Dodge Is Still Selling A Lot Of Challengers But It Can’t Catch The Ford Mustang
The pony/muscle car wars have become a one-horse show for the moment.
The Dodge Challenger and Charger went out of production last year along with the Chevrolet Camaro, leaving the Ford Mustang the last of the breed.
A new electric Charger Daytona is on the way in a couple of weeks, but it isn’t currently available and the internal combustion engine-powered Charger won’t be on sale until late in 2025.
Chevrolet has no immediate plans to replace the Camaro, so the only place you’ll be seeing new ones next year is in NASCAR, where it will continue to race with the current body style.
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But that’s not to say Dodge and Chevrolet aren’t still selling cars. Dodge stocked up its dealers with Challengers and Chargers to fill the hiatus. Chevrolet didn’t do quite the same for the Camaro, which was already a slow seller, but there are still just over 100 new ones sitting on lots.
Through September, Chevrolet delivered 5,750 Camaros, while Dodge handed over the keys to 24,874 Challengers. However, only 3,657 Challengers were delivered in the third quarter, so things have slowed down appreciably.
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Both of those nine-month totals fell well short of the Ford Mustang’s, which stood at 36,485. That’s up 3.3% from the same period last year, driven by the release of an updated 2024 model. With approximately 2,000 new Challengers left in showrooms, that sets up the Mustang for an easy cruise to the sales title for 2024, although the four-door Dodge Charger isn’t that far behind at 31,980.
Chevrolet hasn’t gotten out of the sports car came entirely. It delivered 25,711 Corvettes through the first three quarters of the year, but its two-seat mid-engine design makes it less of a direct competitor to the pony car pack.
The Corvette isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, either. A new 1,064 hp Corvette ZR1 will be hitting the streets early next year and is expected to be followed by a high performance hybrid that might be called the Zora and have more than 1,200 hp.
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Ford also has the 815 hp $325,000 Mustang GTD and a mystery model that may be the first all-wheel-drive Mustang or a hybrid that are both launching in the coming year.
