Category: Lincoln

This article was first published on Forbes.com on June 9, 2016

Tesla Tops Auto Brand Satisfaction for Second Year in a Row  Tesla owners are the most satisfied overall among all car and light truck owners according to the results of AutoPacific‘s 2016 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research.  The annual study includes over 65,000 respondents for 2016 and covers 273 vehicles sold in the United States.

Tesla owners are almost unanimous in agreeing the Tesla is fun to drive, powerful, eco-friendly, upscale, safe, distinctive and expensive.  These are not people who are really looking for the greenest car around, they want a car that makes a statement and can tear away from almost every other car when the light turns green.  The fact that Tesla has been the top-ranking brand in AutoPacific’s research two years in a row [...]

The next generation Lincoln Navigator concept has been shown at the 2016 New York Auto Show and it is an absolute WOW. Like Lincoln did in 2015 when they stealthily introduced the Continental concept at New York, the Navigator concept was kept very quiet until its initial reveal. With this new Navigator, Lincoln takes a different tack towards elegance, sophistication and quietness - a Personal Santuary. The new Navigator adopts new Lincoln styling cues like the strongly trapezoidal grille opening, Lincoln logo mesh grille, headlamps accented by LED running lights. The front end is very strong looking. The rear appearance adopts Lincoln's horizontal full-width taillamp treatment.

The Lincoln Continental was for years the flagship of the Lincoln brand. In the early 1980s, however, the name "Continental" was relegated to smaller, mid-sized Lincolns leaving the flagship to carry Town Car or Mark nomenclature. While Lincoln Motor Company is positioning the upcoming 2017 Continental against middle market competitors like the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series, Jaguar XF and Mercedes E-Class, it will become the brand's flagship (if you don't count the Navigator). Is Continental good enough to turn heads and get Americans and Chinese buying Lincolns again, check back in 2017.

Lincoln Motor Company has shown its new Lincoln Continental Concept at the 2015 New York International Auto Show. Kept quiet until the week before the show, Lincoln clearly timed the release of the Continental Concept to coincide with the first public showing of the competing Cadillac CT6 sedan.

The 2014 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid is the highest scoring Hybrid/EV Car in AutoPacific’s 2014 Vehicle SatisfactionAward research. The 2014 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid led its category with fifteen wins and ties out of fifty attributes. The MKZ Hybrid also was within one tenth of a rating point with nine other categories. This puts the 2014 MKZ Hybrid at the top with twenty-four of fifty satisfaction categories.

The 2014 Lincoln MKZ is the top scoring Luxury Mid-Size Car in AutoPacific’s 2014 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research. Coming in a close second was the Lexus ES followed by the Nissan Maxima, Volkswagen CC, and the Acura TSX.

The 2014 Lincoln MKZ led its category with twenty-two wins and thirteen ties out of fifty satisfaction attributes. This puts the 2014 Lincoln MKZ hitting the top of the mark in seventy percent of the categories.

The top ten highest rankings by MKZ owners are: the exterior styling and color, the braking, the perception of reliability and dependability, feeling safe when driving, interior styling, the reputation of the Lincoln brand, overall quality and handling, and enjoyment of driving.  The MKZ had a difficult launch in early 2013, but clearly the teething problems of the [...]

The present big car in the Lincoln lineup is the MKS. The MKS is the top scoring Executive Luxury Car in AutoPacific's 2014 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research. These are outstanding results in a product segment that includes some very impressive competitors.

The AutoPacific 2014 Vehicle Satisfaction Awards objectively measure owner satisfaction with 50 separate attributes ranging from interior comfort and convenience to fuel economy and performance. “Vehicles that score highest in the Vehicle Satisfaction Awards are delivering value and satisfaction across a wide range of attributes,” says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “The winners perform well in 50 separate categories that objectively measure the ownership experience.” An industry benchmark for measuring how satisfied an owner is with his/her new vehicle, AutoPacific’s VSA are based on the results of responses from over 92,000 new vehicle owners.

The Lincoln Motor Company won AutoPacific's Vehicle Satisfaction Award for top brand of the 2014 model year. Lincoln has previously won in 2004 and 2011. Based on queries from the press, many are surprised at the success of Lincoln in AutoPacific's research. After all, Lincoln is portrayed as being a brand struggling to survive in the hotly contested luxury vehicle market in the USA.

The 2015 Lincoln MKC hit Lincoln dealerships in June 2014 and promises to be the 2nd volume entry for Ford's premium brand after the award-winning Lincoln MKZ. Lincoln is the top brand in AutoPacific's 2014 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research and the MKZ and MKZ Hybrid are the winners of their product categories. The MKC is joining a booming market for smaller crossover SUVs and, based on our brief drive of the vehicle, should do very well in AutoPacific's 2015 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research..