2021 Mercury Cougar Based On New Mustang Is A Cool ‘What If’ Design Exercise

BY Dan Mihalascu | Posted on

Ford killed the Mercury brand a decade ago but there are still people who wonder what the defunct marque’s lineup would look like nowadays.

While there’s no way to find that out, every once in a while we stumble upon renderings of modern-day Mercurys based on other cars, mostly Fords. That’s exactly the case with the 2021 Mercury Cougar created by Abimelec Design.

Why the Cougar? Well, it was one of the brand’s most popular models and one of the few to have a cult following among American buyers. Looking at the CGIs, it’s not hard to realize that this hypothetical Mercury Cougar is based on the latest Ford Mustang Fastback.

Marketed as a sports luxury coupe, the Cougar was built alongside the Mustang for the first two generations (1967 to 1973), then as a Ford Torino sidekick (1974-1976), and finally as a counterpart to the Thunderbird (1977-1997). Ford also sold a Mondeo platform-based, front-wheel-drive Cougar from 1999 to 2002, but most fans would rather forget about that one.

Anyway, so why would a 2021 Mercury Cougar look like in these renderings? Well, it’s because the author applied typical design cues from the first-generation Cougar on the bodywork of a modern-day Ford Mustang Fastback. Styling highlights include hideaway headlamps, Cougar badging and horizontal taillights.

“As far as colors, trim and interior I wanted to mix a bit of new Ford with old flare from the ‘60s Cougar,” Abimelec Design writes in a Facebook post. As you can see, the car is pictured in seven different color combinations so chances are you’ll like at least one of them.

The question is where a 2021 Mercury Cougar would be positioned on the market right now. According to the author, it could be marketed as a competitor to the Lexus LC, BMW 8 Series and Jaguar F-Type. We don’t believe that’s a very realistic assessment but we can’t argue with the engine choice: a 450 HP 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. What do you think?

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