Rippin' It!

February (2010) sales figures were just released so naturally I looked at the Challenger, Camaro and Mustang to see how the pony cars were fairing for the big three.

And the winner is…Chevrolet, pretty much going away.

Chevrolet clearly has a hit on its hands with the Camaro having outpaced even the Ford Mustang in sales over the last 8 months.  Based on sales reports since April, 2009 the Camaro sales have outpaced Mustang sales by some 6,000 units.

Currently Camaro sales have been reported at 73,051 units although this Camaro blog is reporting the 100,000th Camaro VIN has been assigned to a 2SS Inferno Orange Camaro now rolling down the assembly line.

So how does this relate to the Challenger?

Well sales wise the Mustang and Camaro are both kicking the crap out of the Challenger… at least on the sales floor.

In the first seven months of production Camaro sales topped the total sales for all the Gen III Challengers.   Likewise the Mustang was just under 9 months there were more Mustangs sold than Gen III Challengers.  It now appears the Chevrolet Camaro is going to replace the Ford Mustang as the “every other car you meet” car.

Since the Challenger sales began being reported (May, 2008) the reported sales have been 47,132 units compared to the Mustangs 132,827 (a 3:1 ratio) and the Camaro’s 73,051 (1.5:1 ratio) units.   Over the last 10 months the average unit sales has been:  Challengers @ 1,866; Mustangs @ 5,894; and Camaro’s @7,244.

Kudo’s to Chevrolet for not only making the Camaro but for promoting and selling them with success.  If they beat out the Mustang in overall annual sales, and it looks like they will, they have certainly done something few would have thought possible.

For me, I’m glad I’m driving something a little more unique.

Chrysler posted its recent sales figures for February and the good news is sales of the Challenger are up, the bad news is they are still down from sales this time last February.   Chrysler reported the sale of 2,145 Challengers during the month while this time last year those numbers were 3,283.

Slow economy?  Not according to General Motors.  The Chevrolet Camaro has posted sales increases over each of the last nine months beating out the Mustang (a tall order in itself) and Nissan 350Z.   The Camaro factory (Oshawa plant) is working overtime just meet the demand.

Ford Mustang sales were up from both last month and from this time last year.  Ford dealerships moved 5,115 Mustangs last month compared to 2,990 for this time last year.   Overall Ford has put 9,862 Mustangs on the road this year compared to 5,934 for this time last year.  An increase of over 60%.

Kind of hard to blame the slow Challenger sales on the economy when Ford puts 60% more on the road and Chevy is having to work overtime at its plant just to keep up with the Camaro demand.

Rather than a slow economy I’m more inclined to think the problem is Ford and Chevrolet are willing to sell their flagship cars while Dodge dealerships are insistent on adding outlandish and insulting “market adjustments” to its Challengers hoping to lure in some sucker willing to pay sticker ++.

My recent experience with one such dealership (AutoMax Dodge in Shawnee, Oklahoma) was entertaining although infuriating at the same time.  They had Challengers on the lot with $8,000 over sticker markups and went so far as to offer me $8,000 for my 2009 SE Challenger with less than 15K on the odometer while at the same time telling me their Challenger was worth $5,000 over sticker.

Dodge could sell more Challengers if the would shutter up these kinds of rip-off dealerships.  If I hadn’t set my heart on a Dodge R/T Track Pak car I would have added +1 to the Mustang sales.

Surfing around a forum the other day I came across a message that included a picture of the engine compartment of an SRT-8 that looked pretty awesome. The owner had put stainless steel covers over the braking system, coolant tank, fuse box and had a SS firewall insert.

PT Boutique Stainless Steel

Several people asked where these items came from and a link was provided to PT Boutique which appears to be a site primarily for the PT Cruiser but also has some pretty cool under-the-hood stuff for Challengers.

One of my favorite components, and moving way up on the top of my wish list is the stainless steel covers for the brake system and the coolant cover.

The prices seem reasonable for many of the parts but some, well not-so-much.  For example the functional hood scoops on this site are priced at nearly $95 although they can be had many other places in the $60 range.

If you cruise over to the site be sure and check out the ‘vented hood panel’.  $326 is no small change but wow, is that a cool deal or what!