Camaro comfortably outsells Mustang, Challenger in January 2011

January certainly isn’t the ideal sales month for the Big 3’s rear wheel drive muscle cars, but the Camaro managed to outsell the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger even though the high performance Chevy saw an 11% drop in sales compared to January last year.

The 2011 Chevrolet Camaro delivered 4,763 units, down 5,371 units from January of 2010 but it was enough to be the best of the Big 3 muscle cars. GM is surely pleased to have won the muscle car battle for January 2011 but an 11% drop in year over year sales is definitely not the way that they had hoped to begin the year. Chevrolet can expect to see the numbers for the Camaro grow in the next few months as we enter summer, accompanied by the arrival of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible and hopefully the introduction of the new Camaro Z/28.

Ford saw a substantial drop in sales compared to 2010, with just 3,165 units representing a decline of 33% from the 4,747 cars they sold last January. The bad news for Ford is that there have been no vast changes to the mighty Mustang over the past few months and even though they moved over 3,100 units last month, a 33% decline makes for a disappointing month for the Blue Oval gang. Depending on how fuel prices go as we get into the warmer months, Ford could see numbers rebound as the snow melts – but that is still months away.

The Dodge Challenger was, as always, the muscle car with the fewest number of deliveries in January 2011 but most importantly, the Challenger saw an impressive increase of 50% compared to January of last year. Challenger sales are likely bolstered by the addition of the new 3.6L Pentastar V6 with 305 horsepower and 268lb-ft of torque and the new 6.4L, 392 cubic inch Hemi in the SRT8 models. The base model and high performance SRT model both get substantial increases in power without a huge jump in price while the 372hp Challenger R/T actually saw a drop in price for 2011. With 2,526 units moved last month, the Challenger was as close as it has ever been to either of the other two modern American muscle cars in monthly sales – a sign that the engine changes made for 2011 were a step in the right direction.

Muscle car sales were slow overall for January 2011 but with new trimlines (including the droptop) coming for the Camaro and the addition of lots of horsepower for the Dodge Challenger, 2011 could be a good year for the rear wheel drive American muscle cars.

Other Muscle Car News:
Production begins for the 2011 Camaro Convertible
2012 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 To Be Shown At Chicago Auto Show
Dodge dyno tests the 2011 Challenger SRT8 392 and Charger R/T
Dodge takes the 2011 Challenger, Charger back to the dyno
The 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 in action inside of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show
Ford to auction off Grabber Blue Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca