Ford Plans Lincoln Facelift for China

Ford’s (NYSE:F) Lincoln brand may need a facelift before it suits the tastes of luxury vehicle-buyers in China, and the insides may need a little mixing up too, to suit China’s luxury passengers.

Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand, had once been a top luxury brand in the U.S., but that hasn’t been the case in recent years. With more competing luxury brands, like Toyota’s (NYSE:TM) Lexus and Volkswagen’s Audi, Lincoln lost a significant amount of sales. In response, Ford began a campaign to re-brand Lincoln and re-ignite sales under the original Lincoln Motor Co. name. Ford’s goal was to make Lincoln a global brand and to turn around sales.

Start 2013 better than ever by saving time and making money with your Limited Time Offer for our highly-acclaimed Stock Picker Newsletter. Click here for our fresh Feature Stock Pick now!

Diminishing sales

In 1990, Lincoln sales peaked at 231,660 vehicles. Illustrating Lincoln’s decline, sales in 2012 reached 82,510 vehicles. Despite an exciting summer for Lincoln, when sales were up 40 percent, deliveries actually fell 12 percent in December, when luxury vehicles could normally be expected to sell well. For comparison, Lincoln’s top competing luxury brand, BMW, sold 281,460 vehicles in 2012, more than triple what Lincoln sold…

Here’s how Ford has traded over the past 3 months (up 39.92%):