Ford Mustang vs. Chevrolet Camaro vs. Dodge Challenger - U.S. Sales Since April 2009

Discounting this current month of August 2011, the reborn fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro has been on sale for 28 months. When we say "on sale" and "Camaro" in the same sentence, we actually mean "fighting against the Ford Mustang" for 28 months, right? And in the last couple years there's been another cross-town rival with which to do battle, the Dodge Challenger.

Back in 2002 we thought this war had been waged and it was never to be fought again. The automotive climate wasn't fit for a muscle car fight. Of course, Ford knew how to market the Mustang, and in 2005, Ford proved it knew how to style a Mustang, as well. 

Even when Dodge and Chevrolet began showing concept versions of the next Challenger and Camaro in response to the praises showered upon Ford's reinvigorated Mustang, it didn't seem likely that sales of these if-or-when muscle cars would skyrocket. 

Here we are in mid-2011, however, and the Camaro makes frequent appearances on GoodCarBadCar.net's list of the Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America. Sometimes the Mustang joins the Camaro in taunting conventional mainstream cars which are unable to crack such a list.

It's true, the Challenger hasn't been quite as big a hit, but don't let yourself believe that Dodge wasted time and money developing its muscle car. Not at all. Just a few months ago, in March 2011, Dodge sold 3989 Challengers in America. That figure was greater than Porsche's total U.S. volume in March, higher than what Audi managed with its A4, better than Hyundai's total Genesis Coupe and sedan sales.

The Good Car Guy has compiled five charts and one table to help you understand the U.S. muscle car market since the Chevrolet Camaro went back on sale in April 2009. Here are a few pertinent facts before you delve into the details.

• The Ford Mustang has been #1 in this three-car segment only seven times since April 2009. One of those six occasions was the month in which Camaro arrived in stores.


• In the Challenger's best post-April '09 month (March 2011, as noted) Ford and Chevrolet each sold more than twice as many Mustangs and Camaros.


• Chevrolet sold an average of 6850 Camaros per month in 2009; Ford sold an average of 5552 Mustangs. The 2009 year end numbers you'll see in the table below are deceiving.


• Through the first seven months of 2011, the Camaro is up 4.8% year-over-year. Mustang sales are down 3.5%. Challenger sales are up 10.8%.


• Since April 2009, 43.9% of all American muscle car sales have occurred in Chevrolet showrooms. 38.9% of those 453,833 sales were Mustangs. 17.2% were Dodge Challengers.

Check out the first chart below (it sort of does the work of a pie chart 28 times over) which shows total muscle car volume by month with portions afforded to the Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger. Then, after the jump, have a look at four more charts - some of which basically tell the same story in different ways - and the exhaustive volume-oriented table displaying the monthly U.S. volume reported by each of these three truly American cars. Go ahead and click any chart for a larger view.

Above, see trend line of U.S. monthly volume of America's three muscle cars.

Above, see the strength and weakness of monthly U.S. muscle car
volume by the height or lack of height for each car's 28 bars.

By studying the chart above you'll see the market share
owned by each of the three muscle cars in each of the last 28 months.

This final chart shows the combined strength of the
three American muscle cars in each of the last 28 months.

U.S. Sales Month	Chevrolet Camaro	Ford Mustang	Dodge Challenger
April 2009	614	7699	2619
May 2009	5463	8812	2695
June 2009	9320	7632	1369
July 2009	7113	6686	886
August 2009	8680	6289	1132
September 2009	7691	4917	1778
October 2009	8082	4789	2398
November 2009	6867	3627	2040
December 2009	7548	6527	2536
2009 Year End	61,648	66,623	25,852
January 2010	5371	4747	1683
February 2010	6482	5115	2145
March 2010	8904	5829	3211
April 2010	9150	5145	3713
May 2010	8931	10,225	3828
June 2010	7540	8974	3086
July 2010	7486	7489	3695
August 2010	6321	5570	3283
September 2010	6323	5760	3138
October 2010	5013	5317	3182
November 2010	4164	4093	2497
December 2010	5614	5452	3330
2010 Year End	81,299	73,716	36,791
January 2011	4763	3165	2526
February 2011	6245	3697	3227
March 2011	8964	8557	3989
April 2011	10,852	8180	3617
May 2011	9451	6607	3418
June 2011	8486	8835	3384
July 2011	7671	6805	3509
7 Months Of 2011	56,432	45,846	23,670
April '09-July '11	199,379	176,540	77,914

Source: Automakers & ANDC

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - 2010 Year End
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - July 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - July 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - July 2011