Camaro Spanks Mustang Again; Consumer Reports Tells Buyers to Quit It

Stealing this from just about every other auto news site, the Chevrolet Camaro has outsold the Ford Mustang for the third consecutive month.  Camaro sales totaled around 8,700 versus the Mustang’s mere 6,300.  There’s something deeper there than just the numbers: GM execs placed annual sales projections at 90,000 units for the Camaro about two years ago, which was considerably lower than the Mustang’s first-year sales.  The strong quarter-long sales are surprising given the recession, so congrats to the Chevy team for its good work.

We can’t say the same about the ‘Stang.  Despite the 2010 update (and excellent reviews), the Ford’s sales slide has been considerable.  Sales are about a fourth below what they were last year.  That’s terrible news given the ’09 model year being fairly weak.  Take this into account: the ’05 “hit” year came to about 160,000+ units sold for the debut edition.  Compare that to forty years ago when Mustang sales were pegged at 559,000 units.  Big difference.

While consumers may be all hot for the Camaro, Consumer Reports is not.  The displeased consumer magazine, as well as Autoblog and Car and Driver, insists the Mustang is clearly the superior vehicle.  The Mustang earned a 7 pt. advantage in comparison testing, while the Dodge Challenger (as usual) scored very poorly.  Consumer Reports fell short of recommending any of the pony cars, instead proclaiming the Prius as the greatest car ever produced.