In the first quarter of 2021, the Mustang was more popular than the Challenger. But, Dodge has won the last three months. Stellaris reports 15,052 units, compared to 9,880 in the second quarter of 2020. Ford Motor Company is behind with 14,676 ponies.
The Mustang Mach-E outsold the pony car by selling 2,465 units to 2,240. This is what makes Ford’s results so attractive. This tells us a lot about the direction of the U.S. auto industry. However, if you look at the larger picture, crossovers are more popular than sports cars. The Mustang leads the all-electric SUV by 31950 units, compared to 12,795 units.
The last elephant in the room is Chevrolet’s ailing Camaro. The Camaro is praised for being a more stable pony car than the Mustang. However, it finished the second quarter with 2,792 examples. It also had a total of 9,881 units year-to-date. Comparatively, the Q2 2020 volume is 9,881 examples, and the half-year 2020 volume is 13,860.
General Motors is the reason for Camaro’s demise. Detroit’s biggest Big Three didn’t invest as much in its pony car as FoMoCo or Dodge did in the Mustang or Challenger. And there is nothing new for 2022.
GM has stopped the ZL1 in terms of horsepower and ZL11LE in handling, while the Shelby GT500 & Challenger SRT Super Stock ride high-octane hype. In addition, General Motors has reportedly canceled the Z/28 project, which would have received the flat-plane crankshaft V8 engine for the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 model year 2023.
These circumstances make it unlikely that an electric version will ever replace the Camaro gas-powered model.
