zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
The Ford Mustang Is Eating the Chevy Camaro's Lunch
The Ford Mustang Is Eating the Chevy Camaro's Lunch-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:09:48

The has fallen from glory. After a five year reign over its U.S. sports car kingdom, the Camaro has been quickly usurped by the Ford Mustang—and then by the aging Dodge Challenger. Sales are , and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be change in the near future.

Things started changing around 2014. Trying to find new and innovative ways to stay on top of their game, Chevy opted to redesign the Camaro. People were interested, so why not class things up a bit? Surely, people will be willing to pay more money for a better performing car.

It didn’t work. Ford quickly scooped up the customers who couldn’t make the jump up to the next rung of the pricing ladder, and Chevy has been suffering the consequences.

In , Al Oppenheiser, the chief engineer of the Camaro, voiced his intentions:

“Frankly, [Mustang] have been eating our lunch. The low [transaction prices] of a four-cylinder ... that’s where the bulk of the sales are and that’s where our pricing strategy needed improvement. We plan to go head to head — and win.”

This year, we’ve seen price cuts across the board in Camaro’s products. You’re likely to pay about $1000 less for a Camaro 1LS, 1LT, or 2LT as compared to last year’s price. And if you were one of the people who really liked the performance-oriented features, there are still going to be models that appeal to you. It’s just not going to be Chevy’s main marketing scheme anymore.

But that just… doesn’t really matter. Karl Brauer, the executive publisher of Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, said that the Camaro “just doesn’t have the personality that the other two cars offer.” That’s a pretty hard blow. The last thing you want to hear is that your sports car is just plain ol’ boring compared to everything else on the market.

The 2.0 Turbo 1LE package is specifically intended to compete with Mustang’s EcoBoost, but at a handsome $30,000, it’s sitting at the higher end of the price range. More affordable, yes—but still pushing it.

But Steve Majoros, car and crossover marketing director of Chevy, has another idea. He thinks the sheer volume of cars in the low-to-mid part of the sports car market means people are almost overwhelmed with options.

The problem is, as per Brauer, the Camaro’s 2019 upgrades still didn’t address problems with visibility and styling, two big factors that have been a part of the reason potential buyers might set their sights on something else.

It doesn’t seem like anyone really has an answer as to why Camaros aren’t selling, so we want to turn it over to you guys, the car fiends and car buyers of the world. You’re the people Chevy is trying—and, seemingly, failing—to market to.

Where’s Camaro dropping the ball, and why are Mustangs picking up all the lost customers? What’s keeping you out of Chevy’s market? We here at Jalopnik want to know your perspective, the observations y’all make out there in the real world.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
For $4,200, Meet The Rodeo Clown
For $4,200, Meet The Rodeo Clown
The advertising character Joe Isuzu gained fame for constantly lying about Isuzu’s cars’ capabilities. One thing’s for sure, no matter what Joe might have said about today’s custom Rodeo, it couldn’t possibly exceed the audacity of the truth. Sometimes of course, as Jack Nicholson so concisely encapsulated in A Few...
Aug 26, 2026
Help This Jalopnik Reader Decide Which Awesome German Car To Buy
Help This Jalopnik Reader Decide Which Awesome German Car To Buy
Jalopnik reader Kurt emailed us yesterday, as people often do, seeking some car buying advice. Luckily for us, Kurt isn't struggling over whether to buy a Camry or an Accord; he's considering three very badass and very different German performance cars. Kurt says he lives in New Hampshire and is...
Aug 26, 2026
For $11,500, Be Rude, Loud, And Obnoxious
For $11,500, Be Rude, Loud, And Obnoxious
The seller of today’s 914 suggests the V8-powered car lacks gentility and will scare your dog. My dog’s scared of having baths so I don’t know if that’s an accurate indicator of its meanness, but you can still use that to determine if its price is doggone scary. You’ve heard...
Aug 26, 2026
For $1,900, Let Your Freakiata Flag Fly
For $1,900, Let Your Freakiata Flag Fly
While the Ariel Atom takes the prize for open-everything motoring, today’s minimalist Miata will give it a run for its money. It’s up to you to say whether this mad Mazda is worth running for your money. Yesterday’s turned out to be the lastroghini thing anybody’d drop eight grand on,...
Aug 26, 2026
For $8,000, Put Your Ass In The Astroghini
For $8,000, Put Your Ass In The Astroghini
The Discovery Channel’s Ultimate Car Build Off pitted two shops against one another in the contest to build an “innovative vehicle” and win one hundred grand. Today’s Astro is a typical result, but now that it’s been ultimately built off will you find its price to be the ultimate blow...
Aug 26, 2026
For $48,000, This Is One Rare Bimmer - Or Is It?
For $48,000, This Is One Rare Bimmer - Or Is It?
Today’s M3 is claimed to be one of only 5 convertibles in the US. It also comes with a bit of a mystery so while you’ll get to weigh in on how much the seller is asking, you’ll also get to decide if its really a con he is masking....
Aug 26, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved