Ford has committed to phasing out imports of Chinese-built Lincoln vehicles for the US market starting in 2030 and to expanding Lincoln production at US plants to cover that volume, a shift that lands in the middle of higher tariffs and new limits on Chinese-connected vehicle technology.
The current redesigned Lincoln Nautilus is assembled in Hangzhou, China, then exported to American dealers as Lincoln’s lone China-built import, and it is currently subject to a 52.5 percent US tariff on entry that Ford views as a major headwind.
View Price on AmazonThe company has not spelled out which US factory will pick up the slack or how much money it plans to spend to add Lincoln volume. A new Ford assembly plant in Tennessee is scheduled to start production in 2029, and several reports point to it as a plausible, though unconfirmed, candidate to build future Lincolns alongside already-announced Ford trucks.
The Nautilus is the headline model because it is currently exported from Changan Ford’s plant in Hangzhou to US buyers. Ford’s plan means that whatever Lincoln crossovers it now imports from China will instead be built in the United States once the 2030 shift happens, avoiding those extra trade costs.
Ford has not specifically confirmed that the Nautilus itself will move to US production, or listed any other Lincoln nameplates that will definitely shift. Timing is another loose end. Reporting notes that a new Nautilus generation is expected around the 2028 model year, which roughly overlaps with Ford’s 2030 import cutoff.
Trade and technology rules are the clear backdrop. Imports of China-built vehicles for the US market are under heavier scrutiny, with both steep tariffs and federal restrictions on Chinese-connected vehicle software and hardware making it harder to pencil out a business case for shipping a premium SUV across the Pacific.
Source: motor1.com
