Lincoln’s renamed Zephyr sedan — the 2007 Lincoln MKZ — will get a new three-letter name and a four-digit price increase to match, according to a report by Automotive News. The MKZ (pronounced Mark Z) is the latest in a series of Lincoln vehicles to be renamed with an alphabetic name. Lincoln’s marketing manager Michael Peyton was quoted as saying the prices would go up around $2,000. Currently, the car has a base price of $29,660. The slight premium for the MKZ can be attributed to Ford’s new 3.5-liter V-6 engine, all-wheel-drive, and some minor visual tweaks. Oddly, Ford currently discounts each Zephyr it sells by an average of $4,342, according to the J.D. Power and Associates. The Leftlane Perspective: Instead of raise the price, why not reduce the incentives? For consumers who research pricing online or in magazines, this price hike could hurt sales.
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04/25, 3:16 PM
posted by:
gsh
a 3.5L engine with AWD is a start..
04/25, 3:55 PM
posted by:
Rick M
Lincoln’s new naming scheme makes no sense. If your name needs a pronunciation key, you are on the wrong path. And if they do have some rationale behind it, why not explain it to the media and customers, e.g. “All Lincoln products will be a ‘Mark’, with ‘A’ the most premium and ‘Z’ the most compact” or at least some reasoning. Audi, BMW, and Infiniti, among others, use Alpahnumerics, but within the context of a logical system, not a random marketing manager that decides ‘Ooohhh, I like how MKV looks on the trunk’ (by the way, is that Mark-Vee, or Marx Five? who knows…)
04/25, 4:12 PM
posted by:
Michael Spadaro
Will the transmission have a manumatic mode?
04/25, 4:21 PM
posted by:
Joel A
I don’t think the increase is that significant for those buying in that segment. The current Zephyr’s nicely priced.
I personally can’t wait for Ford to add the hybrid option like the company’s doin’ for the upcoming Fusion and Milan models.
04/25, 4:37 PM
posted by:
Greg H
Nicely priced at 29K? That’s just 3K or so shy of an Acura TL, which has this beat hands-down. I own the Mazda6 cousin which was a steal at 22K.
29K + the new MKV increase pushes this car smack dab into territory with seriously well-made competitors who don’t have the dubious interior and rear styling of this car.
04/25, 8:14 PM
posted by:
Michael Karesh
Base prices provide only a rough indication of how prices compare. My site, http://www.truedelta.com, provides the only thorough, feature-adjusted price comparisons on the Internet.
Adjusted for features, the 2007 could be a better value than the 2006. AWD alone is worth at least $1,500.
I suspect that stability control will also be added to the MKZ, and that it’s not available this year because it’s strongly integrated with the engine and the 3.0 would only be around for a year.