The 1993 Cougar

In the early 1990’s Ford had begun an interesting campaign called “one-price shopping”. Essentially, the number of models for a particular car were cut significantly—sometimes even in half—but the options lists for the remaining model/s increased. This would ensure that the cars would be very well loaded standard, and that since fewer specialty parts were needed, production costs could be cut significantly. Since the profit margin for each car would be roughly the same, the car’s price was basically non-negotiable, hence the term one-price shopping. There was much success with the Taurus and Escort with this program so naturally Ford decided to try it with other models, including the Cougar and Thunderbird. The T-Bird shrank from four models to two (LX and SC), and the Cougar shrank to just one model, now known as Cougar XR7.

On paper this was a solid financial move, guaranteed to build in more profit per vehicle. Unfortunately the car now known as “Cougar XR7″ was not the performance-oriented XR7 of previous years. It received no adjustable sport suspension, no fog lamps and no 16” wheels; nothing of performance or sportiness carried over from the last XR7. It was now the old LS with the XR7 name and a streamlined options list. Fortunately the engine choices remained intact (3.8L V6 standard, 5.0L V8 optional), so the Cat was not nearly as neutered as many had originally feared.