Market Fragmentation Gives 2010 Sales Title to Camaro

As 2010 comes to a close, it looks like the Grinch is showing up in Dearborn, MI, to take back the pony car sales trophy. On the other side of Detroit, it now looks pretty certain that Chevrolet is going to walk away with the title for the first time in 25 years.

While Ford recovered in the horsepower race, with its introduction of new engines for the 2011 model, it wasn’t enough to overcome the momentum that Camaro sales had established. November sales for the two were about equal, save a 71 unit difference favoring GM. Year to date numbers tell the story, though. At the end of November, there were 75,685 Camaros with new homes, while the Ford tally was 68,264 Mustangs. Year end projections are calling for about 79,850 Camaros and 72,357 Mustangs – a ten percent lead for the bow ties.

Not to be ignored in the big picture, Dodge delivered 2,497 Challengers in November, while their 11-month total is up 44% over last year, to 33,461 units.

In these numbers, there is both good news and bad. When Ford had the market all to their own, the 2005 market was 160,975 cars. That grew about 3.5% the following year, to 166,530. Then came the tough times. Competition, gasoline prices and economic turmoil all took their toll, dropping Ford’s pony car shipments to around 120,000 in 2008. The last time that Mustang saw 5-digit monthly sales numbers was in the summer of that year.

The good news, and there is some of that, comes when we look at the total market sales of the three competitors. Totaling all the projections for year end, which simply assume that December sales will be about the same as November, the pony car market has grown by about 13 percent, compared to 2006.

So, GM will bask in well deserved glory for a year’s results they’ve not seen in a long time. Next year stands to be another exciting one, with developments announced from all three manufacturers. Convertible Camaros, 392-cid Challengers and Boss Mustangs are all set to tempt us as the Sirens of Greek mythology did Homer… hopefully, with a better result for all.

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