Auto-First | Liu Tianming
At a time when the automotive industry is accelerating its transformation and the automotive consumer demand is diversified, some companies have reached the darkest moment, and some companies have ushered in the best era.
The reason why it has reached the darkest moment is because the transformation of the automobile industry has entered the deep water area, the market competition and tests have become more and more severe, both to complete the industrial transformation and maintain stable and sustained profitability, the automobile companies and brands that cannot keep up with the pace of the times will be submerged in the long river of history, and the best era is in the process of automobile transformation, new technologies, new models and new talents continue to pour into the industry, bringing new development opportunities to the automobile industry. At the same time, more new consumption scenarios have been excavated, which has also brought new opportunities for car companies.
There is such a century-old brand, in the automotive industry transformation to give a different answer, in the face of electrification and intelligence, the ideas and concepts into the new concept car, in the face of the diversified needs of the automobile market, hard work accumulation, showing its unique American luxury temperament, this brand is repeatedly on the hot search Lincoln brand.
The electrification transformation has accelerated across the board
Standing at the new starting point of the century, the Lincoln brand has accelerated the pace of electrification and intelligent transformation, and actively embraced industry changes. On April 21, Lincoln's first pure electric concept car, the Lincoln Star, was officially released. Lincoln Star not only shows the Lincoln brand's technological accumulation in the field of electrification and intelligence, but also reflects the continuous evolution of Lincoln's brand design DNA.
With the support of the pure electric extensible architecture and the next-generation Lincoln Connect system, the Lincoln Star pure electric concept car shows the Lincoln brand's thinking on future product design and intelligent connection experience.
Among them, the application of this pure electric expandable architecture makes the designer's new imagination of the experience of the interior space in the car become a reality. At the same time, after getting rid of the shackles of traditional fuel vehicles on the interior space design, the Lincoln Star pure electric concept auto show has become a comfortable and comfortable "third space", mobile office, relax and take a nap.
While the front space of the vehicle, where the fuel engine was originally placed, was fully utilized to provide users with excellent storage space, the front hatch with electrochromic glass could be switched between dark and transparent, providing more light to the interior when needed.
The design of the Lincoln Star pure electric concept car also reflects the continuous evolution of lincoln brand design DNA. With the four dimensions of "natural beauty", "the essence of human nature", "soaring wings" and "inner realm", it brings users the ultimate travel experience of all scenarios.
The smooth and dynamic body contour creates an impactful visual look. Through a full blend of design, lighting, screens, fragrance and sound, customers can enjoy an immersive cockpit experience, whether they are driving or when parking and resting.
In the new journey of intelligent connectivity and electrification development, by 2025, Lincoln plans to launch three new pure electric models, when more than half of Lincoln's global sales will come from zero-emission pure electric models, Lincoln's fourth pure electric model will be officially launched in 2026.
With the Lincoln Star pure electric concept car and a full range of transformation goals, the Lincoln brand once again ushered in the focus of industry attention, and the hot search physique was vividly displayed.
High open high go deep to the hearts of consumers
In the face of external factors such as chip shortage, epidemic and rising raw material prices, Lincoln withstood the impact of unfavorable factors, and the sales growth rate ranked among the top traditional luxury brands.
In the past 2021, the Lincoln brand's global sales reached their best performance in nearly 21 years, an increase of 7% over the same period in 2020. The Chinese market has become the core growth point of the Lincoln brand, with cumulative sales of more than 91,600 vehicles in the whole year, a sharp increase of 48% year-on-year, not only one of the fastest growing traditional luxury car brands in the Chinese auto market, but also the highest sales record since entering China.
Domestic models have carried the banner of Lincoln brand growth, of which The Lincoln Adventurer has sold more than 50,000 vehicles in the whole year, which is the responsibility for sales and breaks the sales record of a single model since Lincoln entered China.
In the first quarter of 2022, the Lincoln brand continued to maintain a high-quality, steady growth trend, setting an all-time best first-quarter sales volume of 19,400 units. The new domestic model matrix, consisting of the Lincoln Adventurer, Lincoln Aviator, Lincoln Navigator and the new Lincoln Z, became the core driving force for sales growth, with cumulative sales of more than 18,900 vehicles in the first quarter, accounting for 97% of total sales. Among them, the Lincoln Adventurer sold more than 10,900 vehicles in the first quarter, winning the Lincoln single-month sales crown for 23 consecutive months, and the cumulative sales of the new generation of Lincoln Navigators with "luxury and all aspects" reached 5105 vehicles in the first quarter. The recently launched Lincoln Z showed strong growth momentum, with cumulative orders exceeding 5,600 units by the end of March.
In fact, the Lincoln brand's ability to deliver beautiful sales results comes from its brand renewal and years of deep insight into the needs of Chinese consumers. Relying on the product matrix to renew, the Lincoln brand has skillfully integrated its unique American luxury with electrification and intelligence, bringing a different car experience to Chinese consumers.
Lincoln is well aware that in the deepening of the localization strategy, it is difficult to rely on SUV models alone to meet the diversified needs of Chinese consumers. Therefore, Lincoln Motors launched the new Lincoln Z, a "smart new generation of cars" with very youthful characteristics, and expressed the unique American luxury of the Lincoln brand to young users through forward-looking technology, pioneering design and unique sense of ceremony.
It is worth mentioning that the innovation of the Lincoln brand can still be seen on the new Lincoln Z. In the 1930s, Lincoln launched a sedan named after Zephyr, leading the design direction of luxury cars with a streamlined body, Lincoln Z inherited the Zephyr name, and echoed with the Z generation customer group, forming an emotional connection with China's young consumer groups.
Whether it is the Lincoln Adventurer, the Lincoln Aviator, the Lincoln Navigator or the Lincoln Z, the Lincoln brand meets the various needs of Chinese consumers for automotive products with a new look and accurate insight, and the continuous breaking of sales records is the best proof of the strength of the Lincoln brand.
Lincoln Way 2.0 era
The Lincoln brand can cultivate the hot search physique, not only relying on a rich and diversified product matrix, but also comprehensively upgrading the benchmark of the industry's customer experience - "Lincoln's Way" 2.0, with intelligent and digital continuous innovation, so that the beautiful moments of life occur in Lincoln, while relying on the six-star personalized experience, to create a warm, humane, customized, long-term emotional link-based customer experience, and gradually establish a new type of customer relationship that is "always online".
The new Lincoln Way Experience Center created with the design concept of "American Luxury Club" redefines the Lincoln New Retail Experience and creates a "trend vane" of architecture, experience and social networking, and at present, 7 new Lincoln Way Experience Centers have been put into operation, combining car viewing, car buying and American culture, so that customers can enjoy a luxurious, scenario-based, youthful, social and modern "smart enjoyment" experience.
For Lincoln, it is difficult to capture the hearts of young consumers by relying on a young product alone, and it is also necessary to directly connect with young consumer groups in the user operation mode and user ecology. Therefore, Lincoln cross-border linkage of KOLs in various fields, set off a wave of Z on social platforms, and at the same time, relying on the Lincoln Way APP to build a Club Z online community, through rich activities and fresh information, to attract young people to actively participate in brand co-creation. Customers can also enter the Lincoln e-commerce platform, in the Channel Z activity area exclusively created for Lincoln Z, interact with the "Z squad leader" with one click, enjoy the 360-degree panoramic view inside and outside the house, and instantly book online and immersively appreciate the trend charm of the new Lincoln Z.
This set of marketing mix punches for young consumer groups has achieved remarkable results. The Club Z online community has more than 50,000 registered users, and users are deeply involved, with a monthly activity rate of nearly 70%.
As Mao Jingbo, president of Lincoln China, said, Lincoln's development path, there is no other option, only to strive to launch products and experiences that can truly exceed customer expectations, maintain their own pace of development, lay a solid foundation for long-term development in the future, and walk out of the unique "luxury of their own way" of the Lincoln brand.
In the Chinese automotive market, Centennial Lincoln has found its own development rhythm, continuing the century-old American luxury gene to this day, promoting the continuous innovation of products and services, and also allowing us to have more expectations for Lincoln's next "hot search booking".