First Quarter 2021 Muscle Car Sales

[edco]

I think the Camaro looks good, sporty, I’d be proud to have one in my garage. However, the Mustang has it all, sleek, sexy, an energetic badass. It takes more than brute horsepower to appeal to me, and so I’m not much on Dodge.

Writing about design: It is remarkable how similar gen 6 mustang and camaro are in overall body envelope. Yet when I walk around a G6 camaro it does not draw me in like a mustang. It is an eye of the beholder thing for sure. There is just something about the camaro low green house, round hood, and high wall rear that does not work. Camaro looks are 100% sport, maybe that is the problem. In reality we were both drawn to buy mustang.

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[Ace]

I'm sure Dodge is way more profitable because it's based on a platform that came out in 2005 with the magnum/300. Engineering costs for a whole new platform with Ford in 2005 then 2015 are much more expensive.

It's really amazing what Dodge has done just with refreshes and bigger engines to keep the challenger interesting.

That's why I think Dodge will have a hard time to survive the switch to Hybrids and EVs, since they relied so much on old tech with big engines. Chevy and Ford are all in the new technologies, have their own products already on the market. Mustang Hybrid is only 2 years away, Mach-E will make people accustom to EVs, Hybrid C8 "E-Ray" also ready for announcement soon and with Hummer EV they a big EV player in development. I think Ford and Chevy are already there to make people exited for the big change in the industry. So chances are good buyers will look forward to an all new EV-Camaro or EV-Mustang in the further future.

But for Dodge? The last thing we know is that they slap their hellcat engine on everything as a last attempt to make sales before emissions laws left them behind. We already know the SRT team is grouped together at Stellantis, so everything they do have to be usable in more international brands which will mark the end of new hellcat engines. And without these engines, having good tech and modern platforms becomes much more important, where Chevy and Ford clearly are ahead.

 

[TnWHTMARE]

Regarding aesthetics between Camaro and Mustang: I know this is subjective but I can simply opine from my experience. I had a 2018 5.0 A10 and a 19 SS A10. I feel like overall the Camaro was the better car in several respects and I personally felt it looked more aggressive. And yet, I'm still drawn more to the Mustang. However, for every compliment I got on the Mustang, I got 4 for the Camaro.

 

[Zach@Granger]

That's why I think Dodge will have a hard time to survive the switch to Hybrids and EVs, since they relied so much on old tech with big engines. Chevy and Ford are all in the new technologies, have their own products already on the market. Mustang Hybrid is only 2 years away, Mach-E will make people accustom to EVs, Hybrid C8 "E-Ray" also ready for announcement soon and with Hummer EV they a big EV player in development. I think Ford and Chevy are already there to make people exited for the big change in the industry. So chances are good buyers will look forward to an all new EV-Camaro or EV-Mustang in the further future.

But for Dodge? The last thing we know is that they slap their hellcat engine on everything as a last attempt to make sales before emissions laws left them behind. We already know the SRT team is grouped together at Stellantis, so everything they do have to be usable in more international brands which will mark the end of new hellcat engines. And without these engines, having good tech and modern platforms becomes much more important, where Chevy and Ford clearly are ahead.

I absolutely agree. FCA was not in nearly as good of a Financial situation to make headway on EV research. I think Ford is ahead of the game significantly on that. I just think FCA has done a lot with what they had in regards to the muscle cars. Make no mistake, I'm a Mustang guy, I've owned my fair share and never a Challenger. But I do respect what they've done with it.

It will be interesting to see how or if that changes with Stellantis.

I think the company that looks the worst is GM out of all of this. The Camaro refreshes and changes and it still got outsold significantly by both Challenger and Mustang.

 

[Zathras]

Isn't FCA pushing big incentives on the Challenger? (The "$10 per horsepower" rebate.) I don't know if Ford or Chevy are matching that with anything.

To me the current gen Camaro seems like a really strong performance car (based on the positive reviews of it's handling and track times) that's held back by the styling and practical daily-driver aspects (like visibility). Nurburgring lap times are great but the mass market wants something that's more upscale inside and not quite so hard-edged. I kinda feel bad for the GM engineers who designed that platform because it really performs well but it just doesn't sell.

In my younger days I would have gone for the Camaro (as I did with the 4th generation) but now the S550 Mustang just seemed more practical and easy to live with as a daily driver.

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