Depending on your perspective, Trump administration tariffs have leveled the playing field by penalizing vehicle importers and by giving the US more leverage in trade talks. Or, tariffs have disrupted fragile automotive supply chains, punished US consumers with higher vehicle prices, and cost automakers billions of dollars. But this much is certain: automakers (both foreign and domestic) have responded by investing in more US manufacturing.
Since spring of 2025, when the tariff wars were raging, General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Hyundai have announced long-term investments totaling more than $50 billion in US manufacturing, with the promise of thousands of new jobs. Ford is investing heavily in the US as well, and the automaker announced this week that it will phase out importing Lincoln vehicles built in China to the US.
2024 Lincoln Black exterior rear 3/4 driving on roadLincoln
The question is, how soon? Ford’s latest statement leaves the door wide open for importing vehicles from China for several more years. It was only two years ago that Ford started importing to the US the newly redesigned Lincoln Nautilus from the Changan Ford joint-venture in Hangzhou.
That plant also builds the Lincoln Corsair, for China, while the US version of that compact crossover (and its Ford Escape platform mate) was discontinued at the Ford plant in Kentucky last December.
New Corsair Is Coming, But From Where?
Today, Lincoln confirms for CarBuzz that the Corsair will be re-introduced in the US, with “more details to share very soon.” Is it possible that Ford would import the Corsair from China to the US as soon as next year, even after issuing a statement this week that it “will phase out the importation of vehicles from China for the US market?” The statement also said Ford “will grow Lincoln production in the US beginning in 2030.”
2027 Lincoln Corsair prototypeCarBuzz/Valnet
Without growing US capacity for Lincolns in the US very soon, those cars have to come from somewhere for the next four years. CarBuzz posed several questions to Ford, hoping to shed more light on the statement, but the company declined to comment beyond its plans to bring back the Corsair.
Some background: From 2019 to 2023, Ford produced the Nautilus and its Ford Edge platform mate in Oakville, Ontario, but the current Nautilus coming from China shifted to a separate global platform.
Top-Selling FWD Nautilus Needs A US Plant
It would be expensive and time-consuming to tool up a US plant to build the current Nautilus in the US, two years after it launched in China. While Ford isn’t sharing its plans for Nautilus, the automaker calls attention to the Lincoln Navigator assembled at Kentucky Truck in Louisville and the Aviator built in Chicago, seemingly hinting that the Nautilus might join one of those two assembly lines. But that’s unlikely because the rear-wheel-drive Aviator and Navigator are already running on three shifts, and the Nautilus is on a front-wheel-drive platform.
2025 Lincoln Corsair Front Angle View in whiteLincoln
Taking the Nautilus back to Oakville, at least during the Trump administration, would be a risky move politically, and that plant has already been retooled to produce Super Duty pickup trucks this year. Now, if the next-generation Nautilus switched to a rear-drive platform, that opens up other assembly possibilities in the US.
If Lincoln is going to remain a viable brand in the US, it needs its bestseller, the midsize Nautilus, as well as the No.2 compact Corsair. Lincoln sold 106,868 vehicles in 2025 in the US, including 33,744 Nautilus SUVs and 26,566 Corsairs.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
While Ford promises to grow Lincoln production in the US beginning in 2030, as part of a commitment to American manufacturing, that goal might be more long-term than intended for the near future. This week’s announcement is so open-ended that the current Nautilus could continue coming from China until 2030, which would be about the time a fully redesigned Nautilus would be due for the market. Until then, we wait for word from Ford about producing the Nautilus and Corsair in the US, or perhaps a yet-unnamed Lincoln.
