Felinology: Cars Named After Cats
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature, cats have been a decently popular source of names for cars. This makes a dose of sense - the species is broad and there are plenty of powerful creatures, creating numerous opportunities for car companies to usurp a name or three for use on their Next Big Thing.
Not every felis catus translates well into automotive marketing. There’s a reason no Ford Tabby or Chevrolet Abyssinian currently prowls the showroom of those respective brands. Casting a net over the wider Felidae family yields better results (you’re really getting a science lesson today, folks) and since those animals look like cats, they’ll be included in our list. After all - if not friend, then why friend shaped?
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Jaguar
Let’s start with not just one model but an entire brand. Prior to its recent and frankly mystifying rebrand, Jaguar generally cranked out vehicles most closely associated with villains or the type of person most likely to take a valuable painting off the wall. This image was cultivated and promoted by Top Gear during the Clarkson/Hammond/May era, and Jag absolutely leaned into the trope.
Jaguar
Nothing wrong with that. Even before saying ‘Jaaaaaag’ was a thing amongst gearheads, cars like the XKR showed up chasing Bond in Die Another Day. The so-called Mark X, a stern sedan produced by Jaguar in the ‘60s is a great example of the breed. Other great Jags (in my jaundiced mind) include the classic E-Type, modern F-Type, and the mighty XJ220.
Mercury Cougar
This is a cat which has had more lives than, well, a cat. Starting life in 1967 as a variant of the Mustang, it was originally a good sized pony car with standard V8 power. Despite a price tag which encroached on the Thunderbird, this generation of Cougar far exceeded initial sales expectations. But, like most cars of the era, it quickly grew in both size and weight.
Mercury Cougar
It switched platforms and was even offered as a four-door sedan and station wagon during some years. The buying public didn’t seem to mind, with production cresting 200,000 units in the late 1970s. It shifted to a front-wheel drive platform in 1999 after the Cougar name was pressed into duty on a car which was supposed to have been the third-generation Ford Probe.
Sunbeam Tiger
Resisting the urge to select from any one of several other examples from the Ford Motor Company, we find the Sunbeam Tiger. This was a UK-built convertible with a V8 engine stuffed up its nose, sold for a handful of years in the 1960s. Just over 7,000 of the things shuffled out of the West Bromwich factory during that time; anoraks will tell you there are three different iterations (Mark I, Mark IA, and Mark II) though just about anyone without adenoids is going to think they’re all the same car.
Sunbeam Tiger
Two were entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, fitted with fastback coupe bodies; both, plus a prototype, are suggested to have survived and currently reside in classic car collections. Success was found during competition in European rallies.
