The sales numbers for the fourth quarter of 2022 are in and for the second year in a row, the Dodge Challenger beat the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro in annual sales. This was announced in a Stellantis press release earlier today and including the sales numbers for the Dodge Challenger. We have also gotten the Q4 and annual sales numbers for the Chevrolet Camaro, but the Ford Mustang numbers for December have not yet been published*. That being said, the Challenger has such a huge lead that there is no way that the Mustang’s December sales numbers can close the gap enough for Ford to win the muscle car sales title for 2022.
*Update: The Ford sales numbers have been published and this article has been updated below to include exact sales numbers for all three segment contenders.
Challenger Booms in Q4
Challenger sales were up 27% during the fourth quarter of 2022 when compared to the same period in 2021, presumably due to the rush to buy up the last of the available 2022 model year vehicles ahead of the arrival of the 2023 models. Dodge sold 12,966 examples of the Challenger in the months of October, November and December. Thanks to this big year-over-year increase in the fourth quarter, the Challenger finished the year up 1% compared to 2021. That isn’t much, but in a declining market, any positive growth over the course of a full year is great news.
Like Dodge, Chevrolet reports sales on a quarterly basis and during the fourth quarter, GM sold just 5,475 examples of the Camaro. That is down 19.6% compared to Q4 of 2021, but realistically, the Camaro sales numbers are too low to really make any difference in the discussion of a sales title. The Challenger ended up selling more units in any two quarters than Chevy sold Camaros throughout all of 2022.
Ford reports their sales figures on a monthly basis and during the fourth quarter of 2022, the Motor Company sold 3,848 Mustangs in October, 3,259 Mustangs in November and 3,861 Mustangs in December. When you add those up, we get a quarterly total of 10,968 (down 15% from Q4 2021), allowing the Dodge Challenger to claim the Q4 2022 segment sales title.
The Back-to-Back Muscle Car Sales Title
The Dodge Challenger moved a total of 55,060 units in 2022, up 1% from the 54,314 Challengers sold in 2021. I expect to see even more Challengers built and sold for the 2023 model year (provided that the company can get enough parts), with it being the last for this era of Dodge performance cars.
The Ford Mustang entered the fourth quarter of 2022 trailing the Dodge Challenger in annual sales by over 5,000 units, so Ford needed to put together a very strong Q4 to have a shot at reclaiming the annual segment sales race. That did not happen, as Ford posted another very poor quarter for the proper (gasoline powered, two-door) Mustang. With 10,968 units sold in the fourth quarter, the Mustang ended up with a total of 47,566 units sold in 2022. That number represents a decline of almost 10% from 2021, so with the Mustang falling and the Challenger climbing in 2022, Dodge cruised to another annual segment sales title.
The Chevrolet Camaro is actually up by a pretty impressive figure, growing from 21,893 units sold in 2021 to 24,652 units sold in 2022. Unfortunately, with just 24,652 units sold, the Challenger outsold it by more than two-to-one.
Of course, with these three cars making up the most popular two-door segment in the United States, the Challenger is also the bestselling sporty 2-door in America.
