Ford Motor Company filed to trademark “Lincoln Zephyr” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Ford Authority has learned.
Filed under serial number 97708643, this application contains the goods and services description of “land motor vehicles, namely, passenger automobiles, their structural parts, and badges.”
The Ford Authority Take
The Lincoln Zephyr nameplate has a long and rich history within Ford Motor Company, having debuted way back in 1935 for the 1936 model year. The Zephyr was a luxurious and stylish addition to the brand’s lineup that stuck around for a few years before the name was dropped altogether, disappearing for decades until November 2021, when the Lincoln Zephyr was reborn as a tech-heavy, Gen Z-focused four-door sedan for the Chinese market.
The Zephyr is one of a handful of newer Blue Oval products that were designed in China, specifically with Chinese customers in mind. As such, it’s unclear if the stylish sedan will be sold in other global markets, but the Zephyr name has plenty of prominence within Lincoln’s long and illustrious history, regardless.
In the U.S., Lincoln is focused in electrifying its entire lineup of crossovers, with four new EVs due to launch by 2026. The forthcoming Lincoln Aviator EV is one of those models, though a recent trademark filing suggests that Lincoln Star – a name introduced on a recent concept – will also be utilized on a future EV, while the Star’s design will also influence the brand’s future styling direction as well.
As Ford Authority reported back in May, Lincoln hasn’t completely closed the door on sedans, partly due to the Zephyr’s success in China thus far. However, for now at least, the brand’s focus remains on crossovers and SUVs, which have essentially taken over as the world’s preferred choice of transportation, as opposed to sedans.
We’ll have more on this and all of Ford’s trademark filings soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Lincoln news, Lincoln Zephyr news, Ford trademark news, Ford business news, and 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
If the Zephyr is going to be sold as a sedan, I will certainly consider it. If Lincoln transforms it into another boring, unpractical and involutive SUV or crossover, I will stay with other brands. As owner of a couple of Ford sedans and former owner of some Lincoln cars and after 20 years buying from them, I migrated to other brands the day Ford/Lincoln decided not to produce sedans anymore
Oh god, more unrelenting rigid sedan chauvinism.
For the past century folks asserted Lincoln built its last real car when:
– the Fords bought out the Lelands.
– Lincoln dropped Edsel’s Continental.
– Lincoln dropped the flathead or anything above 8-cylinders.
– Lincoln introduced unit body construction.
– Lincoln Continental went with slab sided design and shared a cowl structure with the, gasp, FORD Thunderbird!
– Lincoln dropped the 4-Dr convertible or suicide doors.
– Lincoln downsized.
– Lincoln stopped producing big BOF coupes.
– Lincoln started selling into the, Egads gracious!, livery fleet market.
– Lincoln stopped producing personal luxury coupes.
– Lincoln introduced a mid-size sedan.
– Lincoln introduced an SUV and produced it, OMG!, in a Ford truck plant.
– Lincoln stopped producing cars exclusively in Wixom and transferred Town Car, ZOMG!, to a Canadian Ford car plant.
– Lincoln dropped the TC and with it BOF car chassis construction.
Yes, for a century now, Lincoln has serially disappointed by not being Lincoln, and now dropping a low margin sedan to concentrate on high margin future oriented body/segment types the market generally prefers will be the end of Ford Motor because all the rigid old fuddy-duddys keep going elsewhere.
To be honest as an OEM, if you want to do better in the future, if you have to choose not being all things to all people, then it is better to let the run out fuds go if that is the price of bringing a new 30 year customer into the fold.
Why is it that Lincoln is Real Lincoln when they introduce something a person likes but is no longer Real Lincoln when they discontinue a model or body type, construction or design that is past its prime?
Ford’s dropping sedans in particular, and its transformation in general, is best characterized by the Great Gretzky on winning: “I skate to where the puck is going, not to where it has been.”
You forgot another last real Lincoln: The Lincoln LS. This needs to return on a longer wheelbase of the S650 please. At least for a swan song of Lincoln ICE if nothing else. Cadillac is producing Real Cadillacs again. So is Rolls Royce. They keep the mystique and essence of the brand. Lincoln has lost its way ever since the PAG fiasco.
No, I didn’t. I had D/EW-98 in mind when I wrote “mid-sized”.
Ps
Rolls is a big BMW.
Bentley is a big VW.
Mystique* was a big flop.
*this having been the Mercury CDW-27 based mid-sized twin to the Ford Contour & Mondeo.
Go away!
Thank you for your lovely comment. You complete me.
Technically, the Zephyr name was also used by the Mercury Division for their version of the Ford Fairmont, 1978-1983. But it’s not uncommon for an automaker to recycle trademarks for other makes & models: Edsel Citation, Ranger; Chevrolet Silverado (formerly a trim level of the C/K series trucks). Ford has also trademarked “Skyline” (not to be confused with the Skyliner of the 50s-60s) for use in the US. Nissan uses this name in other markets.
Also, Foote is a little inaccurate. The original Lincoln-Zephyr was around until 1942, but it returned well before 2021: from 2005-06 it was the midsized U.S. Lincoln until it was renamed MkZ.
Agreed.
Ps i imagined the trademark Lurch groan coming ahead of your clarifying comment. LoL.
It doesn’t matter what tits name is as along as its platform is shared with a lesser Ford ,the Lincoln will just be another Ford with a slightly better interior.
LoL. Seems you don’t know Ford’s business model.
This has been the case for every Lincoln since the Mk II.
IOW people going into retirement now weren’t even born last time Lincoln had a substantially unique non tweaked Ford chassis.
I find it hilarious that the midsize sedan is held up as not-boring by the window-shopping class, like it was some exciting exotic sport car next to the cargo vans of Crossoverdom.
Agreed.
I’m narrowing it down to:
– confirmation bias.
– mental infirmity.
– an uncatalogued fetish.
– sockpuppet “Ford loyalists” trying to short Ford stock or help a competitor by slamming what Ford now makes and suggesting that those who loved their extinct Ford nameplates or body styles try to go home again by buying elsewhere.
It’s either sentimentally pathological or deliberately disingenuous.
Who left you in charge? Your arguments would go down a lot more easily if you were respectful and came down from your throne.
Well then, it’s a very good thing I’m not here looking for your approval.
My arguments will remain cut to fit and where required fit to cut.
But thanks for your contribution such as it was.
I buy to my desires. I’m 5’8” with arthritic knees. Climbing up & sliding down from taller SUV crossovers, boxy truck style, and have to reconstruct my garage doors to allow wider and taller is impractical to me. I bought regular gasoline-hybrid stylish MKZs since 2013. Boxy & taller Corsair GT costs nearly $10G more & gets much less MPG. I was required to switch to competitor ES 300h. If Lexus eliminates sedan hybrids then look elsewhere or keep it much longer than usual 2-3 years! Not condemning Lincoln for abandoning sedans here in America but not in China. There decision though my vehicle has to ‘fit’ me and my garage.
My 2022 Corsair Grand Touring is averaging more than 47 mpg since purchase. Most of our driving is electric, as husband’s daily work commute or my shopping errands are all electric. The gas engine is used on road trips (we did a 5200+ miles road trip back last May). This car is very luxurious, much more so than the Lexus NX450h+ we tested. We love our Lincoln.
Can feel for you on the knees issue.
I actually found getting into or sitting too long in the low H-point sedans or roadsters package to be painful.
I preferred the higher H-point seating position of the tall car style package as is was kind of step in to sit down.
I was fortunate that a straight forward orthoscopic surgery resolved the problem. I hope you may find improvement on your knee issue too.
Wait…the most recent Zephyr was introduced in 2005 as a 2006 model, a dressed up clone of the Ford Fusion. The name ‘Zephyr’ lasted only 1 model year, as Lincoln changed this model to MKZ for 2007.
That silly name change and all the others to the confusing MKx something pattern was green lighted by MKF.
I love my SUV and will never buy anything else! (Planted amongst the many in this site to say that so I can convince other victims to buy something with no style) LOL
Oh no! The first SUV chauvinistin has been born! :o)
If they’re not bringing the supercharged or turbocharged V8 version over I’m not buying it. On the contrary a transverse V8 or even a conversion to longitudinal V8 is possible (see: Rover 75).
If you can do transverse FWD and longitudinal RWD on the same Transit full-size van (NOT talking about the Transit Connect), then you should be able to do the same with that Zephyr. Cadillac CT5 has RWD.
They need to bring this Lincoln here change nothing about the car just add the 3.0 V6 twin turbo from the old MKZ and I will buy it now.