NEW YORK — Ford executives hope the redesigned 2024 Lincoln Nautilus crossover can attract new, younger buyers with its exterior styling, interior amenities and new technology.
"It's the game changer for the brand," Michael Sprague, Lincoln's North America director, told sibling publication Automotive News. "This puts us on the map for the customers who haven't considered us in the past.”
The automaker had been building the Nautilus for the North American market at an assembly plant in Oakville, Ont., but Ford Motor Co. is retooling the Oakville Assembly plant in Ontario to produce electric vehicles.
So, Lincoln, a brand that for more than a century has helped define American luxury, will for the first time import a vehicle to its home market from outside North America.
The redesigned 2024 Nautilus crossover, on sale early next year, will be the first Lincoln sold in the United States that's manufactured in China.
"From a manufacturing efficiency standpoint, given what's happening in Oakville, we chose to build it in China," Lincoln President Dianne Craig told Automotive News. "We've had an unwavering support of auto manufacturing in the United States; in this case, it just made business sense for us. I think the product's going to be phenomenal and customers will love it."