[Logan]

Those of us who were waiting for Mercury to come out with a RWD Cougar will have to keep waiting for an indeterminate time.

It seems Ford gave the Mercury folks a choice, they could either have the Mercury version of the upcoming Ford 500, which is going to be a high volume (read "profit") vehicle, or they could have a Mustang derivitive Cougar for 2005.

I have it on solid authority that Mercury opted for the 500 and will NOT be producing a Mustang derived Cougar. All plans to do so (..and there were plans on the board for it) were cancelled for the forseeable future.

 

[cmpcpro]

The Cougar gave them so much, and what do they do? Throw it away...

 

[sixt9coug]

really.. i mean Cougar is to Mercury what Mustang is to Ford.. its just a name that autmocatically is associated with one and the other. try a word association with people... say Ford and i bet they will Say Mustang.. Say Mercury and i bet they will say Cougar... well.. Maybe James Dean too but the point is still there. its a strong product that people recognize as being of that brand. damn shame really.

 

[leonbray]

I heard that mid-range coupe versions of Lincoln LS, Jag 2 door coupe (like S-Type) and Oz Falcon / Fairlane (and possibly US Falcon) are still under consideration - all based on new common RWD platform being developed in Oz. Cougar was supposed to be coming from that family, not from Mustang as originally speculated

 

[vfret]

It's all about numbers and what sells. Cougar sales as of lately...suck. And not because the car was a POS, but more because it lost it's flair and style and people no-longer bought them. If the cougar still had some stylish flair it might still be in production. Its not a bad looking car, but it certinly aint no engineering marvel. Their goal is to sell more cars. The 500 is new and different, and people like new and different, even though all of us know it's a POS compared to the possibilities of what you could do to a cougar if you had a group of designers that actually know what they are doing. Preferbably a group of Cougar owners.

 

[leonbray]

Does anyone have a link to discussion of the 500 concept. Only 500 I've heard about was long wheelbase version of proposed Australian Fairlane / Crown Vic / Maurauder replacement in 2004