2007 MKZ
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I’m not sure what this means…
Looks like the MKZ is an AWD version of the “old” Zephyr.
Do they keep the Zephyr name for the FWD version?
Did they get rid of the FWD version all together?
Do they want to pretend the Zephyr never even existed?
This great! I’ve been hoping they’d change the name to “Mark Z” (it’s only spelled ThroatWarbleMangrove… it’s pronounced “Luxury Yatch”).
No, all former Zephyrs will be badged as “MKZ” but pronounced “Mark Z”. Not sure why Lincoln just wouldn’t badge it as “MkZ” or “Mk Z” or “MK Z” to make it more distinctive and obvious that it’s a “Mark Z” and not “MKZ”. Someone should have mentioned this to Mark Fields.
As far as it has been reported thus far, the 2007 MKZ will have AWD as an option and FWD standard. All versions (as reported) will have Ford’s new Duratec 35 “Cyclone” engine as standard.
IMHO if Lincoln wanted to be more distinctive, they should have made AWD standard on the car to better differentiate it from the Fusion/Milan and from some of their copetitors like the ES330.
No they don’t want to pretend the Zephyr never existed — as far as I know, it’s just a push to integrate all of Lincoln’s products under the new naming scheme they’ve come up with. While I think that it’s a dumb move to do it in the second year of production without more updates, I also understand the urge to get things conformed to this new system.
Honestly it’s not all that different from when the old Saab 900 became the 9-3 back in the late 90’s. Saab launched the 9-5 and the same year the 900 was redubbed the 9-3 — but it did have a new front and rear fascia and some other updates. Granted, it was much further along in the product cycle at the time and it needed those updates — but still it’s not all that far off from what Lincoln has done here.
To me a Zephyr will always be a Mercury verion of the Ford Fairmont. How about you?
Would you like fries with your McZ?
What a joke….
From Autoextremist.com:
“Lincoln. From the “That dog won’t hunt even with a T-bone” File comes word that Ford – in a desperate attempt to inject some differentiation into the Lincoln Zephyr, so it won’t appear to be what it is – a badge-engineered version of the Mercury Milan (which is a badge-engineered version of the Ford Fusion) – is introducing an emergency makeover of the car at the Chicago Auto Show today. They say it was planned all along, but we’re not buying it, because it made no sense to introduce the car in its present guise if they were going to change it in four months – we don’t care how they spin it. The Zephy gets a new name – MK Z, more power and a new front end. Okay, we can endorse more power, and the freshened car gets Ford’s new 3.5-liter Cyclone V-6 (featuring 29 more horsepower) with a six-speed automatic, which is good (the Fusion and Milan don’t get the engine for 2007, but they do get the same AWD option). As for the front end, it is of limited appeal, since the basic shape of the car says Fusion-Milan clone no matter what they do to it. But calling it the MK Z? Don’t we have enough “Z”-based names in the auto world already? We stated that Lincoln’s decision to switch to an alpha-numeric naming system would be a train wreck when we first heard about it weeks ago. Our opinion hasn’t changed. But in the end, unless and until Ford musters the effort to do a proper Lincoln, it probably won’t matter what they call the car.”
and
“The 2007 Lincoln MKZ. Ford says, “The redesigned rear bumper is nearly flush contributing to the MKZ’s uncluttered, sophisticated look.” Uh, well, ok – if you say so… “