Ford CEO -- China Could Be Huge for Lincoln, F-150 Demand Strong
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ford Motor (F) - Get Reportunveiled the Continental sedan Monday at the New York Auto Show, the newest offering in its effort to revive its flagship luxury brand Lincoln.
Lincoln sold just over 100,000 vehicles last year, said Ford CEO Mark Fields. But by 2020, the company is aiming to sell over 300,000 Lincoln vehicles, and a lot of those sales will come from China based on expectations of increasing demand.
Fields said China could become an even bigger market for Lincoln than the U.S., although he stressed both markets will be significant.
The automaker brought the Lincoln brand to China last year, Fields said, and so far, sales have exceeded expectations. Many of the Chinese buyers for the Lincoln Continental use chauffeurs, so Ford put a lot of emphasis on the amenities and features in the back seat.
Ford's U.S. sales took a dip February of roughly 2% year over year, in part from the lack of sufficient supply for the new F-150 pickup truck. Sometime in the second quarter, Ford will reach full production of the F-150, as its Kansas City plants ramps up its output, Fields said.
Fields expects overall sales to gain strength near the end of the second quarter and maintain that strength through the second half of 2015.
For March, fleet sales are likely to be "down significantly" because the company is in the middle of two new vehicle launches with the F-150 and Edge, he added. Ford has had to increase production because the F-150 continues to fly off dealer lots, Fields said. The vehicle's average time at the dealership was just 18 days in February, selling at a rate of four times faster than the segment average.
Due to its lower weight, the F-150 has impressive fuel efficiency, a metric that is very important to customers despite the steep fall in gas prices, according to Fields.
While lower gas prices don't tend to boost overall auto sales, it does seem to influence customers' decision on what vehicle to buy. Specifically, more small- and mid-size sedan buyers are looking to instead buy small- to mid-sized SUVs, like the Ford Escape, Fields concluded.