for Lincoln, delivering total sales of 6,118 in Q3. Nine months into its first full year of sales, the Aviator is Lincoln’s No. 2 bestselling vehicle at 15,800 units delivered. At retail, the Aviator increased its share by eight percentage points in Q3 and is enjoying a high mix of sales from Black Label and Grand Touring plug-in hybrid variants.
Also working in the Aviator’s favor is its evident appeal to younger drivers. According to Lincoln, the three-row crossover’s largest sales demographic is 35-44-year-olds, making up around 22 percent of all retail sales.
SUV sales strong to date, cars continue to decline
Photo: Lincoln
Lincoln’s other two SUVs, the new Nautilus and Navigator, both saw double-digit sales declines in Q3 and to date. Sales of the Nautilus, likely to be discontinued after 2023 in favor of an electric SUV, totaled 5,771 in the third quarter — down 27.5 percent year-over-year. To date, Nautilus sales total 16,052 SUVs, down 33.1 percent from the first nine months of 2019.
Navigator sales were down 16.3 percent in the third quarter at 3,635. Through September, sales of the Navigator are down 22.7 percent at 10,210 units. Thanks to the strong performances of the Corsair and Aviator, however, Lincoln’s overall SUV sales through September are flat at 60,391.
Sales of Lincoln’s cars were down 24.6 percent, totaling just 4,963 between the MKZ and Continental. Production on the former ended in July and production of the latter concludes at the end of 2020.
Lincoln’s sales in the United States are down just 5.6 percent through September with 74,396 vehicles sold.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.