With the last sales reports flying in there’s finally a clear picture of how this year went for various automakers in the United States. Brands with trucks, affordable crossovers, and/or hybrids did quite well. Brands that are too EV-heavy, saddled with aging lineups, or a bunch of also-ran vehicles suffered the most.
If you’ve read The Morning Dump lately it won’t surprise you to find out that most of the Stellantis brands had a bad year, but Audi’s poor showing might be news. Audi, for whatever reason, has managed to avoid the negative attention. Don’t worry, Audi will get its spotlight today.
Both Ford and GM improved on the year in sales, which might help explain why Ford dealers are feeling better about the brand (Ford walking away from its EV mandates probably also didn’t hurt). Even better, Lincoln had its best year since 2007 thanks to a Chinese import.
The Problem With The Silver Cars
Of all the “mobility company” plays in the last decade that made no sense to me, the one I actually quite liked was Silvercar. Founded in 2015, the Austin-based company had a simple idea: Renting cars is too expensive and complicated, let’s make it easier.
The concept was great. At first, all you could rent was a silver Audi A4 sedan. A perfectly cromulent car, ideal for driving around whatever city you landed in, with just a touch of premium luxury. You could book via an app, with a process way more streamlined than anything you could expect from a rental agency at the time.
Plus, it was “cool” to drive an Audi. The brand had a lot of forward-thinking sports cars and coupes, a genuine supercar, and a prototype race car that absolutely dominated global motorsports. Audi could do no wrong. Then Dieselgate happened, Audi pivoted to EVs, and somewhere along the way, the brand got harder to pin down.
Audi quickly invested in Silvecar, expanded the number of vehicles that were offered, and eventually transitioned the company into “Audi on Demand.” Late last year, Audi ended the program with little explanation. Had Audi overcomplicated the service? Was it just too expensive and time-consuming to run a rental agency? Has Uber/Lyft and the rise of Turo made this service obsolete?
Or, and this is a tougher situation for Audi, is Audi no longer cool? Has it lost its Audi-ness? It’s probably some mix of all of the above, but the lack of coolness is what I’m interested in this morning.
I’m going to start with the numbers, and the numbers aren’t great. You know it’s going to be bad news when you get a year-end sales email from a company and it’s just a link, with little text, and that link just goes to a table. Overall, Audi’s new car sales are down 14% for the year, though that’s off a relatively strong 2023.
Looking at the lineup there’s not a lot of good news. In a year that saw the overall market growing, here are all the Audi vehicles that lost ground in 2024 compared to 2023:
- A3 (-30%)
- A4 (-48%)
- A7 (-13%)
- A8 (-28%)
- e-tron GT (-10%)
- Q5 (-23%)
- Q7 (-28%)
- Q8 e-tron (-27%)
- Q8 e-tron sportback (-33%)
- R8 (-48%)
- TT (-95%)
Some of this is due to discontinuation, with a few leftover Audi TTs skewing the numbers, for instance. In fact, Audi is getting out of the coupe game entirely for now. Still, losing with volume sellers like the Q7 and Q5 hurts. The Q5, in particular, is the most important Audi there is now, effectively replacing the A4 in the lineup. The most successful Audi in 2024 was probably the Audi Q3, which goes to show how important affordability is in the market.
I think the big question that has to be asked is: Why buy an Audi? For a while, the A4 represented a certain tech-forward upper-middle-class professional aesthetic. If you pictured what a young architect might drive in 2010 you’d probably imagine them in a silver Audi A4. In my mind, all those people now drive Tesla Model Ys.
Audi clearly sensed this and built up its electric offerings, selling six different EV models in 2024, and not a single one of them was particularly competitive from a sales perspective. In total, Audi sold fewer than 25,000 electric cars last year, which is about how many Model Ys that Tesla sells every three weeks just in the United States.
Is help on the way? Sure. Audi will get a redesigned, third-gen Q5/Q5 Sportback soon, and that will likely help sales of its key model. The confusion over Audi sedans will be resolved a bit by the introduction of a new Audi S5/A5, a vehicle that our Mercedes recently reviewed and liked. The short-lived Audi RS6 Avant, if not a huge breakout sales success, did bring some much-needed halo energy to the brand.
None of this answers the question: Who is this brand for? Jalopnik had a brutal headline earlier this year when it wrote: “Audi’s Sales Are Flagging Because There’s No Reason To Buy One.” That’s a good joke, though I wouldn’t go that far.
Audi’s CPO sales were up 29.3% year-over-year because, if you make it affordable enough, people still see the value in the Audi brand. This is why I said “lost the plot” in the headline. It’s unclear where Audi is right now based on its mix of products, but all hope is not lost. The four rings still have meaning. There are still enough people alive who remember Jason Statham piloting an Audi in The Transporter, all the Le Mans wins, and Michelle Mouton conquering Pikes Peak.
Right… right?
[Ed Note: I’ll just state that the Audi RS6 Avant remains an extremely cool car in an otherwise somewhat bland lineup. Also, my brother has a bright yellow Audi S3; I drove it recently, and it rules. I also like the E-Tron GT. There’s still some fire in that lineup, but Audi needs more. -DT].
What’s The Most Troubled Stellantis Brand?
Just from a numbers perspective, you might think that Dodge was the most doomed brand in the Stellantis stable. Its annual sales dropped 28.9% in 2024 compared to 2023, and it even fell 47.2% in Q4. That’s not great, but Dodge is merely a shadow of itself already.
Maserati sales were down 4% for the year and 27.5% in Q4. Even worse, Maserati’s volume is so low it’s hard to imagine how the brand even sustains itself. My assumption is that Maserati is going to get sold off, so perhaps it can live a better life somewhere else. Maybe Alfa, which has low volume and poor sales is the worst? Fiat grew this year but, again, from extremely low volumes. Chrysler grew in Q4, on the back of a lot of minivans and also old 300s that haven’t been sold.
Ram is a problem. A big problem. Sales dropped 18.6% year-over-year and there’s no real replacement for the Ram Classic in the lineup, though a newly redesigned Ram 1500 should bring some relief to Ram dealers in the coming year.
I’m going to make the argument that Jeep is actually the worse off, because Jeep is where the money is and, like Audi, it’s wandering a bit. The Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer has not been a success. The Wrangler has a lot of competition and is aging. The entry-level models are fading away and have yet to be replaced. It’s tough. Overall, Jeep sales were only down 8.6% year-over-year, but that represents the loss of a ton of customers and market share (more than losing all Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Maserati customers).
The new, likely hybrid Jeep Cherokee is something that basically has to work for Jeep, and I’m hopeful the company will pull it off. I don’t have quite the same enthusiasm for the electric Jeep Wagoneer S, but perhaps it’ll do better than my low expectations for it.
Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Dealers Big Mad, Ford Dealers A Bit Chiller
Ford had a big year, growing a little faster than the overall market thanks to a lot of hybrids, a new F-150, and a surprisingly good showing from Lincoln (more on that in a bit). While EV sales were also big for Ford, the company walked back its plans to make dealers spend a lot of money upgrading facilities to sell and service electric cars and trucks.
Last year, a bunch of recalls and tsuris around the EV requirements led Ford dealers to place the company as the least trusted franchise in the annual report from dealership advisory firm Kerrigan Advisors. There’s a new report out for 2024, and Ford has improved from the least trusted to the fifth-least trusted. While it’s not great to be the fifth least-trusted franchise, the brand is overall trending in the right direction.
Who is going backward? Only 2% of dealers have a “high level of trust” in Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. That’s worse than all other brands. Perhaps even more damning, a whopping 72% of dealers have “no trust” in the brands, which is way worse than Infiniti at 59% and Nissan at 58%.
Stellantis dealers went to war with then-CEO Carlos Tavares over the lack of competitive product and a squeezing of incentives. The expulsion of Tavares will likely help in this regard, as will the increase in incentive spending, but Stellantis clearly has a long way to go.
The most trusted franchises, if you were curious, are: Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Honda, and Porsche, in that order.
Lincoln Has, Uh, A Great Year
I drove the Lincoln Nautilus earlier this year and got to try its enormous curved screen and, frankly, I got it. While I do not think of myself as a Lincoln buyer, if someone asked me for a hybrid luxury vehicle that wasn’t a Lexus there’s a lot to be said for getting one of these.
I wasn’t alone in thinking this. Motor Trend’s SUV of the Year‘s sales were up 50.2% year-over-year. The refreshed Aviator also saw a 62.3% increase in sales. Even the Corsair, which has been on sale for what feels like three decades, saw sales increase by 12.8% over the same period.
The only sales decrease was for the Navigator, which was in its last year before a big redesign and experienced a drop of around 11.5%. My sense is that the new Navigator, though expensive, will help turn things around for Lincoln this year.
Does this mean Lincoln, which saw a sales increase of 28.1% overall, is saved? Not quite.
At 104,823 sales, the brand is still smaller than competitors like Acura and, hell, even Chrysler. I’m not sure how many cars the average Lincoln dealer needs to sell for it to be a good business, but there are obviously too many Lincoln dealers for the number of cars being moved (the brand has tried to fix this by getting rid of about 200 dealerships over the last two years).
Even worse, its volume seller, the Nautilus, is a Chinese-built car. While Ford has an out here with a quirk in import laws, increased scrutiny over “connected cars” from China could easily make it harder to sell them over here. Then what?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I’m kind of surprised to find that this official audio version of “Caribou” from a John Peel Session in 1988 only has 16,000 views. Perhaps Pixies fans are just not listening to music on YouTube? Maybe the eyeball creeped them out a bit?
The Big Question
If you had to buy a new car from Audi, Chrysler, Infiniti, or Lincoln what would you get? Why?
Answer: I’d probably kill myself first.
That said, an A4 estate EV. Brown. Used, after the depreciation settles down.
If not manual, then electric. Less fun, but save on energy, which is a different kind of fun.
Roughly 10 years ago I thought that the Audi rs5 was one of the best looking, reasonably priced performance sedans you could buy. That generation was peak A4/5. Then they ruined the styling and made them bigger. Now I’m not even sure an ICE version of the A5 exists anymore since they’ve been changing their line up with the evens being electric (?) or is it ICE. And the odds being the opposite. I just want a 2 door sedan that doesn’t weigh 3 tons and has about 2-400bhp and a 6 speed manual that is between 40-50k. But I think that is a spec that no longer exists.
Exactly, I used to see S5s and say “I’d like to get one of those”. Now that I reasonably could, I don’t want one. The styling sucks.
At the same time BMW just posted a record sales year.
I’d probably go something like an A5/S5/etc. between all those brands first, then a Nautilus hybrid. Corsair is the only recent Lincoln I haven’t really ever warmed up to. Infiniti is the only one I can’t really say I want any of them. I like the looks of most of the lineup (QX80 aside) for the most part, but I can’t imagine spending that for the VC-T/CVT combo. Otherwise I would have said QX60 but not since they switched from the VQ35 to the VC-T.
The VC-T does seem like more complication than its benefits deliver. That said, theVQ engines are bulletproof, so maybe the same engineers figured a way for this too-complicated system to actually have long-term reliability.
I’m gonna call it now, Jeep needs to find a way to style some XJ squareness into those headlights or the new Cherokee ain’t gonna sell, just like the last Cherokee.
Also, hell yeah to the Pixies, always a good choice, but I usually listen from my personal library or Spotify since Youtube is the absolute worst source for listening to music.
Also let this serve as your friendly reminder that the RS6 Avant weighs 5,000 pounds….
*fingers in ear* I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!!
Such a beautiful car, I’ll forgive her a little extra heft.
You can’t convince that anything that weighs as much as a Tahoe has sporting pretensions
I suddenly want to lower a Tahoe and take it to the Nurburgring.
And costs over $120K, it might as well not exist in my universe.
I realized as I was reading the Lincoln section that I don’t know the full manufacturer lineups anymore. Until the last few years, I felt like I pretty much knew them all. Without a monthly car magazine dropping an annual summary of cars on the market right into my lap, it seems I’m simply unaware of what’s out there.
Anyway, I’ll do one model I could love with from each brand since I wouldn’t actually spend a cent of my hard earned money on any of them. Audi e-tron GT. It should be very sexy but the reality of its existence makes it the less sexy Porsche Taycan. Oh, Chrysler… Do I want a Pacifica or a Pacifica? The Pacifica, I guess. As far as Infiniti goes, they haven’t made anything I have found to be genuinely desirable since we were still talking about them maybe beating BMW at the sports sedan game in a generation or two. Yes, you should have realized I was old when I mentioned magazines. Anyway, I’ll just take the newest seeming one and go QX80. And Lincoln? The Explorer one. Aviator. The described Nautilus sounds nice, but I really didn’t like anything about the Ford Edge I rented.
Overall, give me the e-tron GT.
Just glad Lincoln went back to real car names, and clearly it’s helping. Everyone should take note.
Wasn’t Mercedes-Benz German luxury, BMW was German sports sedans, and Audi kinda split the difference, right? BMW has moved upscale, but kept the sportiness, so Audi just got squeezed out.
If I had to pick, I’d probably buy a Lincoln. I like Lincolns.
I think the problem with Audi is that they have looked like Audi’s since the R8 came out. And while i generally find them to be attractive, the problem is the VW got lazy, and now your VWs look like Audi’s too. Lastly, they made a billion different models that all overlap with each other. You used to have an A4 (sedan) and an A5 (coupe) and A4 cabriolet. Now there’s the sport back A5 (which is a 4 door coupe? Too). To be fair it thought there was another variation too but when I looked it up on audis website I don’t see it – which I guess proves my point about the last time Audis interested me.
I won’t lie – i love lincolns and I think most modern lincolns have been great. We had a 2019 MKC. It was priced right and was really comfortable if not a little bit small. I made my parents buy it when it was off the lease. I really like the Aviator and it would be my choice to purchase. It’s sharp looking and fast. But arguably, it touches on navigator pricing a little too much. I’m excited for the 2025 Navigator too. Don’t care too much about the screen but the rest of it seems to match the cool factor. I think Lincoln needs to rebrand the Black Label trim as the “Continental” and up the luxury factor like Mercedes did with Maybach but I’ll implement that when I become CEO.
As far as Chrysler. Well, the Pacifica is a great minivan. Honestly and truly, it drives nice (had one for a work vanpool) and the fact that you can get awd and/or hybrid is awesome…. but one model does not make a car company. I think stellantis needs to seriously consider sunsetting chrysler and expanding dodge.
Infiniti… well honestly just don’t care. My in-laws have 2 high mileage ones and they seem to hold up well but whatever.
In researching PHEVs that are out there I actually like the Corsair, like an Escape PHEV you can get with AWD, so I’d say that.
I think a lot of these formerly luxury sporty touring car makes that mostly sell SUVs now are starting to have a tough time with image, like Jaguar losing it’s identity, same with Audi, it’s hard to stand out when your toaster looks like everyone else’s toaster with a different logo on it.
Lincoln for sure, out of that list. Theoretically would love a Continental if there’s still a new one kicking around somewhere. I cross-shopped the Corsair with the CX-30 for a bit this past spring until I realized that my preferences were at odds with pricing trends and went with a top-trim Mazda.
I get all the data is from the US, but I would be far more curious to see how Fiat’s volumes worldwide stand against the rest of the former FCA brands.
Could Stellantis borrow a few more rest-of-the-world models to freshen up an otherwise VERY stale lineup in the ‘States?
“Could Stellantis borrow a few more rest-of-the-world models to freshen up an otherwise VERY stale lineup in the ‘States?”
Yes, and that’s what a lot of people, including dealers, assumed they’d do, but, for the most part, have shown no real interest in doing that. The closest they’ve come is with the Hornet/Tonale, but we also get the Alfa Romeo badged version, so there’s no geographic segregation there. And that hasn’t worked out great, too expensive for a Dodge in its segment, and, obviously, subpar reliability. But it is at least totally torqued out, whatever that means. A child actor claiming to be some guy’s inner child seems to think its important.
My dad bought an A6 with the V6 in 2023 and it’s phenomenal. If I were in the market for a mid-size sedan, the A5 Sportback would be on my list. I’m surprised, of the big 3 German luxury makers, I think Audi is the most focused. Mercedes is just throwing giant screens at everything and BMW is…I don’t really know what they’re doing.
I also liked the Silvercar program. I used it a couple times for pandemic-era road trips. The service was incredibly convenient and since the cars were coming from the dealership, they were in good shape. It’s a real bummer they’ve ended the program.
Lincoln Continental, but evidently they aren’t being produced anymore. It seemed to have some unique styling cues and feature rich.
Infinity Q50 with AWD? Only if I get a spanking good deal to make up for the depreciation and to make up for the reputation that the well-to-do hoodrats are establishing.
Infinity is the car lineup that former Altima drivers are going to when they get a financial windfall (poorly thought out criminal endeavors strangely payout or the local ‘buy here, pay here’ lot gets one back in stock).
Alright I feel kind of qualified to comment since I’ve always been around Audis and they were one of my first automotive loves. When I was maybe 12 my uncle took me around in his chipped 2.7T A6 that was ludicrously fast and it awakened something in me. I also watched Le Mans every year at the beach when I was around that age and the R8 LMP cars were so dominant and intimidating. My dad even took me to an American Le Mans series event at RFK Stadium in DC and I snuck around an Audi tent, pulled back a little sliver, and snuck an up close peek at one of the R8s.
My parents are also big Audi people and have owned multiple A6s, an A4 Cabrio, an A4 Allroad, and my mom currently owns an SQ5. Naturally I drove all of them many times. Suffice to say, Audi was very influential in my journey to becoming an enthusiast and for many years they were aspirational to me. Hell I toyed with the idea of buying an A3 as my first “adult” car after grad school but didn’t.
Audis were always aspirational to me, but unfortunately they just aren’t anymore. For lack of a more eloquent way to put it, the brand has absolutely no sauce and fell victim to the very German approach of making their cars as inoffensive and same ey as possible to try to appeal to the most people. The net result of that is almost all of their cars are completely indistinguishable from one another.
When helping my mom buy her SQ5 I walked through a few Audi lots and showrooms and it was remarkable how bland they were. They’re just a sea of white, black, or silver crossovers that all look exactly the same. The average person has no idea what the difference between a Q3, Q5, and Q7 is, and for normie luxury buyers that’s a big issue. You don’t want someone thinking your $100,000 SQ7 is the same thing as the $35,000 lease special Q3 that some clout chasing 22 year old is eating Ramen to be able afford the payment on.
If you want a real wake up call head to cars dot com, search for new Audis, and eliminate all interior colors that aren’t black. Like 80% of listings disappear immediately. One of the reasons my mom wound up in an SQ5 was because we spent WEEKS looking for a white Q5 that had any interior color other than black and couldn’t find one. But the S Audis have access to this incredible interior color called *checks notes* gray.
Here in the DC area every single parking lot in an affluent neighborhood is a solid 20% Audi crossovers, and every one of them is white, black, or silver. I can’t imagine what a task finding your white Q5 in the country club parking lot must be. It’s just so bland, and so…well, German. Add in the brand jumping the shark on EVs and overly saddling their cars with proprietary tech and you have a perfect storm of blandness.
They’re the Diet Coke of luxury and they somehow also managed to lose their enthusiast appeal that kept some of their cars moving as well. Are they still racing? I haven’t heard anything about it in years other than the fact that they’re trying to get into F1. There’s no more TT, there’s no more R8, and their S/RS cars aren’t class leading in any category either.
Let’s be real here-if you have to choose between an RS Audi and a full M BMW what are you picking? Unless you’re a VAG loyalist (which do exist, albeit in shrinking numbers) you’re picking the M. Audi also has to compete internally with Porsche, which doesn’t help either. Anyway, to sum things up I’ll double back to my original point and quote the great urban poet Gucci Mane: if you ain’t got no sauce, you’re lost.
Audi vehicles look ready to be on a car insurance commercials, very generic.
Audi, Mercedes and some BMWs have lost their identity with electrification and the way they are doing interiors. Their sporty models are the only ones I am interested.
Cadillac, Genesis, Lexus, and even Lincoln they still have an identity, something unique and attractive.
Silvercar, I thought, was just another description of bland. Which a silver Audi kind of is.
Maybe they need to borrow a paintbrush from Mazda to stand out.
Lexus and Genesis has an identity but Mercedes and BMW don’t? LMAO. Mercedes still has a twin-turbo V12 S-Class and a V8 powered tank by way of the G63. Please tell me the identity of Lexus and Genesis outside of being clones of their lesser brands.
“If you had to buy a new car from Audi, Chrysler, Infiniti, or Lincoln what would you get?”
I’m going to need details of what the consequences will be if I don’t buy any of them.
Although where I currently live the only option would be Audi.
I was recently hospitalised by the inattentive driver of an Audi, so other than a very intimate appreciation of their blandly smooth corporate styling making them easy to slide over at about 20mph without getting snagged or smashed on something, I’m off the entire brand.
Do they have an unsold quattro anywhere? It’s that or nothing I think.
It looks to me like Audi got caught out with all its cars being near or at the end of the generational life cycle at the same time A4, A7, A8, R8. They’ve also put a lot of focus on EV’s which, well do I need to go further in the US (although I saw a lot of late model EV Audi’s in Europe when I was there in the Autumn).
Agree on model generation cycles. In the past you might be able to incentivize your way through it, but that was more difficult the last couple years. If you’re a current lessee, why get the same thing and probably spend way more in the process? Not to mention the number of conquest rebates out there to switch brands to something else.
I’m ashamed to say, but the Lincoln is still the last one that doesn’t look like someone stepped on a frog and then hastily had to reinflate it with a straw in the butt.
Audis are crap and full or problems! Renting an Audi can’t be profitable LOL
Too bad Fiat stopped making the TwinAir engine. A straight twin I2 would be awesome for an entry level small car, as an EV range extender, or even for industrial/OPE use 😀
Geez, I don’t think any of those brands make anything I’d really like to have. The last Chrysler I’d even consider was the 300, that was dropped in 2023, the last Lincoln I liked was the Town Car (I did own two of them over the years). Infiniti only sells trucks now, with the Q50 being dropped last year, and I’ve always been suspicious about modern Volkswagens from the reliability/durability/ongoing maintenence costs front, and Audi has all of that
I guess maybe the A3, since it’s the cheapest and simplest Audi and should theoretically age better than a better equipped/more complex upmarket model, but they’ve also looked pretty fugly since 2022, and the facelift last year just made things worse
According to the internet there are still a few new 300s on dealer lots. Not sure I would want a “new” car that has been sitting for two years, but I assume you would get a huge chunk off MSRP…. These really were damn good cars.
Would be absolutely pointless, I’m only allowed to keep a car for 4 years, and the clock starts ticking on the January corresponding to the calendar year of the model year, so a 2023 anything is already halfway through its lifespan even if its brand-new with 10 miles on it, I’d still be shopping again in 2027.
When it comes time to buy a new car, it really has to be a NEW car, or I’m throwing money away.
Audi really has lost the plot. The interiors, which were IMO the biggest reason to buy one, have integrated all the worst trends of the last 5 years. Glossy black everywhere, touchscreen overload, capacitive buttons, pointless passenger screens. No thanks.
Loved my B8 A4, but no way I’d get a latest gen one now.
Ditto.
They’ve been ugly for a good 20 years, but at least the interiors used to be a benchmark. No more.
Three friends who have leased Audis over the last couple years have told me they will not replace those vehicles with another Audi. I was surprised that cost of ownership was not the issue, but the interior ergonomics. Each said they thought they would get use to the vehicles, but have just found them to be annoying.
Sadly this is not just an Audi thing, so their choices will be limited.
Pretty sad, ergonomics were fantastic in my old A4. The interior and quattro system seemed to be the biggest advantages they had over rivals at the time.
If I were shopping in that segment now I’d probably be looking at Cadillac or Genesis. All the Germans copied each other down the same terrible interior design path.
Can I get one of those leftover TTs?
I’ve never been a huge Audi guy, but I always liked the TT for what it is – perhaps the last gasp (here in the states anyway) of an everyday European GT car. A nice balance between performance, usability, and style. Pretty rare combo.
I’d try to find an unsold Continental. The design continues to age very well, a combination of both intentional and unintentional (e.g. it’s a car) retro cues.
I’m a big fan of where they went with the styling of that car, both inside and out. I don’t need a big executive sedan, but I’d have put it on my shortlist if I did.
“Jalopnik’s Pageviews Are Flagging Because There’s No Reason To Visit Them”
Navigator. Even if it isn’t best in its own class, none of the others make anything as desirable.
Edited – Audi S8 is pretty nice.
Going to have to disagree on the S8 – A sedan with a face that looks like the grimacing emoji (or maybe Turbo Teen mid-transformation) with a *starting* price north of $125,000? Even the 500 hp turbo V8 doesn’t help that much.
Yeah, to be clear I wouldn’t buy one vs the competition, but I can’t think of a better offering from the brands listed, apart from the Navigator.
I’m an unabashed fan of most of Lincoln’s current line up – I think their SUV’s are the best styled in the business (styling is of course extremely subjective) and the Aviator made a lasting impression on me as having the most comfortable interior currently available in the market to my knowledge.
I’m a little upset with Lincoln for importing PRC-built cars under a US brand, but the Aviator model is made in St. Louis, so it is at least avoidable if that is something you care about.