The future of the Camaro, Mustang and Challenger: what we know



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Sport utility vehicles first came to pick up our sedans. Now they are picking on our sports coupes.

American coupes and two-door cabriolets with virtually unusable rear seats, usually called pony cars or muscle cars and considered by some as sports cars, have long been difficult to sell in the US market. Now, with the Detroit Three SUVs, such as the Chevrolet Blazer RS, the Ford Edge ST and even the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, the future of this segment is seriously uncertain.

Consider: In the 2015 calendar year, when US auto sales reached 17.4 million for the first time (followed by two record years), combined sales of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and the Dodge Challenger were 266,216. In 2018, the US market accounted for 17.3 million total sales, but the three ponies accounted for only 193,134. This is a collective decline of 27.5%.

Since at least the 1960s, constant updates of design and performance have been key to the success of both sports gates. The idea is that after the first model year of almost all expressive and ambitious cars, anyone who wants one has one. Manufacturers of the Mustang, Challenger and Camaro are working overtime to keep these models cool, but sooner or later, the time has come for a new replacement. Here's all we know about the future of these cars as we approach a decade in which electrification, battery life and car sharing will do much more to thwart the auto sector than the proliferation of SUVs.

a car parked at the edge of a road© Automobile Magazine Staff

Chevrolet Camaro

We have been hearing for weeks that General Motors executives are wondering if there is a future for the Chevrolet Camaro. Now, Muscle Cars & Trucks reports that the development of a seventh generation Camaro is paused and that the car will be abandoned after the 2023 model year. We believe that the "hiatus" is perhaps a bit too optimistic, even though the Camaro had already made a hiatus between 2003 and 2008.

When the fifth generation of the 2009 Camaro debuted, it reached the peak of pony car sales, even surpassing the Ford Mustang. But the all-new Mustang-15 has again passed for good, surpassing that of that year from 122,349 to 77,502. Dodge sold 66,356 Challengers by 15. Since then, while Hellcats and Demons at low volume perfected his halo, the Challenger outpaced the Camaro in sales; Last year they were 75,482 Mustangs, 66,716 Challengers and only 50,963 Camaros.

While the 2009 Camaro borrowed visual cues inside and outside the 1969 Camaro, the first proposals were to completely rethink the car for the sixth generation with a Gen II look, 1970.5. Instead, this redesign has proved far too conservative for a segment that is so stylish. The problem has been exacerbated by an even darker interior and reduced visibility, which forces drivers to rely heavily on modern camera and proximity sensor technology.

There is another reason to permanently suspend the Camaro: it allows Chevrolet to dedicate the car's resources to upgrades and upgrades of the new mid-engine Corvette, whose base price will be competitive with the Ford. Mustang Shelby GT350. There is no reason to continue competing with Mustang EcoBoost four-cylinder cabriolets, which are popular for most rental fleets in California and Florida.

Look for the Chevrolet Camaro on MSN Autos | Find a Chevrolet Camaro near you

a blue car on a race track© Automobile Magazine Staff

Ford Mustang

The new rear-drive platform that underpins the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator 2020 has been designed to increase the volume and, hence, profitability, of the new generation of Ford Mustang, which is the automaker's latest vehicle to not own a truck or SUV. sold in North America. But when we attended the Explorer 20 first training program, the engineers said the longitudinal engine architecture was designed from the ground up to be a sport utility platform.

A hybrid Mustang is expected next year as a 2021 model and this car has always been planned for the existing architecture. This suggests that the Explorer / Aviator – based Mustang would arrive in time for perhaps the 2023 model year, with the hybrid powertrain postponed.

The Mustang-inspired four-door fully electric four-door crossover will not be associated with any of these models in mechanical or architectural terms.

It seems now that the current Ford Mustang will continue to be at least by 2025, if not later. The Explorer / Aviator architecture is not as flexible as Ford thought. Therefore, if the Mustang finally migrates to its bones, it will become closer and closer to the Dodge Challenger.

The current Mustang measures 188.5 inches in total length and 54.3 inches in height, on a 107.1-inch wheelbase. In comparison, the Challenger measures 197.9 inches long and 57.5 inches tall and has a wheelbase of 116.2 inches, a result of sharing a firewall with the Charger and the Chrysler 300. The Camaro is close to the Mustang, with a length of 188.3 inches. and 53.1 inches tall, and with a wheelbase of 110.7 inches.

A Challenger-sized Mustang would make it a tough sell in the European Union, where Ford says the car has become the best-selling sports car in the region. But that could be the future of what will probably be the two-car segment, consisting of Mustang and Challenger. Consider this new-generation Mustang as a sort of retro reference to its 1971 ancestor, who had left his compact Falcon platform to that located below the average size of Turin. Of course, this 1971-1973 model was replaced by the 1974 Mustang II based on Pinto.

If the Ford Mustang does not migrate to the Explorer / Aviator platform by the year 2026 model, we bet that Ford is jumping the step in favor of constant updates to retain the current architecture . These SUVs will age after 26, and their bases need to be replaced during the model year, according to one source.

Look for the Ford Mustang on MSN Autos | Find a Ford Mustang near you

a car parked on the side of a building© Automobile Magazine Staff

Dodge Challenger

The Fiat Chrysler muscle / pony has had a jagged future, full of often-canceled replacements. The Challenger debuted in 2008 in SRT version, with the full line added for 2009, and Dodge had planned a new "Barracuda" in the early 2010s that would be smaller than Challenger, albeit on the same platform. It was a familiar project of Fiat Chrysler's design director, Ralph Gilles.

According to Fiat Chrysler's second five-year plan presented in 2014 by then CEO Sergio Marchionne, the Dodge Challenger and Charger were to migrate to Alfa Romeo's Giorgio rear platform, on which is built the Giulia. But the delays and the additional costs related to the development of this platform put the Dodges on the ice.

At the third presentation of Fiat Chrysler's five-year plan last year in Balocco, Italy, Marchionne confirmed that Giorgio's Dodges were deactivated and that the constant updates of the Challenger / Charger / Chrysler 300 platform would keep models in the state until 2020. Fiat Chrysler has long since developed the chassis, inherited from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class during the DaimlerChrysler years, to the point that she considers that the platform belongs to her. For example, the AWD system was added to the Dodge Challenger in 2017. Earlier in the decade, Fiat Chrysler had to pay Daimler post-Chrysler license fees for the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 AWD systems.

At the same time, ZF Friedrichshafen announced last week that Fiat Chrysler had passed the second-largest order of the transmission provider's eight-speed automatic system for models with longitudinal-engine, rear-wheel drive and AWD. The order includes a "significant share of hybrid transmissions", which means that Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep, as well as Alfa and Maserati, will likely offer 48-volt systems such as Ram vans and Jeep Wrangler / Gladiator.

Fiat Chrysler now considers that the plus size of the Dodge is an advantage. We therefore do not anticipate any significant downsizing when the next Challenger arrives, probably by 2022.

Find the Dodge Challenger on MSN Autos | Find a Dodge Challenger near you

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