If there is one car brand that I do not understand it’s Lincoln. I love a Navigator and enjoyed the Nautilus when I drove one last year. Arguably, Lincoln doesn’t make a bad car. The brand, though, only competes in extremely crowded segments, which is why it’s a bit of a surprise to me that the Lincoln brand is kinda killing it right now from a loyalty perspective.
S&P Global is out with its 2024 awards for customer loyalty, and there are the usual players, including Tesla, but there’s also a hell of a lot of Lincolns. If you buy a Lincoln, you apparently never stop buying Lincolns. By comparison, Infiniti plays in mostly the same segments and it’s getting destroyed, which might explain the push to get Nissan’s CEO shoved into the nearest crate.
No one is planning to excommunicate GM’s Mary Barra, especially as the company agrees to more dividends. The strategy keeps working, but I don’t love it. Maybe my way of thinking is why I’m writing The Morning Dump and not, say, flying on a private jet to Florida this weekend to spend ungodly amounts of money on a vintage Porsche.
The Lincoln Corsair Is The Model With The Most Owner Loyalty
Do I need to borrow a Lincoln Corsair? Is the Lincoln Cosair… Good? I’m trying to drive more cars in order to better understand the market and keep you, dear readers, up-to-date with what’s going on in the world. I did drive the Lincoln Nautilus and thought it was nice.
Would I buy one over a Porsche Cayenne or a Genesis GV80? Probably not. I’d probably get the GV80, although the Nautilus is about $5,000 cheaper. The logic of a luxury automobile that’s nice and also quite affordable is appealing. The word “affordable” doesn’t come up enough these days. It’s the same with the Corsair. I’d be tempted to buy a Macan, but a Macan costs a lot more.
It turns out that people who own Lincolns either really love the experience or are unaware other cars exist, because S&P Global named the Nautilus and the Corsair the cars in each class with the most loyal buyers. Even more impressively, according to registration data, no single car had more return customers than the Lincoln Corsair last year.
Most of this list is entirely sensible. The most loyal make is Tesla, because up until recently, there weren’t a lot of good reasons to buy something else if you already owned one. General Motors is the most loyal overall manufacturer, which is somewhat interesting. In certain categories, there are vehicles that pretty much always win.
If you want a Porsche 911, there’s no other sports car you can buy than a 911. Similarly, there’s no Range Rover like a Range Rover. I do think cost is a factor here, as the most popular passenger car for return buyers is the Nissan Sentra, which is affordable and reasonably nice. That does, also, perhaps go to explain Lincoln’s success.
The brand also had a great 2024, relatively speaking, from a sales perspective. Lincoln’s sales were up 28% year-over-year for its best performance since you could see a reverse-aging Brad Pitt in the movie theaters. I presume discounting and just an abundance of cars maybe had something to do with it as well. Just because you’re selling more cars doesn’t mean you’re selling more of them profitably.
Also, Lincoln is at risk from tariffs now that its most popular model is built in China. As noted by Automotive News earlier this year when writing about a meeting between execs and dealers:
A dealer who attended the meeting said executives acknowledged that tariffs pose a “significant risk” to the brand because of its limited lineup and that a government affairs committee is working with retailers to address the challenges tariffs might pose.
The dealer said executives also promised to better manage inventory after it rose more than expected last year and promised dealers additional floorplan support in the coming months.
Other than Raylan Givens, the average Lincoln owner has historically been older than the market as a whole, and that almost certainly contributes to the numbers. A new Navigator is probably only going to help things and maybe, just maybe, unseat the Range Rover.
Nissan Is Reportedly Trying To Push Out Its CEO, Or Maybe It Isn’t
Nissan CEO is the worst job in all of the automotive universe. If you’re not getting arrested at the behest of your subordinates, you’re dealing with your competitor telling you your company is worthless, and that doesn’t even include having to kowtow to your French shareholders.
Somehow, people actually want this gig, or at least Nissan’s Board of Directors is maybe trying to find someone willing to give it a shot. Here’s what Bloomberg is saying:
Nissan directors are gauging interest in potential candidates to replace Uchida, the 22-year company veteran who has been CEO since late 2019, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Other sources told Reuters that Uchida is likely to hang on to his job.
Nissan is due to announce the management streamlining on March 12 but Uchida is not expected to resign as part of the announcement, the sources said.
I feel like getting fired by Nissan without having to, like, go to prison is the best outcome a CEO of Nissan can hope for.
GM Agrees To Hand Out More Dividends
If you’re a shareholder of General Motors then you, too, could be a beneficiary of increased dividends and a planned share buyback.
General Motors’ board approved increasing its stock dividend by 3 cents to 15 cents a share, the company said Wednesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a sign of confidence despite growing threats from federal policy that could impact the auto industry this year.
This is the first time GM has said it planned to raise its stock dividend since late 2023.
“We feel confident in our business plan, our balance sheet remains strong, and we will be agile if we need to respond to changes in public policy,” Paul Jacobson, executive vice president and CFO, said in the statement. “The repurchase authorization our board approved continues a commitment to our capital allocation policy.”
I have been down this road before, so I’ll spare you the details, but this isn’t my favorite thing GM is doing. Sharing excess profits back with shareholders is a good thing, both for rewarding your investors and for maintaining your share price. Dividends are not, on their face, bad. I just think the automotive market is in for a long period of uncertainty, and it would make more sense to reinvest that money in the company.
Old Porsches Are The New Old Ferraris
One of the cool things about being partnered with Beau, other than he gets the references that David does not, is that he’s active in the auction scene, which gives us access to it. Over the years of attending auctions, it’s become obvious that older Porsches are steadily increasing in value.
There’s a comprehensive story on this from our pal Hannah Elliott in Bloomberg that’s worth a read if you follow these things:
This month, as car enthusiasts converge on Florida for two weeks, they’ll find 14 Porsches with estimates straddling the $1 million mark—two more than the dozen Ferraris with the same distinction and far more than any other brand among the 405 total lots being offered across three auction houses. Million-dollar Porsches are creeping into the elite pricing echelon that Ferraris once dominated at significant auctions around the globe.
The increase reflects collectors’ desires and financial ability to build significant collections around one favored brand, says Steve Serio, a Boston-based automotive broker to billionaires. Porsches have always been valuable—they just haven’t been as desirable as multimillion-dollar Ferrari GTOs, LMs and Testarossas. But Porsche is inching closer as an increasing number of buyers amass collections around the historic marque.
I remember when Porsche 912s were like $16k all day and I was not smart enough to buy one. Instead, I bought a Merkur. Never take my advice about anything, is what I’m saying.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Roberta Flack passed away recently and it would be a shame if we didn’t recognize her, so here’s Roberta doing “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” RIP to a legend.
The Big Question
What’s your theory on Lincoln buyers?
Top photo: BaT/Justified
Hey, Matt! I own a 2016 MKZ that I bought new off the showroom floor nine years ago this summer. It’s been a terrific car in all respects, and the way every Lincoln dealer I’ve interacted with (mind, the free standing Lincoln dealers, not Ford/Lincoln stores) has treated me and my car both with outstanding results and experiences.
I’ve driven both the Corsair and the new Nautilus – they’re both splendid vehicles. I’ve called the Lincoln concierge, sent emails, sent messages to Jim Farley – getting the new Zephyr imported from China should be as easy as falling off of a bar stool.. given that the driveline and much of the electrical system is already Federalized for the Nautilus. If they did start importing that, I’d be at the Lincoln dealer, looking through the door before they open, as if I were the lady in the old Mervyn’s commercials .. “Open! Open! Open!”
Now in my late 60’s, the focus on serenity is quite welcome…
I guess they are all right, all right, all right!
Ended up involuntary owning a Lincoln MKX when my wife needed a car and my father-in-law was willing to sell me his for what the Mercedes dealer was offering him as a trade-in value.
It was a functional appliance that my wife seemed to love for about 4-5 years, despite being just a rebadged Ford Edge with lots of janky plastic bits…until I got my BMW. Overnight her tune changed and she saw it as the janky plastic driving appliance I always had and decided she needed a Stinger. At least the Kia dealer offered me just $2k less than I’d paid for it, so the cost of ownership was pretty low for how long we had it.
Don’t think I’ll ever own another Lincoln, accidental or otherwise.
It will be very interesting to see what the Tesla loyalty numbers look like next year…
In what, though? I’m generally inclined to agree with you about stock buybacks, but this seems like a perfect time to do them because it’s almost impossible to predict what you should invest in. You might as well juice the stock price for now, since that should make it easier to get funding for your next all-in play, whatever that may be, and in the meantime the cash isn’t sitting around earning .05% interest.
Also, even after the bump (which was from 12 to 15 cents, not from 3 to 15 as I initially read it 😉 ), their yield is only around 1%. They’re not exactly handing out money willy-nilly.
Lincoln buyers? The older we get the more we get set in our ways. They have an older-skewing demographic, so it tracks that they get repeat buyers.
I’m picturing a Corsair-owning husband and wife, busy professionals but not car enthusiasts, taking a day to go drive potential replacements.
After an exhausting day of trying to learn the 10 different infotainment screen interfaces on the XT6, QX60, Q5, NX, RX, GLC, RDX, and X4, they’re sitting at the kitchen table trying to compare the X-whatever to the whatever-X to the whateverXwhatever and trying to remember which car was which until one of them finally just says, fuck it, the Corsair was pretty good, let’s just get another one.
I guess I count as GM loyal. But really, I’m just loyal to BOF pickups and suv’s with that small block V8. We’ve been abusing them for 3 decades now.
I know a 93 year old lady who shouldn’t be driving and replaces her town car with other town cars. Getting hard to find especially with the strange trim she demands. They can still be found with low miles literally pried out of the cold dead hands of the previous owners.
The Lincoln SUV market seems to be the slightly younger 70s to 80s with a small amount of people in their 60s who decided I will only drive Lincolns now. I don’t understand it Cadillac used to have those people too but they ruined their reputation with the Northstar and other poor quality and engineering. Now as EV’s I’m not sure how many 70 to 80 year olds want an ev but I assume those to did already bought a Tesla.
I like Lincoln’s….I have owned 40+ since my first a 79 Mark I’ve. My current Lincoln is a 62 Continental kustom…. But for some reason EDSEls keep following me home lol
Lincoln is like the American Acura if it was actually Lexus.
Seems like around the Murder Mitten Lincolns are driven by old people with money who think they’re still one of the pinnacles of luxury and Ford retirees/soon-to-be retirees.
As fun as testing the bovine-pulling capacity of your vehicle may be, I think you mean kowtow
I don’t know too much about the current crop of Lincs, though last year when I was helping my mom carshop, there was a Nautilus in the showroom, and it looked really nice. The exterior was fairly generic, but the interior looked quite nice. I also thought the MKZ sedan was a looker.
+1 for the MKZ. I totally would not mind cruising around in the last gen (2017+) model as a DD. I think they look nice without being too grandpa-ish.
I’m one of the loyal GM folks (currently have 2 of them). My parents were GM customers, so I just stuck with them, with rare exception. My reason for doing so is just familiarity – you get used to how they do things. So much so that it become disorienting when you drive something other than a GM. Like getting a rental Ford or Toyota at the airport just seems so strange because they are not GM. It is hard to describe it.
When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, all my favorite cars were GM, and a lot of my family members had GM cars. I eventually grew out of that though, as the GM cars they had ended up being garbage.
Now I can’t think of any GM cars I’d want to own other than a C8. I still like the old stuff, but IMO the newer stuff for the most part just isn’t that competitive.
I’m also a little angry at GM; I remember last year when they were crying poverty when it came to raising wages, but within a month or two turned around and gave 10billion to investors.
I currently still have a 4th gen Firebird, and a Volvo, and a Toyota. I don’t feel any loyalty to any one manufacturer; none of them really deserve it anymore.
Intense brand loyalty has always felt a bit cultish to me. I’d ride a model or brand until it got popular & too expensive or cheap ones became thin on the ground and parts harder to get.
The corporation doesn’t care about us—just selling us the next one: I like certain cars, but notsomuch the company
“Arguably, Lincoln doesn’t make a bad car”
That’s because Lincoln hasn’t made a car since 2020.
Lincoln buyers are the people looking for quiet cool. Fancy, but not flashy. Simple but also elegant enough to warrant the extra coin. I have a feeling the Lincoln buyers are the remaining boomers that don’t really like the direction Cadillac took to compete with Euro high end stuff like BMW and Mercedes.
If you’re looking for anything cool, it ain’t a Lincoln. If you’re old, though, or a fleet, or a Ford employee with 20 years, you definitely want a Lincoln.
Lincoln buyers are conservative old money in practice if not in reality.
Lincoln has a vibe of Buick and Cadillac in image. No import is going to have that comfortable, broken-in, American feel of a Lincoln.
Having owned an MKT, I think one thing we’re overlooking is the dealership experience. Ford has put a lot of money into making the Lincoln experience as luxury as North American car manufacturers can.
They’re nice places to be, have proper service, and go out of their way to accommodate customers. So you get a near Lexus SUV and a near Lexus experience for 10% less.
I also agree that they’ve found their niche in the comfort part of the sporting/comfort spectrum and they have very little competition there, especially at their price point.
This is where Genesis goes wrong…
I will say, yes and no on genesis here. Initial visit and purchase experience was very good. easy to work with and in and out pretty fast. The after purchase service side is where Genesis failed me a bit. 30 day waits for oil changes, warranty repairs not getting done in a timely manner and failure to check the simple things like lug nut torque when brought in for inspections.
I thought they went wrong with Phil Collens.
I know this is completely anecdotal/small sample size but if you go to the GM subreddit it’s just post after post of people being laid off or in the process of being laid off due to an out of the blue poor performance review.
I feel like that happened the last time they bumped their dividend too. They announced mass layoffs, then a week later were like, “Hey, we’ve got all this money now…”
“I feel like getting fired by Nissan without having to, like, go to prison is the best outcome a CEO of Nissan can hope for.”
So, Uchida may have done for Nissan what Khrushchev did for the Soviet Union?