Camaro Sales Explode in August Crushing the Mustang and Challenger

Although the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro has been well short of the 2012 sales figures throughout the first half of the year, an explosion in Camaro sales in August 2013 allowed the bowtie-clad muscle car to pummel both the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger while also pulling away from the Mustang in the annual sales race.

The Chevrolet Camaro is looking to give General Motors its fourth straight muscle car sales title and while the Ford Mustang has fought hard all year, the Camaro has made the gap look a bit more insurmountable. Chevrolet sold more Camaro coupes and convertibles in August than it has in any single month going back to June 2012 with 8,875 units sold last month. This not only marks the best sales month for the Camaro of 2013 but with a huge growth rate of 33% compared to the same month last year, August was one of the few months this year where the Camaro showed positive growth. GM has now sold 59,156 units on the year and while that is down from the 63,298 Camaros sold in the first 8 months of 2012 – GM still have a pretty hefty lead of 3,009 units over the Ford Mustang.

Part of the problem for the Ford Mustang’s race for the 2013 muscle car sales title in August was the huge growth by the Chevrolet Camaro but it didn’t help Ford’s efforts any that Mustang sales dropped by 8.2% compared to the same month last year. As Camaro sales numbers have grown over the past few months – presumably due to the arrival of the 2014 models - the Mustangs sales have slumped as people presumably wait for the next generation Mustang to arrive next year. The Mustang is down 12.2% on the year and if the assumption that consumers are waiting for the next generation Mustang proves to be correct, the 4th quarter of 2013 could be a tough one for the original pony car. One thing that could help the Mustang is if Ford introduces some special edition “end of run” package for the 2014 model year but that probably wont help enough to prevent the Camaro from claiming the muscle car sales title for the 4th straight year.

Finally, the Dodge Challenger was (as it always is) third place in the muscle car segment in August 2013. While the brawny Dodge sat far behind the other two Detroit muscle cars, 4,392 Mopar muscle cars sold last month makes August 2013 the 6th best sales month ever for the modern Challenger. In addition to being 33% better in August 2013 than it was one year earlier, the Challenger has sold 27% more cars through the first 8 months of 2013 while the other two American muscle cars are both way down during that same time. The Challenger might trail the Camaro and the Mustang but numbers continue to grow even though the car really hasn’t been changed at all since being introduced for the 2008 model year.

With the slowest muscle car sales month ahead of us, the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger have all probably seen their best numbers of the year and unless the Mustang pulls off some sort of miracle – or unless GM stops selling the Camaro – there is a very good chance that the Chevrolet Camaro will claim its 4th straight annual sales title.