Cars and Drivers

Lincoln Sales Rise as Cadillac Craters

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: February 3, 2016 6:36 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 1:43 pm

Sales of troubled luxury car brands Lincoln and Cadillac moved different directions in January.

In January, Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) Lincoln sales rose 8.4% to 7,177 year over year, led by sales of its MKX sport utility vehicle (SUV). The MKX has been updated for 2016. It carries a mid-level SUV price of $38,260. Lincoln can claim its new model launch has been a success.

General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Cadillac total sales fell 8% to 10,740. Retail sales plunged 27.3% to 7,982. Only sales of the Cadillac SRX SUV posted a large increase, 37.1%, based on total sales to 4,778. It carries a base price of $37,605 (directly competitive to the MKX).

However, sales of Cadillac’s ATS and CTS plummeted. ATS sales fell 39.3% to 1,067. The CTS, one of the Car & Drivers “10 Best,” saw sales off 40.3% to 1,013. The ATS is the Cadillac entry-level car, with a base price of $33,215, meant to compete with the low-end luxury vehicles of Mercedes and BMW. The CTS carries a base price of $53,495, which puts it up against the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class.

The failure of Cadillac’s car lines is more evidence GM has a brand that will take years to turn around, and it may not make the turn at all.