We’ve known that the Lincoln MKZ wasn’t long for this world for a while now, but it doesn’t make the model’s discontinuation anything less than bittersweet. Regardless, as Ford Authority was the first to report back in May, the last day of MKZ production at the Ford Hermosillo Assembly Plant was July 31st, 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, told Ford Authority in a statement. “Lincoln will continue to keep its newest SUVs fresh and will expand its lineup with the launch of the Corsair Grand Touring later this year. As part of this shift, we ended production of the Lincoln MKZ sedan on July 31st.”
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 26th, 2020.
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, as Ford Authority was the first to report over two years ago. Lincoln later confirmed that Continental production would stop by the end of 2020, and that the iconic nameplate would 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 1970s and early 1980s, 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 receive 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.
Meanwhile, the MKZ’s primary competitor, the Lexus ES, is still alive and well after the all-new seventh-generation model debuted in 2018. In fact, the ES enjoyed a significant 72 percent segment share in Q1 of 2020, while the MKZ lagged behind with just a 27 percent share.
We’ll have the latest on all new and discontinued Ford and Lincoln models as soon as it’s available, so be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Lincoln news, Lincoln MKZ news, and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
Lincoln Zephyr aka MKZ which it never should have been name was a nice sedan that should have never shared its front end with the Lincoln Continental, Identity loss instead of designing its own front end look. What do you do when you don’t know what to do ? Discontinue it, kill it off. Making Lincoln a SUV Brand is the most Illiterate idea the people in charge could ha e came up with Period. What automotive education level do you have to have to come up with that idea. Over paid CEO and Under Knowledge meant of the Brand and market your in. Without Cars Lincoln might be at The End of its own Existence…
Wrong. Without cars, Lincoln can flourish by making more of what the masses are buying – crossovers and SUVs.
Just watch- they’ll sell more crossovers than they have ever sold cars, while also making more per transaction. This is business 101…
Business 101 the Luxury Car market that the Lincoln is in, you see more BMW and Mercedes Benz sedans on the street than SUVs . Let FORD be your Truck / SUV Destiination. Lincoln need to keep Luxury cars in its line up and sale SUV. Why would you turn over the car market to the imports ? History has a way of repeating itself when gas go up or the fad wears off everyone is going to turn back to sedans.
Chris Bergeron – I couldn’t disagree with you more. This poorly managed company has alienated its sedan owners (like me) by discontinuing sedans. Their next vehicle purchase (like me) will be from another make. As a sedan guy, no automaker has a right to tell me I have to own their PUs/SUVs/CUVs unless they are willing to pay for it themselves. Sedan sales are down but not out, that is, as long as you don’t hire an inexperienced, unqualified, furniture guy to run a automobile company.
lincoln is still an overpriced ford. ford should stick with one ford idea and drop this nameplate. its totally redundant. they cannot make a reliable luxury car that has a resale value after a very short period of time.
You are clueless.
Have you actually spent a few minutes with MODERN Ford and Lincoln models? They share platforms and engines, but the cars look, drive and feel very different from one another. And that’s not even to mention the interior appointments. Get with the program and stop spewing ignorant comments.
I bought my 2017 MKZ in 2019 for $22,900. Just sold it in 2021 with twice the mileage, for $21,000. Not bad. As for the platform commonality with Ford, that is one of its strong points. Keeps the price of replacement parts reasonable and easy to find.
Roy Chiles, I couldn’t agree with you more. The decision-making at Ford by a furniture salesman to convert the entire company to SUVs is why I have a new Chrysler in my garage. This is truly a bizarre time in automotive history in this country. On the one hand, you basically have an over-abundance of trucks to choose from, on the other, muscle cars approaching 1,000 hp (in the hands of people without the training to handle that kind of power; even Shelby saw the day coming and thought it ridiculous).
I also agree with Roy & Steve. Personally, I like sedans and CUV’s. The big SUV”s are driveway ornaments. Yes, there is a niche for all vehicle segments and FORD/ Lincoln have them covered, EXCEPT for sedans!! Other car company’s are making sedans – why abandon the segment and lose more market share? Doesn’t make sense. I believe Europe and S. America continue to enjoy FORD sedans.
Thank both off you Steve & Mario it’s simply crazy for Ford and GM to push Trucks and SUVs down everyone’s throat while Abandoning the very machine that define us for Decades America Sedans. If Ford want to play like they can’t sale cars or forgot how to build them fine become a Truck / SUV dealership you got plenty of them. Lincoln’s market is Audi BMW Jaguar Lexus Infinity Mercedes-Benz Etc all of which sales sedans. So explain it to ME like a 3yr old why Lincoln or Cadillac can’t sale a sedan? Chrysler/ Dodge can sell Trucks, SUVs, Sedans and Coupes.If you need help Lincoln/Cadillac Am here for half the pay your shelling out to people who can’t get the job done…
I’ll make it very simple for you: Ford is dropping sedans because sedans are dying. That’s as simple as it gets.
There are also other, more lucrative opportunities available (SUVs, crossovers, electric cars, autonomous vehicles).
Also, do understand that Ford is way ahead of the curve when it comes to dropping sedans. The other automakers you mentioned are already dropping their sedan offerings. Lexus GS? Gone. Infiniti Q70? Gone. Acura RLX? Gone. Buick LaCrosse? Gone. Buick Regal? Gone. The Germans will follow, they’re just behind Ford in actually making the tough decisions.
The world is changing. You can either change with it or end up a scenario where the change puts you out of business.
“Sedans” are not dying Ford and GM are passing to build cook cutter SUV’s so they got you believing that.If any part of what your saying was true, Why would Ford keep Mustang which doesn’t out sale Fusion but they going to add a 4door Pony Sedan in the future? Why can’t that same platform be use to build A Continental , Town Car and Zephyr ? Chrysler 300, Charger BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Jaguar, Infinity all sale just fine. Basically what you’re saying is no one‘s going to have a choice anymore everyone have to buy SUV. “ Not I” I don’t own a SUV now and want be buying one later.In my State I’ve seen 5 new Navigators, 3 Continentals, 2 Aviators and a boat load of MKZ, more people are buying Explorers / Expedition over the Lincoln twin here
The automakers (especially this poorly managed company) would like to you think that sedans are a thing of the past, well, it will not work on me. I’m a sedan guy for life, and also believe that a few automakers will continue to make them, because there will always a market for them. I can see why automakers will tell you that SUVs are profitable, I have seen numerous 2020 Chevy Tahoes priced around $72,000, the same price as a well equipped 2020 Mercedes-Benz E450, I guesses consumers are becoming suckers when they are willing to pay Mercedes-Benz money for a Chevrolet.
You just NAILED it that’s what FORD and GM are doing, Charging you the same price for a Chevy Tahoe when you can have a BMW or Mercedes Benz which is of better Quality and resale value
I can’t speak for Imports companies but when you take Graat American names like Impala, Malibu, Monte Carlo, Regal Cougar, Challenger, Continental, Zephyr And turn them into front wheel drives that’s the Kiss of Death for that model. Try that with mustang and see what happens next
They already tried that . The Ford Probe was supposed to have replaced the Mustang and you can see how that worked out. Sedan sales at Ford have been plummeting for years because they weren’t offering updated versions of the cars that people wanted to buy. I own a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Signiture series because I like a big car with lots of room and a large trunk. Ford should build at least one or two sedans just to keep sedan buyers happy. Do this Ford or you maybe sorry.
Simply the Best riding car in America Lincoln Town Car was neglected never even got a navigation system haha, because Lincoln was more concern with Navigation sales. That’s what people are buying into today, but the company don’t have a problem building a $500,000 FORD GT or a $80,00 Mustang GT500haha
Poor planning in the past caused a few plants to close, and now the ones that are left need to make vehicles that can bring in more profits. Ranger, Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Mach E all needed somewhere to go. None of these help Lincoln directly, but all help Ford’s bottom line, so indirectly they will help Lincoln. If there is another Lincoln car in the near future,, it will likely be based off the Mach-E platform, and likley have a liftback instead of a standard trunk. I expect after that, most vehicles will have hybrid powertrains, and some pure EVs. Common platforms will allow plants to make more models, and open up more possibilities of future cars.
MKZ HYBRID IS A FANTASTIC CAR FOR THE MONEY. BOUGHT A YEAR OLD RESERVE FOR 23OOO, W 11 000 MILES. WHAT A PLEASURE.
Ford should have evolved the orginal Tarus design that was introduced by Peterson the Visionary at Ford! Instead they went berserk with the next literation of Taurus and lost their way! They had the world! Other car makers were inspired, but not Ford????
Ford and GM should both exit the luxury market (Lincoln and Cadillac). Neither can compete with Lexus, Mercedes, and BMW and both would be better to concentrate on trucks and suvs. Both have poor CEOs who are mainly interested in the short term profits and not the long term survival of their companies. I cannot lay the blame on just the CEOs but the board and Wall Street are just as much to blame in that price per share and earnings per share by cutting costs over quality and long term viability. For most of my life I have mostly bought new GM and Ford products but I will most likely buy only Honda, Toyota, Kia, or Hyundai new. Quality for a while during the late 90’s and early 2000’s was getting better but in recent years both Ford and GM have been following Nissan and FCA in the spiral down to poor quality. Too bad especially for Ford since it has a longer legacy.
Lincoln by far is the best bang for the buck compared to the European JUNK. European you pay for the bells and whistles, Lincoln standard equipment! European’s depreciat much faster. So Yes Lincoln is making a mistake leaving the Luxury market.
German automakers make big money off of parts because you will buying lots of parts like me when I owned a Mercedes. Water pump Mercedes 250 dollars gm ford Chrysler 80 bucks
And no the Mercedes didn’t last longer went out at 80k miles
Since I only buy preowned Ford or Lincoln vehicles, the outstanding bang for the buck factor of the MKZ(I own a 14, 2.0L FWD) and the 17-20 Continentals, will truly be sorely missed.
A Ford and Lincoln Mercury parts guy from 1970 to 2009.
Misplaced apostrophe – Fords and Lincolns are plural not possessive.
The sedans were the only reliable vehicles Lincoln made. Now they don’t make any reliable vehicles and overall are near bottom in average reliability. The sedans at least helped in that regard and they could have built their brand around that. Actual substance.
This is the problem with all North American brands. Every time a new CEO comes along they want to change everything and impress customers/shareholders with glitz. And when the new models come out they are all new with all new problems. Nothing learned. Meanwhile Toyota/Lexus keeps improving upon what is already working year after year.
I wouldn’t by BMW/Mercedes/Audi either. They have all been junk since the 90’s. My next door neighbor was a high end lawyer that only drove Mercedes E series only for appearances for decades. Says they were expensive and poorly made. The year he retired he bought a Hyundai Kona and loves it. And I’ll take my Platinum Hybrid Highlander over anything.
This is for the know it all who thinks sedans are out! At 4ft 10”, there isn’t an SUV on earth I can easily get into!
Enjoy my 2019 MKZ. Best bang for the buck as far as I am concerned. A joy to drive.
Don’ t need a truck or a SUV.
Most of those I know don’t use the added space they are lugging around every time they use their SUV.
Talk about waisted fuel and environmental damage for a trend!
Bad decision at Ford to let go these very fine cars go.
Having owned several Lincoln town cars,, other type Lincoln sedans and a current MKZ , I was just about to go looking to buy a new one. Didnt realize some idiots there decided not to make any more of the best riding and most comfortable vehicles ever, until i went looking just this week. Stupid money grabbing move Ford. Ill see you on the way to the BMW and Infinity dealers where i get a real car.