Ford’s luxury division is in the midst of its fourth reboot this century. No car exemplifies the constantly changing winds of Lincoln’s design and marketing direction than the 2006 Lincoln Zephyr. Although its name meant a soft, gentle breeze, the Zephyr was blown away after just a year.
To understand how the Zephyr nameplate lasted only a year, it’s best to look at Lincoln’s brand strategy since 2000. Their recent history can be sorted into four eras:
2000-06 – The Dichotomous Era: A rather muddled time where the brand consists only of the Euro-fighting LS sport sedan, the old-fashioned Town Car, and the handsome Aviator and Navigator trucks (the dated Continental departed in 2002). The Town Car slowly fades out of relevance, the LS is starved of development money and then phased out, and Lincoln’s trucks lose sales as more rivals entered the luxury SUV market. Lincoln debuts a retro Continental concept and starts experimenting with retro design themes with the dual-cowl dashboards of the Aviator and Navigator.
2006-2012 – The Diversification Era: Ford tries giving Lincoln more product, some models quite transparently Ford-based and others differentiated a bit better. Despite this, many of their features and engines are available in top-line Fords. Beyond interiors, there’s some retro design experimentation with the Zephyr’s interior and the MKX’s grille but it’s inconsistent and ultimately short-lived, but for the third-generation Navigator which goes full 1970s station wagon. Lincoln tries to match Lexus’ lineup with more crossovers and a hybrid MKZ; they’re also compensating for a moribund Mercury, soon to disappear.
2013-16 – The Split-Wing Grille Era – The launch of the Lincoln Motor Company, a lackluster attempt at rebranding a marque that had lost much of its prestige. High hopes are pinned on the second-generation MKZ which is merely good, not great. There’s an attempt at a new design language with a new, more subtle split grille plus ill-conceived touch-capacitive interior controls.
2017-present – The McConaughey Era – Another new corporate frontend design, a more cohesive marketing strategy, the new Black Label line, a more famous celebrity spokesman, and the return of names starting with the Continental.
Lincoln still isn’t out of the woods yet but the clearing was nowhere in sight way back in 2006 when the Zephyr arrived.
The Zephyr name had first been resurrected on a 2004 concept car. Although slightly lower and sleeker at the back, the Zephyr concept promised buyers almost exactly what would arrive in 2006.
Although the Zephyr replaced the LS as Lincoln’s entry-level sedan (a single, highly-specified LS V8 Sport was sold in 2006 before being discontinued), the Zephyr had little in common with its supposed predecessor. That car was rear-wheel-drive, using the same platform as the Jaguar S-Type and featuring V6 and V8 engines. The Zephyr, conversely, had a transverse-mounted V6 engine only and was front-wheel-drive, using the same Mazda6-derived CD3 platform as the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. Though these were all tidy handlers, the Zephyr didn’t aspire to be a sport sedan like the LS had with all its advertisements about 50:50 weight distribution and beating the BMW 5-Series in the slalom.
Ultimately, the production Zephyr’s styling was handsome if nondescript. It didn’t look as sporty as most luxury rivals’ entry-level sedans but that wasn’t its mission. It looked somewhat chunky and upright but suitably premium and more attractive than its key rival, the 2006 Lexus ES. That is, if you ignored the fact the Zephyr’s mid-section was identical to the cheaper Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. Those were two of the most attractive mid-size sedans on the market, mind you, but it made the Zephyr a bit of a hard sell especially when parked next to a Milan at a Lincoln-Mercury showroom.
Then there was the interior which looked like it belonged in a car with a much more flamboyant exterior. The dual-cowl design of the Navigator and Aviator, harkening back to the Continentals of the 60s, was in full effect in the Zephyr. That gave the dashboard a rather confining, imposing effect. Silver-painted plastic was used liberally for the switchgear, as was popular in the mid-2000s. Buyers had a choice between a beige interior with distinctive pale “Figured Maple” wood trim, or black or gray interiors with darker Ebony Wood trim. The beige/pale wood interior wasn’t for everyone but it wasn’t a cheap knock-off of a German interior or simply a Fusion with some wood stuck on. Ward’s Auto also gave it an award for Best Premium-Priced Car Interior in 2006. It wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea but it was different. And yes, the wood was real.
That interior also contained a few features not available in the lesser Milan and Fusion, such as cooled seats and a THX-II sound system. Otherwise, the Zephyr simply ticked all the option boxes of the Fusion and Milan, Lincoln offering it in just one highly-equipped model. It needed to be loaded considering it cost a sizeable $6000 more than the range-topping Milan Premier V6. The Zephyr did, however, lower the price of entry to the Lincoln brand, retailing for $28,995 or around $4k less than the previous year’s base LS V6.
If the strong familial resemblance and much higher MSRP made the Zephyr a hard sell next to a Milan, what was under the hood made the Zephyr even less desirable to premium sedan shoppers. The Zephyr used the same 3.0 DOHC V6 and six-speed automatic as the Milan and Fusion. That V6 – producing 221 hp at 6250 rpm and 205 ft-lbs at 4800 rpm – was competent but trailed key rivals like the 258-hp Acura TL. The Lexus ES330 matched it in power but a redesigned ES350 made its auto show debut in 2006, its 272-hp 3.5 V6 outgunning the Lincoln’s 3.0.
Against the outgoing ES330, the Zephyr had a slight edge in handling ability by most accounts although both had a comfortable, compliant ride; the Zephyr had a slightly softer suspension tune vis-à-vis the Fusion/Milan. Despite extra sound deadening material over the Fusion/Milan, however, the ES330 was generally regarded as having the edge in mechanical refinement with the Ford 3.0 sounding a bit strained when accelerating.
Although some were inclined to compare the Zephyr to the similarly-priced Cadillac CTS, the RWD Caddy could run rings around it even if its base 2.8 was weaker and its interior and features list inferior. An Acura TL was also more dynamic but cost around $3k more; for that matter, so did the Lexus ES. Ford was being shrewd when they loaded the Zephyr up and priced it lower than its rivals but this was still a Fusion with a lot of gingerbread. Honda and Toyota did a much better job concealing their premium sedans’ plebeian roots.
The Zephyr’s weakest attribute, the mediocre 3.0, proved to be short-lived. So too was the Zephyr nameplate. Although it had started arriving in showrooms in the fall of 2005, by February 2006 Ford had announced it was renaming it to MKZ. Lincoln’s first crossover was also ditching the Aviator nameplate of its concept car (and its quasi-predecessor) and being christened MKX. The whole renaming strategy seemed poorly conceived, however. First, Ford executives said the new Lincolns would be pronounced “Mark Z”, “Mark X”, etc, suggesting a call-back to Lincoln’s rich heritage of Mark models. Then, shortly thereafter, they were saying it was “em-kay-zee”. Uhh, oh-kay.
When the 2007 MKZ debuted, it looked much the same as the Zephyr but for a new grille (basically the same but with a horizontal line added). Fortunately, there were plenty of worthwhile changes. Under the hood was a new 3.5 V6 with 265 hp at 6250 rpm and 249 ft-lbs at 4500 rpm; combined fuel economy was static at 20 mpg. Fusions and Milans stuck with the old 3.0, although the 2010 Fusion Sport later received the 3.5. All-wheel-drive was now an option and all MKZs had some suspension tweaks to sharpen the handling.
Sales rose ever so slightly for 2007, from 33k to 34k units. They then fell down into the 20k range until 2011, rebounding slightly perhaps due to the introduction of a hybrid model (and a coinciding interior and exterior refresh). It took until the next generation to see a return to form. It was no coincidence that that MKZ looked vastly different from the Fusion on which it was still based. All the while, Lexus was selling anywhere between 40 and 80,000 ES sedans each year.
The Lincoln Zephyr was an underwhelming if keenly-priced alternative to premium sedans from Japan but Ford worked fast to improve it. Nevertheless, the story of the Zephyr and first-generation MKZ reveals just how haphazardly the Lincoln brand has been managed this century. It’s not often a name is resurrected from a brand’s storied past only to be dumped the very next year (and then the new name re-pronounced before it even reaches showrooms). And the Zephyr has the dubious distinction of being a replacement for the critically-acclaimed, enthusiast-oriented LS, firmly closing the door on the promise of more upscale, athletic Lincolns and instead heralding the arrival of a fleet of unexciting Ford-based models.
Lincoln may have a greater sense of direction and purpose today but we’re now two reboots later. Will the brand have another one in a few years?
Photographed in Venice, CA in September 2018.
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The Zephyr/MKZ wasn’t particularly special apart from its nicer interiors versus its siblings, but at least it seamed “more appropriately Lincoln” than the LS. Lincoln, no matter how Ford tries to position it, will always have a conservative, mature image.
Ford of course has shown us that this image can be made more appealing with the latest Navigator and Aviator, but it will always be a softer, conservative image than some other more aggressive luxury brands.
I think that it’s good for Lincoln to be embracing its actual image instead of pretending to be something it has never been and never will be. I like the fact that they are reintroducing unique trim packages (like the old Designer Edition days), and are focusing on comfort and style. That’s what people expect from Lincoln, and I think there’s a reasonably sized market opportunity for such an approach.
Cadillac to me is the textbook example of trying to be something it isn’t, and the results have been pretty dismal.
I always thought that zephyr was a poor name choice , as a baby boomer i thought of the Fairmont clone mercury zephyr
My dad told me of the 1940s linco!n zephyr which I had never seen
And for gen d it’s totally lost in them
Alphanumeric names are meaningless to me
Imagine if Ford called the mustang the t-5 in the United States like they did in Germany
^ THIS ^
Having had a Futura back in the day, this was the first thing that went through my mind when Lincoln announced they were going to have a model called the Zephyr. I thought, “Why are they digging up an old Mercury name, let alone a car that was just a fancier Fairmont than mine?”
It wasn’t until finding this website that I learned that Lincoln had this name first.
Born in ‘60, so I guess I fit the profile of Boomer, even though I consider myself more of a GenX’er. 1960 was too far past the post WWII Baby Boom, IMO.
But still, many of my generation would never remember that name on a Lincoln.
Then again, I did not know they reused “Futura” either, not learning that there was a Falcon that went by that name until after I’d traded that car in! And that only went back to the early sixties.
I am another who scratched his head when they dusted off the Zephyr name, a name that never came back from WWII. But it’s not like Lincoln has any decent legacy names beyond Continental.
This car reminded me immediately of the original Versailles. Lincoln-ish in the front and back but unmistakably Granada in the middle. This was a really nice Fusion, but a poor Lincoln.
This and the LS were opposites. One was a real drivers car that was unique in the Ford lineup but was not steller in reliability. The other was excellent in most of the ways that Japanese cars are excellent but fell down in driving dynamics, power and prestige. Maybe someday there will be a Lincoln that checks all of these boxes in one car.
I always thought the Zephyr should have been a Mercury. The Milan was so obviously a Ford Fusion with minimal trim differentiation, while the Zephyr at least felt slightly modified/more upmarket, more in keeping with the “golden era” for Mercury as fancy Fords.
A “real” Lincoln should have been so much more than this, with a unique body from stem to stern.
I thought this car should’ve been called Versailles because it was an update of that model’s concept, at least in terms of how it was developed.
+1.
Lincoln, unlike Cadillac, is probably going to make it through the 2020s. As GN noted, they are embracing who they are and who their actual buying demographic is. The use of real names is a plus, maybe not for the China market, but definitely good for here at home. With Buick being starved of product, and Buick really the more comparable line, this may get more mature buyers into their product. Unfortunately, the American Luxury as a viable option is dead. Too few want a large, brougham-y, cushy riding sedan (or heaven forbid, a coupe or PLC) and the SUVs do not carry the social status markings that a Mercedes, Land Rover, or the “true” luxury brands carry.
So, build product that sells at home, make a version of it for China that can be electrified easily, and build it alongside the profitable Ford versions. There are enough people who will gladly buy near luxury American product that does not try to be a copy of a Bavarian model.
An old car name like Zephyr–the Lincoln Zephyr— is irrelevant today, meaningless to most, evoking nothing now.
Whether or not you like this video or music, it definitely evokes interest even if only for three or four minutes.
I went to look at the new Zephyr at the LA Auto Show. A deal breaker was stationary outside mirrors. What other “luxury” car in 2006 had non-folding exterior mirrors? These cars, with little premium or aspirational appeal, sold at discount and in very small numbers in SoCal.
As others have mentioned, the Zephyr name was completely worthless. You had to be of a really advanced age to have any memory of it before WWII, and to the rest of us, including those who might be the buying demographic they were seeking, it was just “cheap-o Fairmont with different grille and taillights.”
Fortunately they wised up and canned it fast. The 2000’s Lincoln was a mess, but today…surprising promise!
I was upgraded to a Zephyr rental on a week-long business trip to Southern California in late winter/early spring 2006 and found my “Lincoln” to be a competent but rather unexciting conveyance for the nearly 1300 miles I drove it. I remember how underwhelmed I was with car, after staring at its acres of hard plastic surfaces for a week. The trip, however, was memorable for the heavy rain (even a few snow flurries on the I-15 pass up to the Victor Valley) that plagued us the entire week, and to be fair, the Zephyr comported itself well, always feeling secure on the rain-slicked freeways. To William’s point, however, the Lincoln was barely distinguishable when parked next to a Fusion of the same color, and in fact my colleague tried to open the door of the wrong car, until the key fob led us to the Lincoln.
Zephyr was the mid range UK Ford we grew up with, but even reviving old names has to be better than the echo of Mc Donalds burger range.
Thank you for this Mr. Stopford. Very interesting.
Ford definitely went through a confusing, in not reckless, renaming program in the 2000s. Aside from the absurd, misguided alphanumeric MK? program, there was the 500 fiasco. To much hoopla and fanfare, the Ford 500 was launched as an important world car. Then, bafflingly, it was renamed Taurus, harking back to a fairly recent nameplate that had never even been in the full-size category like the 500. The Ford Freestyle became the Taurus X? Not to mention the confusion of the Lincoln Town Car and Continental becoming two separate models in the early 80s. I had two Town Cars, and my family always referred to them as Continentals. Then, in its final year, Ford offered the Town Car in a “Continental Edition.”
The irony was that, as Lincoln was switching from Zephyr to MKZ, Ford was switching from Five Hundred to Taurus! Real focused marketing.
What was the reason for naming it the Ford 500 ? It didn’t have 500 cubic inch engine , 500 horsepower
I guess they have no imagination
Should have at least gone with galaxy 500
I imagine you just invested more thought into the matter than they did. I do think Galaxy is better than many names that have been re-used.
I will admit, I have always had a soft spot for these. They are nicely styled cars, I think better styled than the Ford and Mercury counterparts despite the obvious badge engineering in the design. But, I think everyone here nailed it. Why are you spending this much for what is essentially a nicer Fusion? There wasn’t much it offered, and I honestly think this might’ve worked better, had Ford stuck the 3.5 from the get go under the hood.
I still see these though, along with similar vintage Navigators and Town Cars, so maybe they’ve held up well enough. I certainly wouldn’t kick one out if I was looking for a decent used beater that was somewhat luxurious and not that much of a money pit.
They lost me when the Town Car went away.
Actually they lost me with the ’98 Town Car.
I can see the point of the Navigator, but I not much of an SUV fan.
Why can’t they just acknowledge that they can’t compete with a full range, and bake
the smaller market into their profit forecasts.
My plan would be to keep the Town-Car and upgrade it instead of letting die on the vine and become a glorified taxi package. Make it an American interpretation of a Toyota Century, and sell it in small numbers. This would have been even better with the 1990-97 body style.
Ford has made half-hearted attempts to fix Lincoln for 30 years – and all had the same result. What has surprised me now, is that they finally seemed to have stumbled on to a successful strategy – build SUVs, not cars – I guess they are mimicking Ford again….
The Navigator is the top seller in its category and Lincoln can’t build enough of them. They smartly copied the design for the smaller Aviator and Nautilus – both look to excel in the market.
After 30 years of “who are we?”, I think Lincoln has finally figured it out.
It does disappoint me as someone that has a 67 and 78 Town Car, that we won’t see Lincolns like them again.
While Navigator sales are up considerably I’m pretty sure the Escalade is still leading in the sales race. I’m expecting that the basic hybrid system from the F150 will make it to the Expedition and Navigator pretty soon after it debuts in the F-150 though the Navigator like the Aviator will likely get a higher output engine and maybe be plug in only. That should let it pull ahead of the Escalade.
They should have kept that split-wing grille treatment. It was a point of visual differentiation that was tasteful. Much more individual than what followed. The heavy-framed rectangle with vertical bars was too generic Anycar, almost Skoda-like.