America's perennial pony-car favourite, the Ford Mustang, has been toppled in the US sales race by its Chevrolet Camaro archrival for the first time in 25 years.
The last time the Camaro outsold the Mustang was in 1985, but the latest sales data from the US shows the former notched up 81,371 deliveries, while the 'Stang found 73,356 buyers. Trailing in a distant was the Dodge Challenger with 36,791 sales.
The current (fifth-generation) Camaro was introduced to the market in 2009 after the nameplate had laid dormant for seven years, and the rebirth has clearly been justified.
Camaro sales in 2010 were up 32 per cent on the previous year (although it was only on sale for the last two-thirds of 2009), while Mustang sales were up 10 per cent. The Challenger, meanwhile, only managed to hold its ground.
Unlike the Mustang, the Camaro is offered only in hardtop configuration, but a convertible version is imminent, and also in the pipeline is a high-performance Z28, as well as an uprated V6 motor for the entry-level model.
According to US reports, demand for the Camaro is now starting to level off after the huge initial pent-up demand, but the addition of the new model variants should help keep interest alive.
The Ford Mustang was not too long ago reinvigorated with a new 5.0-litre V8, and it was later supplemented by a modern-day Boss 302 targeting hardcore performance nuts.
Dodge's Challenger has been ticking along quietly, but the Mopar mob has just started making a song and dance about the new SRT8 392 flagship (pictured), which allegedly ran the quarter mile at California's Infineon Raceway in 12.44sec at 176km/h -- quick numbers by any standard.
The company is also boasting of dyno readouts that indicate 313kW at the rear wheels (note: frictional losses sap about 15 per cent of power) and 568Nm of torque at the rear hoops for the brawny 6.4-litre V8.
The entry-level Challenger also gains a performance injection thanks to an amped-up version of the 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 that we've already sampled in the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
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