Judging from the sales data in recent years, no matter how the Chinese car market rises and falls, luxury brands can always maintain a high upward trend. In addition to the "fairy fight" between BBA, the "battle for the top" of second-tier luxury brands is also eye-catching. And Lincoln, which has just been domestically produced for more than 2 years, has accumulated sales of more than 82,800 units from January to November 2021, an increase of 54% year-on-year, although the overall magnitude and product lineup are not as good as Cadillac and Lexus, but sales can still maintain rapid growth, which is also an indisputable fact.
Of course, the reason why Lincoln's previous sales can grow rapidly is due to the rapid introduction of three domestic SUV models of adventurers, navigators and aviators. With the initial formation of the SUV product line, Lincoln also began to return to the domestic car market, its Lincoln Z as early as last year's Guangzhou Auto Show debut announced a pre-price of 255-34.2 million yuan, which is not difficult to see Lincoln's urgent desire to let this car quickly enter the market. So, how competitive are Lincoln Z's products? Around this product, what strategic deployment of the Lincoln brand in the market can be seen?
●Core ideas:
1 · The importance of the sedan to the domestic luxury market is self-evident, and the Lincoln Z will also be a new attempt to localize its brand.
2 · After the listing of the Lincoln Z, it mainly competed with second-tier luxury brand models such as cadillac CT5, Volvo S60, Jaguar XEL, Infiniti Q50L and so on.
3 · In the face of BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A4L and other products of the same price, Lincoln Z adopts a misplaced competition strategy, and the overall size and power performance are better.
● Lincoln's China Localization Strategy
Whether it is BBA or many second-tier luxury brands (in addition to Lexus, which is still reserved), the benefits brought by localization in terms of cost control and price advantages naturally go without saying. The Lincoln brand has also benefited from the rapid layout of the adventurer, navigator and aviator SUV to achieve the rapid growth of sales today.
However, looking at the development of China's luxury car market, many brands have shown the law of "sales soaring after localization, and gradually becoming unknown after a few years", such as Acura and Infiniti. The root cause is the excessive dependence on the introduction of existing models overseas, which leads to slow product localization and update, and cannot sustainably maintain market heat. Of course, Lincoln also faces the problem of "no card to play" after quickly laying out three domestic SUVs in 2020. Because of this, the emergence of lincoln Z also seems to be crucial.
In fact, from the beginning of the ZEPHYR concept car, Lincoln tried to build a sedan around the Chinese market, and then formed a relatively independent product line in the Chinese market to ensure that it can adapt to the domestic market environment and car habits. Therefore, from the current point of view, Lincoln Z is more like a new attempt at its brand localization strategy, which is based on domestic consumer preferences in terms of styling design and interior configuration. In the future, Lincoln expects to have more new cars based on the Chinese market.
First of all, in terms of styling design, in the current Lincoln domestic new sequence camp, Lincoln Z is the first to launch a dual-appearance kit model, the manufacturer named it i-enjoy and i cool, they have a slight difference in configuration, front part, rim, appearance and interior color, the former fashionable, the latter sport to meet different user aesthetic needs.
In addition, family travel and business reception are also common use scenarios for luxury medium-sized cars, so the ride space is undoubtedly an aspect that most medium-sized car users will consider. At the same time, taking into account the needs of Chinese users, most luxury brand models have specially launched a long wheelbase version. The Lincoln Z is close to 5 meters long, more than 2.9 meters wheelbase, compared with some long-axle version of the competitive model, in terms of body length, height also occupies a certain advantage, which compared with the predecessor MKZ has made a great progress.
Lincoln Z's interior design is more prominent in the characteristics of localization, 12.3-inch LCD dashboard + 27-inch through-line central control screen is unique in the entire brand, compared to the same door SUV model, it has more Changan Ford EVOS feeling. At the same time, such as vehicle-road coordination, voice control, automatic driving, mobile phone interconnection, etc. are also popular configurations for domestic consumers, and Lincoln Z is also full in this regard.
Lincoln Z's performance in the power parameters is still remarkable, its 246Ps, 376N·m output has been comparable to the 3 Series/A4L high-end version, and the significant advantage of horsepower torque is also reflected in the acceleration time, in the official 0-100km/h acceleration opponents are generally in about 8 seconds, Lincoln Z can be achieved in 6.8s.
Of course, the drawbacks of Lincoln Z's deep localization are also more obvious, which is the continuous "friendship" with Changan Ford. As mentioned earlier, the Lincoln Z and Changan Ford EVOS interior "collision type" and the height of similarity in power parameters make it technically not more prominent enough features, and this is likely to make the impression of "expensive Ford" go with it.
● Mainly attack the second-tier luxury market and cannibalize some of the sales of BBA
As a medium-sized sedan of Lincoln's new product series, from the perspective of brand and price, the main competitor of Lincoln Z is naturally many second-tier luxury brand models represented by Cadillac, namely Cadillac CT5, Volvo S60, Jaguar XEL, Infiniti Q50L, Acura TLX-L and so on. As a front-drive model, the Lincoln Z will probably focus on cost-effectiveness and the creation of a sense of luxury.
Of course, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi are also the existence of many luxury brands, but for the fledgling Lincoln Z, it can only divert some potential customers of BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and Audi A4L through the strategy of dislocation competition. In addition, from the perspective of the three SUVs that have been rapidly domesticated before, Lincoln still needs a certain amount of time for the release of production capacity, and while ensuring SUV sales, the share that can be given to Lincoln Z is still uncertain, so Lincoln Z wants to really benchmark the BBA There is still a long way to go.
Lincoln Z official pre-sale price range of 25.5-34.2 million yuan, compared with the same level, the same price of competitors is lower, although considering the major manufacturers terminal preferential range is different (such as "fracture leopard"), this advantage is not expected to have much impact after its listing, but it is not difficult to see that Lincoln has adopted a misplaced competition strategy, that is, with a larger size, stronger power performance to distinguish from the opponent.
● Say at the end
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, Lincoln's rapid sales growth in the domestic market is particularly eye-catching in the current market environment. In the future, the launch of Lincoln Z is also expected to allow Lincoln to occupy a certain market share in the car market, especially with the realization of electrification and intelligence in the Lincoln family in 2023, Lincoln Z is also expected to launch more derivative models such as hybrid versions, and form a unique product line in the Chinese market.
Of course, whether it is a sedan or an SUV, the Lincoln brand still lacks a tenacity to walk independently, especially with the continuous acceleration of localization, and now Lincoln products are inextricably linked to Ford, which also makes the impression of "expensive Ford" like a shadow. It can be said that with the cost performance of bicycles superior to competitors and the brand's previous feelings, lincoln's transition to localization is still good, but seeking a breakthrough in time and cutting off dependence is equally important for Lincoln's future.