Dodge Challenger gaining on Ford Mustang in American sports car sales race

[Graybeard]

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/dodge-challenger-ford-mustang-american-sports-car-sales

By Gary Gastelu | Fox News

Dodge is closing the gap on Ford in the American sports car sales race, but can it catch its rival before the end of the year?

Dodge sold 16,332 Challengers in the third quarter of 2020, which handily beat the Ford Mustang’s tally of 13,851. It was the second year in a row that the Challenger outsold the Mustang in the period, having set an all-time record in 2019.


The Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock will be the most powerful American car when deliveries begin this year. (Dodge)

The Mustang holds a sizeable lead on the year, however, with 47,637 sales to the Challenger’s 38,350, but the margin has dropped from 11,769 to 9,287 since June.


The 760 hp Mustang Shelby GT500 is the most-powerful Ford ever made. (Ford)

The Chevrolet Camaro sits in a distant third at 22,226 cars sold, which is down 39.6 percent from its third-place showing last year, and now it has the all-new Chevy Corvette breathing down its neck. Chevy delivered 6,355 of the mid-engine two-seaters in the quarter to the Camaro’s 8,366.


Fox News Autos Test Drive: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette StingrayVideo
Dodge is looking to supercharge sales through the end of the year with its Power Dollars promotion that offers a $10 per horsepower rebate on all Challenger models, including the upcoming $83,160 Challenger SRT Super Stock, which has an 807 hp supercharged V8 that will make it the most-powerful American car on sale and good for an $8,070 discount.


Ford's next major addition to the two-door Mustang family is the new Mach 1 coming next spring. The all-electric Mustang Mach-E utility vehicle hits showrooms later this year, but will likely be counted as a separate vehicle on the sales charts.

[Bob Riebe]

The  poorly designed lack of interior space in the Camaro is what is killing it.
That fact has been mentioned in near every test of one I have read; thusly with the grocery getting versions being what most sales are , interior space makes a big difference.

I saw a lot of pony cars up here ten years ago, but not so many now.
The Challenger is the most common.
I eagerly await the new Mopars which should come out next fall. (With Ford and Chevy killing off sedans, and the new truly full size Cadillac DOA,  Chrysler is now probably going to bring out a new 300 as it has the market to itself.)

[Lloyd Smale]

no new challenger this year. Now there saying maybe in 2023. ok with me because the main reason i like mine is it hasnt morfed into some modern aerodynamic thing that looks like a toyota supra. From what i heard the 300s are gone and will remain gone for the same reason buick and olds are gone. Luxury cars dont sell and most who want them are upscale and go for a caddy or import. they dont want a reskinned charger and if they have 50k or more to spend go with the caddy or import. I did here we might finally get a 2 door charger though which to me is something that should have been made years ago. At least theres no rummors of a 4 or 6 cyl turbo challenger or charger. Chrysler said the challenger/charger will die when the v8 does and as long as they have a hemi it will be put in those platforms (that came right from Chrysler) Big news this year is the hellcat 4x4 pickup. Challengers havent changed at all for 2021. Just a few different color combos. Its kind of sad about the 300 though. My son in law has one he picked up last year. Its all black with no chrome and has the 6.4 that was put in them for two years. At first i thought it was but ugly but it kind of grew on me. Kind of sinister looking.  But one with a 6 cyl would be a joke id never own. Way to heavy for that motor especially when fitted with 4x4.  His 6.4 sure wont run with my challenger but it has enough to be fun. but in my opinion the mustang and camaro need to get back to why they were reintroduced. They were suppose to be retro pony cars. Ford has gone so far as to paste a mustang badge on a SUV!! and in the non v8 mustangs have a sound generator that makes them sound like v8. How sad. Something id like to see buy few buyers would agree with is to ditch all the video screen bs. I have no use for it and dont even need a usb port. An fm radio is about the only thing on that screen i use. Theyve about turned them into video games. They could also ditch the active handling and traction control and all the other things that dumb ***** need to keep them on the road. So in a way they could all stand to get in touch with the originals a bit more. Keeping closer to there roots is exactly why challengers are selling more and more every year and mustangs and especially camaros are fading fast. Stopped to get my oil changed at the ram dealer on the truck and they had 3 ss camaros and one 5.0 mustang on the lot. Dealer i deal with said all 4 of them were traded on challengers. I did here rumors that the new mach 1 is suppose to get back a bit more then the other mustangs.

[geezerbiker]

To be bluntly honest.  I don't know if I could ever trust a Chrysler product again.  The last few I've had have all been crap.  Admittedly they are now all very old cars and there's been a lot of water under the bridge but those kind of bad experiences stay with a man...

Tony

[Lloyd Smale]

well to be honest Tony i switched to gm back in the 70s because of just what you said. Mopars were fast but you spent more time wrench then driving and there electrical systems were nightmares. But todays cars have all vastly improved in reliability over the older ones. I know rams seem to rate just as high in reliability as the other trucks. I go on a couple challenger fourms and from what i get the hemis are about bullet proof. even the supercharged hellcat versions last if there not flogged on. Im sure you could destroy a hemi if you drove it hard enough but then i know guys that have blown up ls chevs and 5.0 mustangs too. that 6.4 300 my son in law has has a 180k on it and before that he had an ex police hemi charger 4x4 that had 124k on it when he bought it and a 170 on it when he sold it and other then brakes and other disposables he had no problems at all with it. Neither used a drop of oil and ran as good as new. I understand though that it takes alot to change our car prejudices. I had one bad ford and about the same time my dad had a bad ford pickup and his was a new one and after how ford treated him to this day i wouldn't buy a f150 if it was half the price of a ram or chev. A good part of the reason i chose a challenger over a mustang or camaro or vette or even a charger is shown plain and simple in those two pictures bill posted above. The challenger looks ALOT like a 1970 challenger. I dont know what that big snouted mustang looks like but it sure doesnt resemble anything from the 60s or 70s and neither does the camaro or vette or especially the ugly 4 door charger. A good amount of the joy i have driving it is it looks and sounds like a 70s muscle car and even has a stick shift and it brings me back to younger better days and puts a smile on my face every time i drive it.

[geezerbiker]

Let me know if the gear box last more than 95k miles.  Chrysler transmissions are known for imploding and costing a fortune to fix.

My last Chrysler product was a 90's Dodge Daytona.  It was a total piece of crap...  I was always working on it or having it worked on.  I've never regretted buying a so much as that one.  Perhaps they make better cars than that now but I'm too sour on the company to ever buy one. 

At one time you could drive around poorer neighborhoods and see Chrysler cars of that vintage with grass growing up around them.  The cars were broken down and the repairs were too expensive so the owners just let them sit.

Tony

[Bob Riebe]

Few will admit but the major problem with any transverse front wheel drive car is if you have problems in the drive train it is expensive to fix,  far, far, far, far more than any rwd drive vehicle.
Better than 50 percent chance any damage to the front end of any kind and the drive train is screwed up.

My cousin had a Concord, a large truck backed into the turned front wheel, truned so it was stick out.

There was zero body damage but the truck hitting that tire destroyed the drive-train.
They "fixed" it, insurance, so it was could be driven but after a short time he took it back and said there is something very wrong.
So they crawled under it and really looked at it and said x, y, z, h, k, l, m, n, o, p are damaged and even if we fix it it can not be guaranteed so it is totaled.
He loved that car and has looked at old ones; I said, why so  you can have another pain the ass when some thing happens.
He now drive a fwd Chevy Equinox which with a few more fixes will have cost him more than the trade in value; only his '93 Corvette has cost him more but when it comes to cars, he is either jinxed of dumb as a pail of rocks.

Well let me tell you about the RX7 he had he was driving in a snowy winter with summer sport tires....

I have had two Plymouths and a Dodge from the sixties, mechanically they were gems, my sig. other's Dodge Duster was no problem either.

[Graybeard]

Based on personal experiences, admittedly from a long time ago, I will never again trust anything either GM or Chrysler makes.

I realize vehicles from so long ago likely have no real relationship to vehicles of today but the distrust from them is just too much for me to overcome. There is no price that can be offered that would cause me to buy either again.

After those experiences I went to Ford but when they started making their trucks so butt ugly in '97 I left them and went to Toyota. I've seen no reason to change from Toyota since. I'll almost certainly never buy another vehicle unless a wreck totals what I now have. I certainly will not wear it out in my life time.

I drive about 2500 miles a year and barely that if even that. My 2017 Tundra still has less than 10,000 on it and I'm only a few days over a month away from having owned it for 4 years.

[Lloyd Smale]

6 speed manual in my car is the same transmission they put in a hellcat and is rated for a 1000 hp, 1000 ftlbs of torque. It also has the same twin disc clutch thats rated for the same. I think some of you are still back in the K car judging mode. Yup Chrylser made some real junk back then but then chev made crap like the vega citation ect and ford brought out the pinto an fairmont too. All equaly as junky as the next. I still remember back in the 70s when chevs and fords AND toyotas rusted in a matter of two years. Back then the only pickup that didnt was a dodge (well at least a little slower anyway) Toyotas were about the worse. You saw more 70s toyota pickups with flatbeds on them then real beds. Things have came along way for all of them. Its why i say were in the golden age of the automobile and the muscle car. For money not much differnt if you factor in cost of living you get a vehicle that gets two to three times the fuel economy last 3 times longer, is MUCH more reliable, rides better handles better and is MUCH safer. Its why i chuckle at the guys that long for the good old days of 5000 dollar trucks. They forget they were making 4 bucks a hour then and were buying junk. Might be easier to work on but work on it you did. the most unreliable cars today are still light years more reliable and efficient  then the best of the 70s. Heck in the 70s you counted yourself lucky if the motor lasted 95k and if it made a 150 and was still running well it was no doubt a toyota.

Let me know if the gear box last more than 95k miles.  Chrysler transmissions are known for imploding and costing a fortune to fix.

My last Chrysler product was a 90's Dodge Daytona.  It was a total piece of crap...  I was always working on it or having it worked on.  I've never regretted buying a so much as that one.  Perhaps they make better cars than that now but I'm too sour on the company to ever buy one. 

At one time you could drive around poorer neighborhoods and see Chrysler cars of that vintage with grass growing up around them.  The cars were broken down and the repairs were too expensive so the owners just let them sit.

Tony

[Lloyd Smale]

im not that much differnt bill i have 3 vehicles. My car got 3k this summer and is being put away after this weekend. My jeep usually gets between 4 and 5k a year. The truck probably gets 10k but that my wife drives to work and even then would only probably put 5k on it but the son in law uses it more then we do. Id about bet if i was single and didnt have a son in law there id probably be around 5k a year total myself. My dad is worse then you. He bought a new suburu three years go to replace his 07 dodge dakota that had 30k on it but was getting to rusty. I drove him to a doctors appointment last week and his three year old car had 5200 miles on it. Hes 87 now and the only place he goes is to the grocery store or to camp.  I got a chuckle out of him on the way home. We came up behind a toyota pickup and he said id really like to have one of those and get rid of this car. At 87 he still isnt ready to give up. The real comical thing is hes tighter then a drum and has the money to easily buy 4 of them cash but still thinks at 87 he needs a couple hundred k in the bank in case something happens. I told him to use the share i will inherit and go and buy a blanking pickup if it even will give you a tiny bit of happiness. by the way his doctor appointment was with his VA doctor to get checked out and fill out a form from the state he has to do every year now to keep his license. He still doesnt even need glasses to drive. 

Based on personal experiences, admittedly from a long time ago, I will never again trust anything either GM or Chrysler makes.

I realize vehicles from so long ago likely have no real relationship to vehicles of today but the distrust from them is just too much for me to overcome. There is no price that can be offered that would cause me to buy either again.

After those experiences I went to Ford but when they started making their trucks so butt ugly in '97 I left them and went to Toyota. I've seen no reason to change from Toyota since. I'll almost certainly never buy another vehicle unless a wreck totals what I now have. I certainly will not wear it out in my life time.

I drive about 2500 miles a year and barely that if even that. My 2017 Tundra still has less than 10,000 on it and I'm only a few days over a month away from having owned it for 4 years.