On March 13, Lincoln China announced that Lincoln will introduce a new SUV model in China and cooperate with Changan Automobile to produce at Changan's Chongqing base. It is expected to be officially put into operation in the second half of 2019.
For the domestic plan, the relevant person in charge of Lincoln China told NBD (micro signal: NBD-AUTO) that detailed information about domestic models is currently not disclosed, but it is certain that the SUV is made in China and cooperates with Changan. It’s not a sudden move, it has been planned for a long time.
NBD Automobile learned that in May last year, the Chongqing Municipal Government and China Weapons and Equipment Group Corporation signed a strategic agreement on the deep integration of military and civilian forces, which mentioned that the Bingzhuang Group coordinated and supported the layout of high-end brands such as Lincoln.
As a Ford sub-brand, Lincoln's domestically produced nature reminds the Changan Ford brand that Changan and Ford jointly built. It is reported that Lincoln's domestic SUV is going to be put into production at the Changan Ford plant in Chongqing.
In fact, although Changan Ford's sales are still growing, it is far less than capacity growth. On February 22 this year, the new Focus was officially put into production at the Changan Ford Harbin Base, marking the official launch of Changan Ford's fifth plant.
This means that Changan Ford's production capacity has expanded from the previous annual production of 1.4 million units to an annual output of 1.6 million units. According to the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association), Changan Ford's cumulative sales last year was 944,000 units, an increase of 8.67%.
Not only that, for this year's sales, Chang Jun Ford Motor Co., Ltd. President He Junjie has previously said that in 2017, Changan Ford's sales target is 1 million. In other words, if this sales target is used, Changan Ford's capacity utilization rate is only 62.5%.
NBD Auto learned that at present, Changan Ford's Harbin work model is the new Fox hatchback version, which was previously produced at Changan Ford's Chongqing plant. According to data from the Association, the sales of the new Focus hatchback were 92,600 units last year.
From this point of view, after the capacity transfer of the new Focus hatchback model, at present, Changan Ford Chongqing plant capacity is not saturated, Lincoln's future domestic models are likely to use Changan Ford Chongqing plant for production.
In fact, whether it is produced in Changan Ford's factory, for the Lincoln brand, this cooperation with Changan Automobile is undoubtedly an important step in localization in China. This also means that among the top ten luxury brands in terms of sales, only Lexus has no action on localization.
According to the data, in 2016, Lincoln’s cumulative sales in China reached 32,600 units, ranking 10th among luxury brand sales. Although in the second and third line luxury brands, the annual sales volume of Cadillac and Jaguar Land Rover is still 100,000. There is no small gap, but the sales growth rate is very fast.
The data shows that compared with 2015, the Lincoln brand grew 180% year-on-year, ranking top among luxury brands.
In this regard, Lincoln Global President Kumar Galhotra said that Lincoln's sales in China have grown steadily and has become a must-have in the Chinese luxury car market. In this context, localized production is a logical move.
In Ge Weihua's view, the rapid growth of sales last year exceeded Lincoln's expectations, and it also represented that Lincoln's automotive products have been recognized by Chinese consumers. On this basis, through the introduction of new SUV models in China, and continue to be Chinese consumers. The introduction of other cars and SUV models will open a new chapter in the development of Lincoln in China.

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