Lincoln President Says Brand Not Currently Focused On EVs

It wasn’t terribly long ago that Ford – and many of its competitors – had grand all-electric ambitions, each planning to invest billions to expand their respective EV portfolios and erect new production facilities for those same vehicles and the batteries that power them. However, with demand waning as of late, Ford has cut back its planned electrification investments, though it continues to work on developing smaller, cheaper EVs, regardless. That also means that FoMoCo’s luxury arm – Lincoln – isn’t currently focused on EVs at all, as President Dianne Craig recently revealed in an interview with The Detroit News.

“(We’re) listening to what customers really need. Navigator customers tend to tow more, so (battery power) doesn’t make as much sense,” Craig said. “We’re not going to make any grand declarations specific to where the brand is going with electrification until we really understand what our premium customers want. The time will come, for sure, but right now we are focused on the wonderful product lineup we have between the Corsair, Nautilus, and new Aviator. There is transition with any technology including electric vehicles. We’ll eventually come to that tipping point. But right now (from) everything we are learning from our customers, now is not the right time for us to be making those declarations about EVs.”

This is a sharp turnaround for Lincoln, which just revealed its Star concept in 2022, and previously planned on launching multiple new EV models over the coming years, which Ford CEO Jim Farley boasted would best all of its competitors. Things have obviously changed a lot since then, however.

As Ford Authority reported last April, Craig was quick to ditch the Lincoln EV timeline after taking over the reigns of the luxury brand, and also later revealed that its EV sales program – the equivalent of Ford’s Model e Certified program – is on indefinite hold. Earlier this week, a report indicated that the North American Ford Explorer EV was also being pushed back after it was expected to enter production next year, and this new revelation may mean that the same applies to the forthcoming Lincoln Aviator EV, too.

We’ll have more on Lincoln’s strategy soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Lincoln news and ongoing Ford news coverage.