SPY PHOTOS: Mercury Montego Facelift

Ford's testers have begun pulling the camouflage off of their prototypes for the facelifted Mercury Montego. It's Ford 500 cousin revealed its new face at the Detroit Auto Show, and it looks like the new Montego may go public at the Chicago Show. The new Montego ditches the current model's frumpy headlights, in favor of Milan- inspired lights featuring a swept-back "eyebrow" look. The lights have a more detailed, high-tech look. The Montego's new grille digs a little deeper into Mercury's more recent design DNA, taking cues from the redesigned Mercury Mariner SUV. The bumper beneath thegrille is recessed, which adds a bit more character to the nose, and appears to give it a more prominent face, not unlike VW/Audi's new corporate grille. The Montego's tail-end has received some attention as well. New taillights are predominantly white, with a red strip at the bottom, essentially swapping the color red and white color treatment found on the current car. The trunk lid has been changed, moving the license plate down onto the new Montego's redesigned rear bumper. The changes don't utterly transform the car, but the changes to front and back are definitely more extensive than mere headlight and taillight tweaks.