The sales numbers are in for the final month of 2021 for Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge, and for the first time ever, the Dodge Challenger is the bestselling muscle car in the United States. For those who don’t like the term “muscle car”, the Dodge Challenger is also the bestselling sporty two-door car in the United States, beating the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro, the Chevrolet Corvette and every other 2-door coupe sold in the USA.
This is the first time that the Dodge Challenger has ever outsold both the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro in the same year, including the 1970-1974 models and the 1978-1983 models.
The Dodge Challenger strung together a trio of strong quarters to start 2021, allowing it to pull ahead of the Ford Mustang as the automakers headed into October. In the months of October, November and December, the Mustang actually outsold the Challenger by a margin of 11,350 to 10,172, but that wasn’t enough for Ford to close the gap – allowing the Challenger to claim its first annual muscle car sales title.
Dodge Challenger 2021 Sales
Dodge sold 15,096 Challengers in the first quarter, 15,052 in the second quarter, 13,994 in the third quarter and 10,172 in the fourth quarter for a total of 54,313 units sold on the year. That number represents a 3% increase over the 52,955 units sold during 2020, even as the company faced repeated production delays due to components shortages.
The past two years are down quite a bit from the 2015-2019 years, during which time the Dodge brand sold between 64,000 and 67,000 each year. However, even in this slow year, the Challenger posted better sales numbers than back in 2014, prior to the current generational refresh – and before the introduction of the Scat Pack and Hellcat models.
Ford Mustang 2021 Sales
Ford sold 17,274 Mustangs in the first quarter of 2021, followed by 14,675 in the second, 9,115 in the third and 11,350 in the fourth, leading to a total of 52,414 units sold throughout 2021. That is down 14% from the year before, but that 14% slide coupled with the Challenger’s improvement of 3% caused the Mustang to drop from the top spot. The Mustang claimed the sale title every year from 2015 through 2020 after the Camaro held the title from 2010 through 2014.
In addition to the 2021 numbers representing a 14% drop from 2020, Mustang numbers have declined sharply from where they were a few years back. In 2016, Ford sold 105,932 Mustangs, so in five years, sales of the famous pony car have declined by more than 50%.
Chevrolet Camaro 2021 Sales
The Chevrolet Camaro posted an all-time low for annual sales with just 21,893 units sold through 2021. Prior to this, 2020 was the worst sales year (29,775) and before that, the worst Camaro sales year came back in 1990, when 34,986 units were sold.
At this point, the Camaro is coasting off into history and outside of the Chevy enthusiast community, no one really cares.
Meanwhile, in a shrinking segment amidst a global pandemic and unprecedented component shortages, Dodge posted positive sales growth, allowing it to claim the first ever muscle car sales title for the mighty Challenger.
