[Futura06]

You gotta love the folks at Autoweek. Sometimes they forget about the "embargoes" that are supposed to prevent them from releasing photos of future vehicles before their time.

Buried among the photos of the concept Lincoln Zephyr are two pictures of the real Zephyr which, as you may have heard, is quite different from the concept.

http://www.autoweek.com/files/specials/2005_detroit/lincoln/zephyr/pages/6LincolnZephyr_02_hr.htm
Click "Next Photo" to see the production interior.

The exterior is totally different from the concept and appears to share all of its windows with the Fusion/Milan. On the interior they dumped the retro-style square gauges but everything else is unchanged from the concept.

Personally, I'm surprised and disappointed that Ford wimped out on the Zephyr concept. It looked totally producible and would have been a distinct product that people would have paid more for. Now they've got basically a dressed-up Fusion, which is nice, but why choose it over the Ford?

 

[bandit]

Futura, did you get to see the embargoed pix of the production version that BlueOvalNews had up briefly? I think it actually looks better in the Autoweek photo .

 

[Futura06]

I looked at the BlueOval pictures briefly while visting relatives for the holidays. Didn't like those photos any better.

From any angle the Zephyr looks like a good car thats been overdressed. The grille has a kind of tacked on look to it, the wheels look aftermarket, the tailights are too large, and that black trim on the c-pillar behind the door reminds me of old Corollas. By comparison, the Fusion appears to have a perfect balance of chrome and aluminum trim. It actually looks more expensive than the Lincoln.

Ford should not have teased us with with that great looking Zephyr concept car.

 

[bandit]

...Ford should not have teased us with with that great looking Zephyr concept car.

now, it will be real interesting to see how Saturn does with the Aura 'concept'.