The Lincoln Nautilus has earned its fair share of accolades in recent months, a list that includes among the top 10 models with the highest brand loyalty in J.D. Power’s 2022 Initial Quality Study (IQS) and earning a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) just this week. In terms of customer loyalty, Lincoln – as a brand – has long failed to perform quite that well, however, ranking below the segment average in Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch Report and among the least likely brands to seduce what S&P Global Mobility calls “Nomad” buyers, who are people that purchase one brand of vehicle only to switch to another when it’s time to find a new one. Regardless, the Lincoln Nautilus managed to fare far much better in S&P’s 2023 Automotive Loyalty Awards.
The Lincoln Nautilus ranked as the top vehicle in the luxury mid-size utility segment in terms of customer loyalty this year, a notable achievement, indeed, particularly as supply chain constraints have prompted many owners to jump ship over the past year due to limited inventory on dealer lots. In fact, overall industry average loyalty has decreased from 54.6 percent in 2019 to 50.2 percent in 2022.
“The past three years have been a challenge for the automotive industry,” said Joe LaFeir, President, Automotive Insights, S&P Global Mobility. “As customers are returning back to market post-pandemic and inventory levels have slowly improved from last year’s lows, retaining loyal customers has been more challenging than ever before.”
Now in its 27th year, S&P Global Mobility’s 2023 Automotive Loyalty Award winners are based on 11.7 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. during the 2022 calendar year. Loyalty is determined when a household that owns a new vehicle returns to market and acquires another new vehicle of the same make, model, or manufacturer. The newly acquired vehicle may be either a replacement or an addition to the household fleet.
We’ll have more on the Nautilus soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Lincoln news, Lincoln Nautilus news, and ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
So what does Lincoln do, drop it from the lineup after a 2024 model run.
An excellent product, attested to by strong owner loyalty. Farley’s decision? We’ll only produce and sell it in China.
Why would Lincoln parent FMC surrender a quality 2 row model with strong margins in a domestic market dominated by the Lexus RX 350? One recent online review I saw called Nautilus, “the better RX 350″ because of a more luxurious interior and available twin turbo V6.”
As a satisfied owner of two Lincolns, I feel badly for my dealer. While visiting for service a few weeks ago, I noticed there were no ’23 Corsairs available yet and precious little inventory of the other three remaining models. If this is the final model year for the U.S. Nautilus, make that two remaining models.
Is Farley’s strategic plan to slowly starve Lincoln and its dealers out of existence? If so, he appears to be executing it well.
Corsair/Escape plant is shut down due to a software issue with the guage cluster. Only units produced have gone to Ford employees for testing and shake downs. We own both a 2022 Nautilus and a 2022 Corsair and don’t know what we will get in the future. Cosair may also be gone by 2026, leaving EVs or Hybrids only. A recent poll of Lincoln owners showed 47% would not buy a EV, and those leaning to probably not buy one brought it to almost 70%. They will lose many previous owners.
“ A recent poll of Lincoln owners showed 47% would not buy a EV, and those leaning to probably not buy one brought it to almost 70%.”
This sounds incorrect, as in the last few days the K-streeters who were citing a 1-1/2 year old poll (ancient history) from a conservative polling org (Rasmussen) that asks loaded questions as “a recent poll all over the Internet.”
If you have a real poll, give us a Weblink. Otherwise it just sounds like disinfo.
I couldn’t agree more… Nautilus is an excellent product in North America.
Lexus, Mercedes and BMW all have a much greater market place presence. Lincoln needs separate stores, better product differentiation from Ford, and get some stock in front of potential customers.
The Lincoln brand seems to have a perpetual ‘going out of business’ vibe which as a 2x owner, is hard to ignore!
I have a 2019 Nautilus. It has been a great car. Started looking to buy a new one only to find that the ruby red metallic color has been deleted and then the whole damn car has been deleted after 2024. I have been a loyal Ford and Lincoln customer since my first car , a new 68 Mustang. I was 20 then and 74 now. Really disappointed in Ford and Lincoln decision making.
The Nautilus premiered in 2019, before then it didn’t exist, yet you bought it and like it.
I suppose that has happened more than once over a half century of car buying (even if you only ever bought mustangs, there was tremendous changes in the vehicle over many generations.)
Why do you think that you might not be just as happy with whatever comes to replace Nautilus?
We really wanted a new Nautilus last year but lack of inventory and the dealer not accepting the Friends & Family discount led us to look elsewhere. We are thrilled with our CPO 2019 BMW X5 XDrive 40i.
I have a 2020 Nautilus lease that is up next January. If Lincoln doesn’t have a ICE Nautilus I will be switching brands. Not sure where Lincoln is heading. Looks like they aren’t heading anywhere!
X
This is a reply to TammyT, above that didn’t link underneath.
(It seems mods clipped Tammy’s wings.)
LoL all the K-streeters are out with their new handles … not presently attacking BEV, so is it time to short Ford stock again?
Ford and Lincoln ( yes, Ford/Lincoln) have a problem in that they are discontinuing great vehicles for the transition to bev. This started with the Fusion /MKZ. I had 2 Fusions and they we’re great cars and with AWD leaders in their segment. The only thing Ford should drop is Farley!
They were great in their time, but so was my folks Country Squire, but eventually all good cars give way.
I also think BEV is your best chance to see a sedan or Sportwagen again (maybe a high stance car like an Audi Allroad or Volvo XC.)