After moving down from first place to fifth in the 2021 J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction (SSI) Study, Lincoln wound up ranking seventh on that same study in 2022 with a score of 810 out of 1,000 possible points. However, while the recent release of the 2023 SSI found that the Ford brand slipped a couple of spots year-over-year to finish 10th among all mass market brands, that wasn’t the case with Lincoln, as the automaker’s luxury arm wound up improving its position over last year’s study.
This year, Lincoln managed to move up the ranks by posting a score of 820 out of 1,000 possible points, which ranks it behind only Porsche (840), Infiniti (832), and Alfa Romeo (824), ties it with Volvo, and keeps it ahead of the rest of its rivals including Jaguar (818), Cadillac (817), Mercedes-Benz (816), Land Rover (815), Acura (814), BMW (813), Lexus (808), Audi (807), and Genesis (756).
J.D. Power’s U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study measures satisfaction with the sales experience among new-vehicle buyers and those who shop a dealership and wind up purchasing a vehicle elsewhere. Buyer satisfaction is based on six factors – the delivery process, dealer personnel, working out the deal, paperwork completion, dealership facility, and the dealership website. Meanwhile, rejecter satisfaction is based on five factors – the salesperson, price, facility, variety of inventory, and negotiation. This year’s study is based on the responses of 37,234 buyers who purchased or leased their new vehicle from March through May 2023, and it found that overall, satisfaction increased from 786 to 793 year-over-year.
“The improved level of vehicle inventory and the easing of upward pressure on prices are the driving factors in sending sales satisfaction back in a positive direction,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “Vehicle buyers are more satisfied with the inventory choices they now see in dealerships across the country – more than in the past three years. Increased inventory also means fewer buyers are paying more than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for their new vehicle.”
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Comment
We purchased a new Lincoln Nautilus earlier this year from our Ford/Lincoln dealership here in Florida and the experience was world class and this is coming from someone who worked in the luxury car business in the nineties.