2000 Mercury Cougar: The Front-Drive Relaunch

Wikipedia's own account, this record's overview states, records that the 1999-2002 Cougar was built at Flat Rock, Michigan, with a 125-horsepower 2.0-litre Zetec four or a 170-horsepower 2.5-litre Duratec V6, and that the last Cougar left the line on August 9, 2002; this record's own dek states plainly that no 2000-specific production figure was found. This record's own key facts section is empty for the year.¹

The only production figure this record carries for 2000 is a combined one: 112 Roush-edition Cougars built across the 1999 and 2000 model years together, in the 2.5-litre V6 with 5-speed manual configuration, this record's own production table states, with its own note explaining plainly that this is a two-model-year total for a Roush-built package, not a 2000-only figure or a factory count. This record's own production notes add that no published 2000 total was found outside a forum post, a claim carried instead in the unpublished leads below rather than asserted as fact.^2,1

Four 2000 prices are documented from the Auto Channel's own buyer's-guide database, this record's own prices section shows: $16,540 MSRP and $15,105 dealer invoice for the four-cylinder coupe, and $17,040 MSRP and $15,550 dealer invoice for the V6 coupe, each on an effective date the source itself does not state. The same two engines and two transaxles carry into 2000 unchanged from 1999, this record's own engine and transmissions tables show: the 2.0-litre Zetec four standard at 125 horsepower and the 2.5-litre Duratec V6 optional at 170 horsepower, paired with the MTX-75 5-speed manual with either engine or the CD4E 4-speed automatic, rare with the four-cylinder.^3,1

This record's own options section names two trim packages for 2000, both drawn from Wikipedia's own paint-and-trim list and both carried with the "package" vocabulary rather than as individually priced options: a Special Edition finished in Zinc Yellow paint with a leather interior carrying yellow seat stitching, and the Roush Edition itself, built around a Roush body kit and finished mostly in white or silver, the same package this record's own production table ties to the 112-car combined total.¹

This record's own paint, interiors, specifications, performance and identification sections are all left entirely empty for 2000, with no brochure or spec-page source cited anywhere in this record to fill them. This record's own conflicts section is empty as well, carrying no documented disagreement for the year, and this record's own production notes carry only the single explanation about the missing published total, since the Roush row is the only production figure this record has to offer.¹

This record's own unpublished-leads section carries two items forward without asserting either as fact: a 2000 production figure of 44,935 cars as tabulated by Wikipedia, which this record's own reason field marks forum-only since Wikipedia's own citation is a 2004 NewCougar.org forum post rather than a Ford record; and a claim that only about 500 Cougars across 1999-2002 were built with the 2.0-litre four and the automatic transaxle, sourced to Wikipedia's own hedge word "supposedly" with no source given there.¹