END OF SEDANS?
Lincoln MKZ
We’ve known for a while that the Lincoln MKZ wasn’t long for this world, but it doesn’t make the model’s discontinuation anything less than bittersweet. The last day of MKZ production at the Ford Hermosillo Assembly Plant was July 31, as was the case with its platform mate, the Ford Fusion.
“As previously announced, Lincoln is investing in growth segments and the brand will feature a full portfolio of SUVs, including a fully electric vehicle in the future,” Lincoln spokesperson Anika Salceda-Wycoco said in a statement.
“Lincoln will continue to keep its newest SUVs fresh and will expand its line-up with the launch of the Corsair Grand Touring later this year.”
The Ford Bronco Sport will take the place of the Fusion and MKZ at the Hermosillo plant. Full-scale Bronco Sport production at the facility will start on October 26.
The MKZ’s discontinuation leaves the luxury automaker with just one sedan – the Lincoln Continental – and even that will go away at the end of its life cycle. Lincoln has confirmed that Continental production will stop by the end of this year, and that the iconic nameplate will be retired for the fourth time in history. The MKZ rides on the same Ford CD4 platform as the Fusion and the Continental, though the latter is a longer variant. The Lincoln MKZ is a four-door, five-passenger sedan that’s been in production across two generations since the 2006 model year. But it was actually named the Zephyr when debuted in concept form at the 2004 New York International Auto Show, then bore that name when it went into production.
Lincoln had previously used the Zephyr name in the late 1930s for the smaller Lincoln-Zephyr line of mid-size vehicles. The Zephyr name was also used by Mercury during the late Seventies and early Eighties, for several vehicles built on the Fox platform. However, for the 2007 model year, Lincoln renamed the Zephyr the MKZ to follow a new nomenclature that mimics the alphanumeric naming schemes used by other luxury automakers.
The Lincoln MKZ went on to get a facelift for the 2010 model year, along with the addition of a hybrid model in 2011. The luxury sedan then underwent extensive changes when the second generation model launched in 2013. Its last facelift came in 2017, which saw the MKZ adopt Lincoln’s new design language.