2015 Already Best Modern Dodge Challenger Sales Year

The Dodge Challenger is often overshadowed by the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro when it comes to discussions about sales leaders due to the fact that month after month and year after year, the Mopar muscle car sells fewer units than the cross-town rivals. Of course, everyone involved with the muscle car world knows that the Challenger is the most powerful, the quickest and the fastest of the three muscle cars, but the simple fact that Dodge sells less Challengers than Ford sells Mustangs or Chevrolet sells Camaros, the success of the Challenger often goes unnoticed by many – but not by me.

I have watched the sales numbers of the Dodge Challenger climb steadily over the past five years while covering the muscle car sales race and while we all knew that the popularity of the Scat Pack and SRT Hellcat models would lead to big sales numbers, no one could have predicted a year like this.

An Annual Record in September
Dodge sold “only” 4,552 examples of the Challenger last month, making it the worst month of the 2015 calendar year, but in moving those 4,552 Mopar muscle cars, the annual sales total rose to 51,949. The previous annual sales record was set last year, when Dodge sold 51,611 examples of the Challenger and in 2013, 51,462 Challengers sold was the modern record.

Below is a list of Dodge Challenger sales totals dating back to when the modern muscle car was introduced for the 2008 model year.

2008 – 7209
2009 – 25852
2010 – 36791
2011 – 38534
2012 – 43119
2013 – 51462
2014 – 51,611
2015 – 51,949 (January through September)

During the 2015 calendar year, the Dodge Challenger has averaged 5,772 units per month, but the 4th quarter has historically been the worst for the Mopar muscle car. However, the Challenger could very well maintain a pace above 4,000 units per month in October, November and December. Should the company send out another 12,000 muscle cars into the world before the end of 2015, Dodge will end up moving right around 64,000 Challengers this year. Of course, that estimate could be high or low, depending on the timing of the 2016 Hellcat Challenger deliveries later this year.

1970 is Still the Champ
While the 2015 Dodge Challenger sales account for a record during the modern era that began back in 2007, the odds are good that this year will not lead to an all-time record for the Dodge muscle car. According to the folks at MuscleCarClub.com, 1970 was the best year ever for the Dodge Challenger, when 72,975 units were sold. Right now, the Challenger is about 20,000 units away from the 1970 total, so Dodge would have to turn in record sales numbers in each of the final three months of the year to knock off the 1970 Challenger.

However, even if Dodge didn’t sell another Challenger for the rest of the year, 2015 is officially the best sales year in the modern era of the brawny Mopar muscle car.