2001 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 2001-specific production figure was found. This record's own key facts section adds one point for the year: for 2001 the Cougar received new headlights, new front and rear fascias, and revised interior trim, a mid-cycle refresh this record's own overview does not otherwise elaborate on.¹

The only figure this record carries toward 2001 volume is a calendar-year sales count, not a model-year production total: 29,487 Cougars sold in the United States during calendar year 2001, this record's own production table states, drawn from a Ford press release's own Mercury cars table under its December calendar-year-to-date 2001 column, with this record's own note explaining plainly that this is calendar-year US sales of all model years together, not model-year production, and scoped only to the United States rather than the car's wider North American market. This record's own production notes state directly that no sourced production figure for the year was found at all.²

Six 2001 prices are documented from the Auto Channel's own buyer's-guide database, this record's own prices section shows, spanning three distinct database style entries: $16,700 MSRP and $15,505 dealer invoice for the four-cylinder coupe, $17,200 MSRP and $15,955 dealer invoice for the V6 coupe, and $22,050 MSRP and $20,321 dealer invoice for a V6 S trim priced well above the other two, a gap of nearly $5,000 over the plain V6's own base price, each figure on an effective date the source itself does not state.³

The same two engines and two transaxles carry into 2001 unchanged, this record's own engine and transmissions tables show: the 2.0-litre Zetec DOHC four standard at 125 horsepower SAE net and the 2.5-litre Duratec DOHC V6 optional at 170 horsepower SAE net, paired with the MTX-75 5-speed manual transaxle available with either engine or the CD4E 4-speed automatic transaxle, also available with either engine in the US but rare with the four-cylinder, this record's own transmissions table states.¹

This record's own options section names two trim packages for 2001, both drawn from Wikipedia's own paint-and-trim list: a C2 package in French Blue, Silver Frost or Vibrant White with blue interior accents, spanning both the 2001 and 2002 model years, and a Zn package unique to 2001, in Zinc Yellow paint with a Visteon hood scoop and a spoiler.¹

This record's own paint, interiors, specifications, performance, identification and conflicts sections are all left entirely empty for 2001. Its own unpublished-leads section carries two items forward without asserting either as fact: a 2001 production figure of 25,044 cars as tabulated by Wikipedia, marked forum-only since Wikipedia's own citation is a 2004 NewCougar.org forum post, 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