The Lincoln MKZ is finally gaining some traction with sales of nearly 4,000 units in April. This is a significant jump over the 3,758 that were sold during the first three months of 2013 and helped lead to a 10% increase in the brands overall sales.
Part of the improvement can be attributed to adequate stock levels finally being achieved at dealerships and to deliveries of long-standing customer orders. Some buyers had been waiting months to take ownership of their vehicles.
According to Jim Farley, head of the Lincoln brand and Ford’s global marketing chief, over 11,000 vehicles have been shipped to dealers in order to meet orders and manage stock levels. The delay in shipping the Lincoln MKZ was due to a quality assurance process that Farley said was necessary in order to make sure everything was right.
The reinvented Lincoln brand has been targeting a more upscale consumer and both sales of the Lincoln MKZ and the cars buyers are trading in show they’re hitting that target. The average price of a Lincoln MKZ sold today is about 20% more than what was being paid last year.
The price increase is because buyers are opting for higher trim levels on their new Lincoln MKZs. Considering that what many of them are trading in are vehicles from Cadillac, Lexus and Infiniti, it makes sense that they’re going to want a car with extra features.
The hybrid version of the Lincoln MKZ is proving especially popular. It sells in an average of 11 days while the standard version sells in twice that time at 22 days. In California, fully 60% of buyers choose the hybrid.
Despite the stronger sales of the Lincoln MKZ and the brand’s overall sales increase, they’re still working to take a bigger share of the luxury car market. Part of their strategy includes the introduction of the MKC compact crossover next year, hopefully without the production issues that temporarily stalled the MKZ.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
