Photo: Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge / edited
As you already know, the Dodge Challenger ended 2022 with better sales back home in the United States than Ford's pony car. The Camaro was nowhere, with Chevrolet reporting 24,652 deliveries compared to 47,566 Mustangs and 55,060 units for the Challenger.
Over the past six months, the Ford Motor Company bested Stellantis with 25,471 deliveries for the Mustang compared to 24,275 for the Dodge Challenger. Once again, the Camaro is dead last due to 17,337 deliveries. Chevrolet's pony car posted an improvement of 54 percent compared to the first six months of 2022. The Mustang and Challenger are down 2.9 and 5 percent, respectively, from their H1 2022 volumes.
Once a thoroughbred muscle car, the four-door Charger ended H1 2023 with 46,732 units to its name. Remember the Chrysler 300? The Charger's rebadged and restyled sibling couldn't do better than 7,197 units. Last but certainly not least, the Ford Escape-based Mustang Mach-E netted 14,040 deliveries.
Looking at the bigger picture, the pony and muscle car segment is doing rather poorly thus far into 2023. Part of the reason is Ford's infuriatingly slow rollout of the seventh-generation 2024 model year Mustang, which is derived from the sixth-gen 2023 model, hence their S650 and S550 codenames.
The Challenger isn't fooling anyone with its old bones, which date from the DaimlerChrysler era of the Auburn Hills-based automaker. As for the Camaro, well, General Motors dropped the ball right after the introduction of the 10-speed automatic with the 2017 model year ZL1. The Detroit-based automaker didn't bring anything new (of importance) to the table since then, leaving the Camaro to die a slow death.
As if the abysmal product management wasn't bad enough, there's hearsay according to which the Camaro will be reborn as a four-door sedan. Electric sedan, that is. The sixth generation will end series production in January 2024 after a short 2024 model year. Whatever the Camaro's nameplate will be used in the future, there's no denying this is the bitter end for internal combustion powertrains in the long-running Camaro.
Stellantis also prepares to pull the plug on its combustion-engined coupes and sedans. The Charger will come back, though, in the form of a three-door liftback coupe with all-electric propulsion. It's based on the STLA Large platform, and Stellantis further confirmed 455 ponies from the 400-volt Charger 340. The range-topping Banshee uses an 800-volt setup, although output numbers remain a mystery for now.
The S650 is presently available in auto-only EcoBoost, GT, and Dark Horse flavors. Only the V8-powered GT and Dark Horse can be had with a manual. Given time, the road-going version of the GT3 racecar is expected to replace the Shelby GT350 in the Mustang's lineup. The Shelby GT500 is coming back with a familiar supercharged V8 in both coupe and soft-top guises. There is also gossip about a Raptor off-road version. Think of it as Ford's take on the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato.
Once a thoroughbred muscle car, the four-door Charger ended H1 2023 with 46,732 units to its name. Remember the Chrysler 300? The Charger's rebadged and restyled sibling couldn't do better than 7,197 units. Last but certainly not least, the Ford Escape-based Mustang Mach-E netted 14,040 deliveries.
Looking at the bigger picture, the pony and muscle car segment is doing rather poorly thus far into 2023. Part of the reason is Ford's infuriatingly slow rollout of the seventh-generation 2024 model year Mustang, which is derived from the sixth-gen 2023 model, hence their S650 and S550 codenames.
The Challenger isn't fooling anyone with its old bones, which date from the DaimlerChrysler era of the Auburn Hills-based automaker. As for the Camaro, well, General Motors dropped the ball right after the introduction of the 10-speed automatic with the 2017 model year ZL1. The Detroit-based automaker didn't bring anything new (of importance) to the table since then, leaving the Camaro to die a slow death.
As if the abysmal product management wasn't bad enough, there's hearsay according to which the Camaro will be reborn as a four-door sedan. Electric sedan, that is. The sixth generation will end series production in January 2024 after a short 2024 model year. Whatever the Camaro's nameplate will be used in the future, there's no denying this is the bitter end for internal combustion powertrains in the long-running Camaro.
Stellantis also prepares to pull the plug on its combustion-engined coupes and sedans. The Charger will come back, though, in the form of a three-door liftback coupe with all-electric propulsion. It's based on the STLA Large platform, and Stellantis further confirmed 455 ponies from the 400-volt Charger 340. The range-topping Banshee uses an 800-volt setup, although output numbers remain a mystery for now.
The S650 is presently available in auto-only EcoBoost, GT, and Dark Horse flavors. Only the V8-powered GT and Dark Horse can be had with a manual. Given time, the road-going version of the GT3 racecar is expected to replace the Shelby GT350 in the Mustang's lineup. The Shelby GT500 is coming back with a familiar supercharged V8 in both coupe and soft-top guises. There is also gossip about a Raptor off-road version. Think of it as Ford's take on the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato.
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