Lincoln’s leader in China adapts to sell luxury SUVs

LOS ANGELES – Growing up, Amy Marentic had never visited China and knew little about the country, but it intrigued her.

“My passion is anticipating needs of consumers,” she said. “I’ve worked in everything from engineering to product marketing. And I said in my profile that I wanted to go to China.”

Notes in her Ford Motor profile didn’t go unnoticed. After two decades at the company, Marentic was asked to pack her bags. Now she leads Ford’s luxury brand, a sector critical to the business strategy of a company playing catch-up in the world’s largest automobile market.

As president of Lincoln China, Marentic, 49, is tapping what appears to be an insatiable appetite for luxury goods. Lincoln sales have spiked under her direction.

“You know how luxury in the U.S. is, where people walk in wearing jeans and T-shirts and they’re not showy? China isn’t there yet. They wear Prada and Gucci,” she said. “I didn’t get it until I lived there. They value luxury like we’ve never seen.”

When she walks her bulldog Tucker through the affluent Xintiandi neighborhood in Shanghai wearing Lululemon yoga clothes and Nike running shoes, women pass by wearing Givency and Louis Vuitton. And the bulldog, an especially popular breed in China, gets photographed as many as five times an outing.

“It’s the anti-Silicon Valley,” she said, noting that her parking garage is filled with luxury vehicles including Rolls Royce, Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley and McLaren — many ranging in price from $180,000 to $400,000.

About 64% of the luxury buyers are in a “family life stage,” compared to fewer than 20% in the U.S., Marentic said. Average luxury customers in China are in their mid-30s. And, unlike the U.S., a lot of first-time car buyers opt for luxury vehicles.

Chinese families often prefer cars and SUVs that can hold children, parents and grandparents at once. Car buyers frequently climb into back seats before getting behind the wheel.

“In China, 48% of the time a luxury owner only has one vehicle, so you see the customer choose a (sport) utility (vehicle),” Marentic said. Lincoln just announced the MKX SUV name change to the 2019 Lincoln Nautilus, in part because Chinese consumers struggled with letter names.

Lincoln only recently entered the China market, and sales are growing: from 140 in 2010 to 32,558 in 2016. As of October, year-to-date sales were 45,729.

“We have a clean slate where we can try things to see what works,” Marentic said. “We have a great heritage. When people in China think of Lincoln, they think of JFK, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and weddings. The Chinese consumer will tell you heritage is important, but the product has to deliver.”

The government recently lifted its one-child limit, so families are growing. And while people enjoy owning cars, the government has restricted how many vehicles can be on the road, partly in response to population and pollution issues. As a result, the one vehicle that families purchase needs to be exceptional. The whole experience is unique in China, said Kumar Galhotra, president of Lincoln. Vehicles are displayed like objects of art in dealerships designed to feel like art galleries, he said.

“At every dealership, we’re observing,” Galhotra said. “If it’s important to the consumer, we’re going to do it. This is about relationship building. They do not want visits to be just transactional.”

Said Marentic: “What’s good for China is good for the global brand. The more scale we have, the more we can do. It’s about being warm, human, personally crafted and one size fits one.”

“We have a clean slate where we can try things to see what works.” Amy Marentic President of Lincoln China