Chevrolet Camaro – Is the end of the icon near?

One thing is certain: Chevrolet Camaro sales are far behind where the manufacturer says they should be. This could be a problem in Chevrolet sooner or later.

A horse car like no other: the Chevrolet Camaro

The Chevrolet Camaro is an icon in the horse car world. It was originally developed to compete with the Ford Mustang. Later, over time, the pony car became a real legend, not only on the American scene, and brought powerful variants such as the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with 650 hp, which was increased to 1,000 hp with filters like Hennessey.

The sixth-generation model has been around since 2016 and is perhaps the most successful model in the Camaro lineup to date. In our long-term test, the model was convincing in almost all respects. But the Camaro’s future is unfortunately in jeopardy because Chevrolet is facing a serious Camaro problem. It doesn’t matter how good the car is, if it doesn’t sell often enough, the manufacturer doesn’t make any money from it.

When the muscle car segment (or the pony car segment) occupies as small a segment as it does now, it is very important to be able to sell a domestic foreign car as a top seller. However, this is not the case with the Camaro, on the contrary, sales are stagnant. Third quarter 2021 sales reports from Dodge, Ford and Chevrolet confirmed that in black and white.

Damaged car part

The motor part of the muscle is generally ill. Sales fell 23 percent in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2021 — nearly a quarter is the fastest decline. Sales of the Chevrolet Camaro actually fell by an astounding 32.13 percent year-over-year. By the end of the third quarter, 15,084 units had been sold in the United States. In the previous year there were still 22,226 units.

But the Ford Mustang also recorded a 13.8 percent sales decline for the same period compared to 2020. Only Dodge retained the top two spots with the Challenger and Charger. Sales here enjoyed sales increases of 14.67 percent for the Charger and 15.1 percent for the Challenger, while Ford and Chevy recorded declines.

Dodge holds 65.3 percent of the market share in the United States, Ford has 25.4 percent of the Mustang and only 9.3 percent of the Chevrolet Camaro. It’s amazing how well Dodge models can sell, even though they’re all on older platforms than the Camaro and Mustang and should be discontinued in the medium term. The reason for this is the switch to a new era of electric muscle cars at Dodge – similar to what Ford has already achieved with the Mach-E.

Europe, once a car-loving continent, is now giving way to large-scale combustion engines and is no longer available as a viable market.

One more time is possible? Maybe!

Unfortunately, the Mustang and Camaro will eventually die, which we personally find very unfortunate. Because the old Mustang and – and especially – the Camaro were able to prove themselves in various tests.

The last revised Camaro is said to arrive in 2024, while the Ford Mustang will receive another major facelift for the 2023 model year, which should be accompanied by a near-complete redesign.

However, this cannot be seen as a certainty, especially in Chevrolet, because if the sales figures continue to fall, decisions can be made quickly against the modification of the Camaro, which would mean an early end. It remains to be hoped that the icon does not have to suffer this fate and that the new version dares against all odds.

The next big hurdle for the region is stricter emissions regulations, which could also mean banning imports. Homologation is expensive and always depends on the model in question. This is why the Corvette C8 is officially sold in Germany, but the Camaro is not, even though it uses the same 6.2 liter V8 as the car.

It is still offered by other importers, but that may change soon. Then the only way that works is your personal way, with all the restrictions and higher costs for individual imports as well as individual purchases and much more, which should not only bring tears to your eyes in financial terms. Tough times for all old school car lovers and horse car or muscle car lovers.

Text / Image: NewCarz

Our editor-in-chief has been creating driving reports since 2015 and places all cars carefully – with attention to detail. Nothing escapes him. He maintains his goal without compromise. In addition to SUVs and station wagons, Roberto’s specialty is alternative driving concepts. But his heart also likes to beat to the beat of the V8.