"Mercury for 1954 offers new styling that matches perfectly the advanced design of the revolutionary new engine and chassis. Surging power and fleet agility are reflected in longer, lower and more graceful lines. New, carefully conceived style elements — such as new grille, new hood scoop, and new ornamentation — complement one another to produce an appearance that's truly trim and beautiful. Yet Mercury's basic Unified Design remains intact. There is a perfect blending of body, engine, and chassis . . . to give unexcelled comfort and convenience, performance, and on-the-road control. Here is styling that's inherently right for a car designed to serve you better today."
Being a pretty common sight in Cuba, a 1954 Mercury is actually three cars in one: the silhouette clearly tells that this car is an offspring of the "Ford family of fine cars". The front design bears more than a trace of the 1952-1954 Lincoln, and the bumper already hints at the styling of the next generation of Mercurys, due for 1955.
This restyled front end made the 1954 Mercurys look decidedly more angular than their predecessors, and less confusable with a Lincoln, a unpleasant problem that the two sister brands had been facing over the previous two years. Despite being in the final year of its three-year lifecycle, Mercury's lineup for 1954 received a massive engineering update: new "V-161" overhead valve V-8 engines with, surprise, 161 horsepower replaced the aging flathead power plants, while the new "Mercury Ball-joint Front Suspension" with "Precision-designed Stedi-Line steering" made sure that all the power arrived at road level and the Mercury remained on a steady course.