Lincoln is in the midst of a major transformation, one coming on the heels of declining sales and a quickly-changing market. Ford’s luxury arm recently opted to sit out the New York International Auto Show as it launches a bevy of new products, including the just-revealed, redesigned 2024 Lincoln Nautilus. Additionally, Lincoln’s dealer network will continue to shrink and focus on brand-exclusive facilities, according to new CEO Dianne Craig. Craig also recently revealed that the brand no longer plans on launching four new all-electric models by 2026 as previously expected, and now, Automotive News is reporting that the Lincoln EV sales program for dealers has been altered, too.
“As the market and EV adoption continues to evolve, we have modified the program to allow for a slightly longer grow-in period for Lincoln retailers to account for future energy demands, product and infrastructure investment,” the brand said in a recent dealer memo.
Essentially, the revised Lincoln EV sales program is deferring the timetable dealers were previously expected to follow when installing public fast chargers, along with various other tweaks. Lincoln dealers participating in the program won’t have to install those chargers until March 2025 – instead of November 2024 as previously expected – and won’t be required to install a Level 2 charger in the new vehicle delivery area. Additionally, dealers have until July 2026 to a install a Level 3 public charger, and the program now covers three years – 2025-2027 – instead of two.
Dealers that opted not to sign up for the Lincoln EV sales program initially will get another chance to do so as well following these changes, though the estimated cost of doing that remain unchanged at around $900,000. Regardless, these changes were made as a way to give dealers a little breathing room in terms of meeting the program’s requirements, as well as give them another chance to opt in.
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Comment
Forcing dealerships to spend all kinds of Cash that they have no need to part with is wrong headed..
It provides the excuse for some dealers to add a ‘Market Adjustment’ to the MSRP to recoup some of what they have previously been forced to spend….
Perhaps a dealership may decide to have a minimal recharging facility for a sideline rental car business and just use it to recharge vehicles that have not been recharged at the end of the rental.
However some dealerships may decide that they have need of ZERO facilities, since the local HERTZ Rent-A-Car by me, which has 2 out of 3 vehicles being an all – electric Tesla, has absolutely NO CHARGING facilities whatsoever…
Of course in an extreme emergency they will throw a 50 ft extension cord out the back door to recharge at 110 a totally dead rental a few miles to get it operational – but in general, the renter is fined if they do not return the car with at least the state-of-charge it left with… Typically, the cars return with a higher state of charge so in effect, HERTZ gets their cars charged by the customer elsewhere FOR FREE.
The only thing REALLY required by any dealership is some miniscule test facility to make sure the car’s fast charging apparatus is working properly. The slower charger included inside the car may be tested by a 110 volt cord plugged into any wall receptacle or extension cord.
But $900,000 per dealership, and then DUPLICATE facilities if the dealership sells both FORD and LINCOLN is beyond brain-dead. About $800,000 of that silliness is not going to sell a single added vehicle to the dealership’s sales, so it is no surprise that Dealers are balking.