The Chevy Camaro accounted for 7,457 deliveries in April 2016 in the United States, an increase of 7.93 percent year-over-year. Notably, the Camaro was the only pony car to post a sales increase, placing it in second place in the April pony car sales race behind the Ford Mustang and ahead of the Dodge Challenger.
During the first four months of 2016, Camaro sales have increased 7.47 percent to 26,038 units — lower than the Mustang but higher than the Challenger.
Sales Numbers - Camaro vs. Challenger vs. Mustang Deliveries - April 2016 - United States
| MODEL | APR 16 / APR 15 | APRIL 16 | APRIL 15 | YTD 16 / YTD 15 | YTD 16 | YTD 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAMARO | +7.93% | 7,457 | 6,909 | +7.47% | 26,038 | 24,229 |
| CHALLENGER | -6.91% | 6,303 | 6,771 | -1.31% | 22,431 | 22,728 |
| MUSTANG | -3.18% | 12,726 | 13,144 | -0.22% | 42,862 | 42,955 |
| TOTAL | -1.26% | 26,486 | 26,824 | +1.58% | 91,331 | 89,912 |
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Comments
The sales increase is great but still far behind Mustang which is running away with the volume trophy this year.
The only reasonable explaination is that potential customers are not warming up to the design (outside and especially inside) of new Camaro because it certainly has the performance chops to beat the pants of Mustang and the Challenger is not in the same class performance wise.
Every review I have seen has panned the outward visability also knocked for the exterior being more evolutionary than revolutionary.
jamdown don’t forget that the 6th Gen Ford Mustang’s exterior design was ripped on for being “too European”…..some ppl are never happy.
IMO both the current Mustang and Camaro look pretty good…..just look at all the weak looking econoboxes and CUV’s on the road.
I suspect that GM NA’s intentional strategy to decrease sales to daily rental fleets is playing into this as well, as is the current shortage of inventory. The car itself is the best in the segment and I expect its sales to grow in double-digit increments throughout the remainder of this year.
I wholeheartedly agree that the current gen. Camaro is the best in the segment however, sale shortages and a reduction in fleet deliveries do not account for the burgeoning volume gap between it and the Mustang.
Also inventory shortage is not accurate as the new model was introduced in Nov./15 so in 6 months there is enough inventory to go around. The take rate is dramatically reduced. Why?
Relative pricing? Comparable Mustangs cheaper.
Jamdown, there is still an issue with inventory. Heck, some of the initial orders (pre-launch) haven’t been filled yet, despite being placed 5-6 months ago.
Then there is the topic of trim levels. The fifth gen had a lower starting price point as a result of the LS trim level. By comparison, the sixth gen starts at the much better-configured and yet more expensive LT.
The focus within GM NA right now is profit per unit rather than straight up volume, as can be evidenced by a laser focus to cut rental fleet sales and by not offering lavish sales incentives. They’re selling these things at sticker or above, in most cases… and demand still outpaces supply.
Then there is the fact that the Mustang is coming off its 50th anniversary, which I’m sure is still having a positive net impact on sales volume.
Taken as a whole, I think those reasons are enough to account for the difference in sales volume. Though I truly believe that we will see the Camaro inch towards the 10k per month mark before the year ends.
If this infact a inventory issue then shame on GM for not rectifying this before the prime spring buying season.
Consider that volume is up only 7.5% year over year. 2015 was the last year of production for Gen. six so naturally sales were lower than normal as potential buyers awaited the new model. There should have been pent up demand for the new model and given that the fact that it has a significant performance advantage over the competition and sales should be significantly better period.
Mustang selling a little less than its first year is pretty normal. Camaros selling a little more than its previous model on its first year also seems normal… can’t see Ford selling that many rentals a month.
The real reason for the gap is simple. The new Camaro did not go into production till late November around Thanksgiving. The cars did reach dealers till late Dec to January with the soft start up.
Ford on the other hand started production by late July and had cars in dealer by late August. There were few changes so there was no soft start up either.
We much consider change overs are not a given for September like they used to be and to count yearly sales this year is difficult to read as sales of the old model were off due to people waiting for the new model.
Also cars are in short supply at many dealers yet as like my local dealer can not keep a SS more than a day or so before it is sold or already is sold. They have a few V6 cars sitting around a little longer but generally they linger little.
To get a good read on this you will really need to just look at the months the new cars go head to head and count a full year of production last year.
Fleet sales really were not high on the Camaro but when you are missing August to December for production of the new car it really hurts.
We saw the same thing when the Mustang came out as GM for the same time was outselling the Ford at first as they were still in the old car and then as supplies and then the next year arrived the numbers went to them.
You have to take all the factors into account here not just yearly totals as they do not reflect what really is going on.
I expect by the end of this year the race will pretty even and next year the Camaro will regain the lead.
Styling has little to do with it as if you have seen the new car in person it is a much cleaner and better packaged car. This segment is like trucks few people change sides they just wait for the newest models.
Scott3, in regards to the 6th gen Camaro’s style. I agree it is a much cleaner looking car. The size is great and the lines look good. It also fits nicely into the “look and style” of the rest of 2016 chevy line up.
I think the refresh on the 5th gen helped it’s appearance but mainly there was only so much that could help it because of the large size. Even though the style only “evolved” on the 6th gen, the dimensions of the car really now makes it look nice.
It boggles my mind that sometimes the Camaro’s appearance takes some flack. it may not be perfect but it’s leaps and bounds better looking than most automobiles out there.
I don’t care what the sales numbers or mean, they new Camaro is the best car in its class hands down!
I agree but why are sales so soft compared to the Mustang when the last gen. Camaro handily beat the Mustang in volume and on the track.
The current gen. Camaro has a performance superiority but that is not being translated into a sales superiority.
6 out of 10 buyers disagree with you. That % could change before the year is over, but both cars are magnificent, IMHO.
In my book, this is more about how strong the sales and demand for the Mustang is. Ford took a different tactic, they decided to use their V6 version as the fleet special and planned it that way all along, with the 2.3L turbo and 5.0 V8 focused on retail. It’s hard to argue that it’s not working and working very well.
GM has been pulling back on fleet sales and focusing on the higher profit retail sales, which is another way to go. The difference is……………without a “designed for fleet” version like Ford has, it will be extremely difficult for the Camaro to come close to the Mustang in overall sales volume. The facts don’t lie, Mustang averaging about 4200 units a month more for 2016.