Very Disappointed

[sixstring]

The Nautilus is not a redo of something from Ford line up and being from China is the least of its problems. Why is it every Nautilus issue is blamed on China yet the same do not mentions all the Ford issues? Ford was number 1 in recalls last year and most of those affected were not made iin China. Ford stalled (like GM) on the F150 issue which affected a much larger pool of vehicles.

From all reports, the actual build quality is top notch. It is design issues and much was designed in US including the software. If the Nautilus as built in Mexico, would people blame Mexico. As the saying goes, fix the problem not the blame.

Note: I worked with companies in the far east including China to do design and manufacturing. They can build to any quality level you want if you want to pay for it. If a company tries to use low cost labor suppliers (like China, Vietnam) without superior engineering, competitors will eat your lunch.

The current Lincoln Nautilus is built in China at Ford’s joint-venture plant with Changan.

The nautilus is based on Ford’s C2 platform and uses Ford-engineered powertrains, AWD systems, and core electronic architecture, all tuned for lincoln’s luxury positioning. Lincoln’s main difference is in the interior design, materials, ride tuning, cabin technology experience, and software interface.

Ford has been the most recall-active major automaker in the U.S., ranking #1 in recall campaigns over the past 1, 3, 5 and 10 year periods.

I'm not blaming china. I'm blaming ford.

 

[Steve_C]

I am going to blame FoMoCo as well. The Chinese Nautilus was built/designed specifically for the Chinese market. It was never intended to be imported to the USA.
Getting the Chinese Nautilus retro-fitted software wise for the American market is where Ford failed, and failed miserably.
How can anyone blame China for a car that was only meant for their market?

 

[hinckley]

I'm not very active on this board anymore, but I continue to monitor it and to enjoy my mostly perfect '24 Nautilus BL.

When I read some of these China-related posts, I admit I'm compelled to react. Many of us are old guys who remember how we'd laugh at the "Made in Japan" junk that was imported in the 60s. We learned the hard way to stop laughing within 20 years. Fast-forward to today: those of you who are rubbing your bellies thinking "China = Junk" are so, so far off. I want to scream, "open your eyes before you realize just what that country of 1.3 billion people can do before it's too late," but it's already too late.

China builds all kinds of low-cost, low-quality products. Just like the US. But whether anyone wants to believe it, they are now technological leaders, just like the US. They may have cheated to get there, but that doesn't change the facts on the ground. And anyone in this country that doesn't want to deal with those facts are hastening our decline and China's ascendency.

 

[angore]

If the 24+ Nautilus was only intended for the China market it just shows the intelligence of Ford in managing the Lincoln brand. We will have a Chinese made Corsair soon. I always believed the Nautilus size SUVs was the sweet spot for SUVs. It is obvious that Ford corp launched the Nautilus knowing there were many bugs. Software can only fix so many hardware issues. Switching from SYNC (internally developed) to Google Automotive services was an added complication. While I do not like it, it was likely the best decision if the resources could be used elsewhere -- not let go as Ford did when they killed one big software project.

 

[Jacyte]

If the 24+ Nautilus was only intended for the China market it just shows the intelligence of Ford in managing the Lincoln brand. We will have a Chinese made Corsair soon. I always believed the Nautilus size SUVs was the sweet spot for SUVs. It is obvious that Ford corp launched the Nautilus knowing there were many bugs. Software can only fix so many hardware issues. Switching from SYNC (internally developed) to Google Automotive services was an added complication. While I do not like it, it was likely the best decision if the resources could be used elsewhere -- not let go as Ford did when they killed one big software project.

It seems like a lot of these bugs somehow persisted from SYNC4 to the new Android Automotive systems. Oddly a lot of the little bugs are the same, such as the no audio glitch, momentary freezes and wireless connectivity issues. This tells me is the Ford special sauce they are adding that introduces some of the issues. SYNC4 ran on top of a QNX hypervisor while android automotive has its own. Android is significantly less stable than QNX and will likely continue to be a bit of a hurdle... but its free to use and Google play services takes the place of an in house development team. Ford has their connectivity services to help pay for Google play licensing. I'm just hoping the developer kit is released/leaked at some point to allow us to actually tinker and load our own builds.

 

[Lincolnguy2]

If the 24+ Nautilus was only intended for the China market it just shows the intelligence of Ford in managing the Lincoln brand. We will have a Chinese made Corsair soon. I always believed the Nautilus size SUVs was the sweet spot for SUVs. It is obvious that Ford corp launched the Nautilus knowing there were many bugs. Software can only fix so many hardware issues. Switching from SYNC (internally developed) to Google Automotive services was an added complication. While I do not like it, it was likely the best decision if the resources could be used elsewhere -- not let go as Ford did when they killed one big software project.

Very true statement about Ford/Lincoln knowing the car was full of bugs, both HW and SW . That is why they did buy backs and exchanges etc as they did , and with very little resistance in most cases, myself as well. My 24 spent as much time or more in the shop than my driveway. My neighbours thought I changed professions and worked for the local Lincoln dealer. As I had so many different loaners. My 25 R2 , has for the most part been trouble free. Ideally this model needed an additional 6 months of baking. I bet the 27 Corsair will be just fine , learning from the Nautilus launch.

 

[dogo88]

My 2010 Fusion was made in Mexico. Had it for almost 10 years and it was the least expensive and trouble free vehicle I had ever owned prior to buying it.

The 2018 Fusion was also made in Mexico. Again least expensive ownership and problems. Traded it in because I wanted a larger vehicle and it was time, retiring, to try Lincoln in 2022.

The 2022 Corsair was made mostly in the USA and was bought to get the free money the administration was giving out for PHEVs. But it was a base model and missing a lot of the nice options that the Fusion had.

Traded that in on a 2025 loaded Corsair GT. Made mostly in USA. Again a trouble free vehicle and no out of pocket costs.

Room and comfort were again pulling me towards the Nautilus. So I traded that in last Feb for a 2026 Nautilus BL. While I've only had it for 4 months I have had no issues. Roomy and comfortable to drive. Had to get over the made in China issue along with the oval steering wheel that reviews seem to object to. In 4 years when the BL runs out if it's made here I'll try one. As far as the oval steering wheel goes I like it.

 

[Carl Antonucci]

I'm not very active on this board anymore, but I continue to monitor it and to enjoy my mostly perfect '24 Nautilus BL.

When I read some of these China-related posts, I admit I'm compelled to react. Many of us are old guys who remember how we'd laugh at the "Made in Japan" junk that was imported in the 60s. We learned the hard way to stop laughing within 20 years. Fast-forward to today: those of you who are rubbing your bellies thinking "China = Junk" are so, so far off. I want to scream, "open your eyes before you realize just what that country of 1.3 billion people can do before it's too late," but it's already too late.

China builds all kinds of low-cost, low-quality products. Just like the US. But whether anyone wants to believe it, they are now technological leaders, just like the US. They may have cheated to get there, but that doesn't change the facts on the ground. And anyone in this country that doesn't want to deal with those facts are hastening our decline and China's ascendency.

One of the reasons China has a bad reputation when it comes to good quality products is because of their huge population. When you have that many people producing things, you're going to have far more cheaply produced goods than high quality. Most people aren't highly intellectual. Most people don't do amazing work. These are always exceptions. The masses are stupid and product crappy work and products. And we're flooded with those products here in America. But that doesn't mean there aren't super high quality products being made and produced by the exceptional. I'm not sure why people don't seem to realize this.

 

[angore]

I do not agree with all that but China had a history of making cheap stuff because a large part of the population were dirt poor and not well educated. Many workers come from inland areas. One company I worked with had dormitories for workers because were not native to the areas. American companies went there and trained them because labor was very cheap.

 

[Billz]

One of the reasons China has a bad reputation when it comes to good quality products is because of their huge population. When you have that many people producing things, you're going to have far more cheaply produced goods than high quality. Most people aren't highly intellectual. Most people don't do amazing work. These are always exceptions. The masses are stupid and product crappy work and products. And we're flooded with those products here in America. But that doesn't mean there aren't super high quality products being made and produced by the exceptional. I'm not sure why people don't seem to realize this.

Don’t agree at all. If the world wants quality from china we get it. Think Apple. The reason we got low quality stuff is because that’s what we ordered from them

 

[Carl Antonucci]

I do not agree with all that but China had a history of making cheap stuff because a large part of the population were dirt poor and not well educated. Many workers come from inland areas. One company I worked with had dormitories for workers because were not native to the areas. American companies went there and trained them because labor was very cheap.

The Chinese are perfectly capable of making amazing products. It would be a dream if Lincoln made something like THIS. But:

Don’t agree at all. If the world wants quality from china we get it. Think Apple. The reason we got low quality stuff is because that’s what we ordered from them

...and there you have it...

 

[Jacyte]

The Chinese are perfectly capable of making amazing products. It would be a dream if Lincoln made something like THIS. But:

...and there you have it...

We could easily compete with China... if we didn't have unionized automotive manufacturing/assembly. Foreign owned domestic assembly plants that are non union have lower assembly costs than US owned by a good margin. If we were able to invest in more autonomous assembly and somehow bring in more engineering talent we could have some amazing domestic vehicles. This would obviously come at a cost of jobs and/or living wages. Our own inflation is going to drown us since we cant produce a competitive export and buying internally is just making costs go up.

In China ACFTU is a state run union that doesn't allow strikes or any real leverage from the assembly techs. They also use significantly more automation than North America domestic products to help save on overhead. They made big investments up front to make products that could undercut pricing from any imported competition. No way to know if they are making any real profit yet but they eventually will.