Lincoln and Cadillac Are Still Cool Cars in China
Status seekers are becoming the largest buyers of the aging U.S. luxury brands.
The streets of Beijing are teeming with German luxury cars, but Cindy Zhang wanted something different—something that reminded her of the muscular vehicles she sees on American TV shows like the spy thriller Homeland. So she bought a boldly styled Cadillac XT5 SUV in a color dubbed red passion. “The vehicle looks pretty solid and makes me feel safer,” says Zhang, 29, a primary school teacher. “I don’t know whether those scenes with American cars in the shows helped me with the choice, but it felt natural and right.”
The well-wheeled in China are increasingly embracing American luxury brands—the bigger, the better—with Cadillac crossovers and Lincoln SUVs flying off dealer lots. The country has already become General Motors Co.’s largest market for Cadillac, overtaking the U.S. in 2017, and Ford Motor Co. says it will soon be the top market for its Lincoln brand, which arrived there only three years ago.