2011 has been a banner year for the Chevrolet Camaro. Through 6 months it has led in sales versus the 2nd place Ford Mustang and third place Dodge Challenger. Through May sales figures the popular Camaro had outsold the mustang by 33% according to a Bloomberg report. Every month it has led in sales versus its rivals, there were some months were the mustang had closed the gap but couldn’t overtake the Camaro in sales.
In May it only got worse for Ford. The Camaro sold 9,451 vehicles, where as Ford was just able to move 6,607 vehicles. However, according to this Bloomberg report things might be getting even more dire for Ford’s Flat Rock, Michigan Plant, where they manufacture the Mustang , “The Mustang on its current sales pace isn’t enough to sustain Flat Rock,” according to Jeff Schuster, from J.D. Power & Associates. Schuster went on to tell Bloomberg, “The Camaro has a more modern feel and seems to draw more attention from a younger age group.”
The report went on to give a warning for how bad things could possibly be for Ford, “Even if Mustang manages to overtake Camaro, Ford will never sell enough of its muscle car to fill up Flat Rock, Schuster said. The factory has the capacity to build 240,000 vehicles a year, Mazda has said. Last year, Ford sold 73,716 Mustangs.”
The facility at Flat Rock is down to just one shift, and if the factory closes that will be an additional 1700 employees who will be unemployed. In an area near Detroit that has been hit extremely hard by the economy, it’s clear that Ford needs to make changes to save the Flat Rock Factory.
Of course we all understand that the rivalry between the Mustang and Camaro will always be fueled. According to the report, Ford is already planning to introduce a redesigned Ford Mustang in 2014 with hopes of regaining the top spot versus the Camaro. They will have a lot to overtake as it is clear that the public is infatuated with the new Camaro.