Lincoln has officially debuted the 2022 Zephyr at this year's Auto Guangzhou in China. As expected, this luxury midsize sedan is for China only. There have been several leaked images and details over the past several weeks but today is the real deal. The Zephyr's debut comes at a time when Lincoln has phased out its entire North American sedan lineup; the MKZ and Continental are gone. The gorgeous Zephyr, in theory, could have been a solid successor for both but there's no indication it's coming stateside.
The Zephyr features Lincoln's full-width light bar in the fascia and, for the first time, integrated full-width horizontal stripes which traverse the grille and extend into the headlights. The rear rump boats a cool 3D floating effect with an embedded "Lincoln" text.
Lincoln is aiming the Zephyr directly at Gen Z in this market with its slick interior design. The intelligent cockpit features digital displays and plenty of "human-centric" design details, such as natural surfacing for the console buttons. A ton of cool styling details can be found throughout the vehicle, like 128-color interior ambient lighting options, the brand's largest-ever Welcome Mat that illuminates on the ground, and headlights that smoothly light up as the driver approaches.
The 12.3-inch digital cluster and a massive 27-inch "coast-to-coast" touchscreen look absolutely fantastic. The latter runs a unique version of the Sync4 operating system capable of over-the-air updates that has been tailor-made for Chinese customers. Even the steering wheel has touch-sensitive buttons.
Lincoln Co-Pilot 360 and ActiveGlide also come standard. Under the hood lies a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 235 horsepower paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Sale are due to begin in the first quarter of next year with pricing beginning at 255,000 yuan, or just under $40,000 according to the latest exchange rates.
"The all-new Lincoln Zephyr is specifically designed for the young, Chinese customer and continues our tradition of reimagining design and technology for the future," said Joy Falotico, president of Lincoln China. "We are committed to listening to the needs of our customers and the all-new Zephyr is a perfect example of this."