Sales of Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) Lincoln luxury car division rose 11.4% to 9,689. Those of rival Cadillac, the luxury line of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), dropped 5.1% to 13,053. The trend for the first quarter was the same, with Lincoln sales up 16% to 24,905. Cadillac sales for the same period dropped 4.1% to 35,663.
Both brands have struggled for years to compete with Germany’s Mercedes and BMW, as well as Japan’s Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM). The struggle barely has been successful, if successful at all. At least Lincoln can make the case it has had a better improvement this year.
The sales from Lincoln and Cadillac show how much difference one model car make to a small lineup. Lincoln sales this year have improved because of the MKX, which had a sales improvement of 87.9% to 2,711 in March. Sales for the model were higher by 81.4% to 7,198 for the first quarter. The sport utility vehicle (SUV) is new to the Lincoln lineup for 2016. It is priced at the low end of the luxury SUV market with an entry price of $38,260.
Cadillac’s performance is also due largely to one model. Sales of its SRX crossover were off 18.6% in March to 4,071, and they were up by 4.7% for the first quarter to 12,866. The SRX has an entry price of $37,605, barely different from the MKX.
Cadillac still sells more cars and SUVs than Lincoln, but the difference has narrowed.
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