Aside from the occasional CEO shout-out that Blue Oval’s upcoming S650 Ford Mustang is “stunning,” there has been little chatter about the legendary pony car. And that is most likely because everyone is busy crying their outrage around the Camaro, Challenger, and – to a lesser extent – the Charger.
We already know that, at long last, the 2024 Ford Mustang will be ready to finally grace the red-carpet premiere on September 14th at the 2022 Detroit Auto Show. The S650 will be put under the spotlight soon, but from my point of view, the perspective is more than welcoming for the Blue Oval accountants.
Remember, the Ford Mustang barely outsold the Dodge Challenger after the first half of the year (after losing the crown in America, in 2021) and the news that Stellantis has sealed the latter’s ICE fate drops like a miracle from the stars. Sure, at first, the long-lived third generation of the famed Mopar pony/muscle car will get a massive sales impulse as people will flock to the dealerships to secure the last 2022MY and 2023 model year units that just turned into collectibles.
Yep, even the V6-powered models will get a jolt ahead of all ICE variants bowing out gracefully and preparing for the long journey to car Valhalla after the production of the 2023MY wraps. Frankly, that was expected, and Dodge is making the most of every possible Challenger sale with a massive seven new model lineup for the final year of the ICE-powered Challenger and Charger age. Heritage colors, vintage inspiration, popular SRT Jailbreak expansion, commemorative stuff – you name it, they have it all.
Even better, the aftermarket world is getting even more stuff from Mopar (which, by the way, is celebrating its 85th anniversary), with the Dodge Direct Connection performance portfolio expansion and Stellantis helping eager customers stand out in the open-top crowd with third-party Challenger Convertible transformations. But it is also true that Dodge is focusing on a paradigm change.
Photo: Dodge
For example, surprisingly or not, the most powerful production SUV in the world that was supposed to be a one-time model year deal has gone to Hellcat and back… probably just to proudly reappear in the newly SUV-focused Dodge lineup alongside the first-ever Hornet subcompact crossover (aka the Alfa Romeo Tonale in disguise) for the 2023 model year. Some will be happy to hear the Durango SRT Hellcat makes a return. Others, not so much.
On the other hand, we had better brace ourselves for the arrival of the EV Challenger and Charger models alongside the 2024 Ram Trucks 1500 EV. And perhaps that’s a good move as someone needs to answer the zero-emission quarter-mile dragstrip call and deliver the new age muscle car recipe that can beat the performance exhibited by Tesla’s bonkers 1,020-horsepower Model S Plaid!
As for General Motors and Chevrolet, they are busy shooting hoops with Equinox and Blazer EV crossover SUVs or thinking about their GMC Hummer EV and upcoming 2024 Chevy Silverado EV clashes with the Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lighting foes rather than securing a positive future for the iconic Camaro. Yes, the Chevy Corvette is doing great – but has anyone told GM’s head honchos that it also eats market share from their Camaro series because they cannot think of a way out of the current sixth-generation image slump?
Perhaps they should really turn a blank EV page and make the next iteration something else – even a super-sedan or high-performance SUV would be better than just letting it slip out of popular muscle car conscience. Until then, they are not even giving truck fans a flagship supercharged Silverado V8 reason to rejoice – as the cool, off-road-focused ZR2 Bison has missed the opportunity to clash with the Ram 1500 TRX and Ford’s first-ever F-150 Raptor R…
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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