Camaro Sales Drop in August, Still Crushing Mustang and Building 2014 Title Lead

Sales numbers for August 2014 are in and for the 5th month in a row, the Chevrolet Camaro has bested the Dodge Challenger and the Ford Mustang – making it the bestselling sports car in the US and helping the Camaro to continue to build its lead in an effort to win a 5th straight sports car sales title.

The Chevrolet Camaro came into the 2014 calendar year on a 4-year streak of being the bestselling sports car in America, but with 2014 marking the dealership launch of the next generation 2015 Ford Mustang, many people (including me) expected to see the Motor Company reclaim the sales title that they had held for decades prior to 2010. Early in the year, the Camaro jumped out to an early lead while the Mustang kept it close and I figured that the arrival of the 2015 Mustang would allow Ford to make a late season push to claim the title.

However, with the Camaro winning 6 out of 8 months in 2014 including the past 5 months straight, Chevrolet has built a lead that might be too big for the late year sales boom of the 2015 Ford Mustang to make a comeback.

Camaro Galleries:
The new 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
A first look at the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
The 2012 COPO Camaro Convertible

While Muscle Cars Slump, Camaro Still Shines
August 2014 was a surprisingly slow month for the American muscle cars, with the Camaro, Challenger and Mustang all posting worse numbers than they did in July. The Camaro actually had the biggest drop of the three from July while also posting a substantial drop from the same month last year, but with 8,134 units sold, Chevrolet sold more muscle cars than Ford or Dodge. The Ford Mustang moved just 5,878 units in August to rank second among all sports cars sold in America while the Dodge Challenger sat in its usual third with 4,182 Mopar muscle cars sold last month. This wasn’t the biggest win for the Camaro this year, as Chevy beat Ford in muscle car sales by almost 3,400 units in July, but the August drubbing of 2,256 units allows the Camaro to continue to inch away in the annual sales race.

Camaro Leads by a Big Margin on the Year
While I have spent much of this year talking about the pending sales boom with the introduction of the 2015 Ford Mustang, the 2015 Dodge Challenger and the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro, 2014 has still been a fairly strong year for the American muscle cars. With 64,767 units sold through the first 8 months of the year, Chevrolet has sold 9.5% more Camaros this year than they did through the first 8 months of 2013. Ford has sold 56,673 Mustang coupes and convertibles thus far this year; up 3.5% from the same period last year. Only the Dodge Challenger has posted a decline in sales from January-August of 2014 with 34,757 accounting for a 10% drop on the year.

2015 Ford Mustang Galleries:
Live images from the 2015 Ford Mustang Detroit Debut
A look at the similarities in styling across the 2015 Ford Mustang trimlines
The 2015 Ford Mustang in Triple Yellow

What this all means is that through the first 8 months of 2014, the Chevrolet Camaro has amassed a lead of 8,094 units over the Ford Mustang. That is a big lead as GM makes a run for their 5th straight muscle car/sports car sales title and while I still expect to see a huge boom in Mustang sales later this year, I’m beginning to wonder if the Camaro’s lead is going to be too big for the 2015 Mustang to overcome once it arrives. Even if Ford wins the last 4 months of the year, the Mustang will need to beat the Camaro by at least 2,025 units every month to overcome the current lead and I’m just not sure that is possible.