Q+a: Kumar Galhotra

Can you comment on Lincoln's sales performance in China in the first quarter?

This year's first quarter performance was our strongest ever since our entry to China. This is thanks to the great response from our customers to our philosophy of offering fantastic experiences, in and out of cars. This personalized experience, our diverse and powerful products, and our expanding dealership network are the three pillars of our success in China.

What's Lincoln's next move? Do you have plans to introduce plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles to China in the future?

From the manufacturer's perspective, introducing plug-in hybrid vehicles requires developing an infrastructure. But from the customers' perspective, it would save them time and money, and there could be a substantial market for it. We are carefully looking into developing plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles and will do it later at the right time.

Could you explain Lincoln's strategy of the Lincoln Way in China?

Lincoln offers an entirely personalized experience for today's luxury customers, which we call the Lincoln Way. We are now planning for a new Virtual Lincoln Way, including online services in car financing, model selection, pickup and delivery to enhance convenience for customers. Chinese customers do more research online before they enter a store. We are continuing to conduct significant research and talk more with customers to continue improving the Virtual Lincoln Way.

(China Daily 04/20/2017 page12)