Camaro Officially Outsells The Mustang in 2010- Ends Ford’s 24 Year Reign Atop the Pony Car Market
For close to a quarter-century Ford has maintained a stronghold on the American Pony Car market with its Mustang, but 2010 was the year that all changed. In the first full year of sales for the Camaro revival, the Mustang was unseated from its throne.
In 2010, the Camaro sold 81,299 to the Mustang's 73,716. That, ladies and gentlemen, is not only a victory, but a solid one at that. Of course, neither vehicle was ultimately hurting, as each saw their sales increase from the year prior. The Camaro by an impressive 32%, and the Mustang by 11%. This should not come as any news, however, as the Pony Car race has bolstered, and even been a large part of the revitalization of the American automotive industry. This is surprising, as it comes at a time when lawmakers are trying to push the American public towards the antithesis of the Pony Car-smaller, more fuel efficient, less powerful vehicles, like the Chevy Volt.
Of course, Ford contributes their loss in the sales race to the fact that this was the first full year of sales for the Camaro. This accreditation lacks the foresight of the fact that the Camaro performed this impressive feat with basically only two models on sale. The Mustang, however, had 7 vehicle models in its line-up. With the release of the Camaro and Camaro SS Convertibles this year, as well as the Z28 in the near future, one might speculate (with relative safety) that the Camaro will begin a new reign atop the vehicles sales race in their class. Further proof towards this are the numerous accolades and awards that have been bestowed upon the Camaro since its release. Whatever the case may be, 2010 was a great year not just for the Camaro, but for American Pony Cars in general, and the future only looks like it will be even brighter.
Camaro Rated Highest J.D. Power “APEAL” for its Class
Every year J.D. Power does its APEAL Survey to test how much people enjoy "owning and driving their vehicles". This year, the American automakers made some progress that has been unseen in 13 years, and passed the foreign, and specifically Japanese, automotive companies as the most coveted group. One of the vehicles leading the charge for the American auto companies was the Camaro, which should come as no suprise as the Camaro's list of accolades only seems to grow with each day that passes. This is a great reward though, becomes it comes from owners of all vehicle varieties, discussing how they feel about their vehicles, and shows just how strongly the Camaro stacks up to, and surpasses, its competitors.
Quote from the APEAL Survey:
"...This year's study asked 76,000 owners 90 days after purchasing their 2010 model-year cars "how gratifying their new vehicle is to own and drive." The answer, for the first time since 1997, was that the domestic brands were more "appealing" as a whole than the imports (the domestics earned a score of 787 on a 1,000-point scale – 13 points greater than the imports)..."
Class awards for highest APEAL:
Subcompact: Honda Fit
Compact: MINI Cooper
Compact Sporty Car: Volkswagen GTI
Compact Premium Sporty Car: Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe
Entry-level Premium: BMW 3-series
Midsize Sporty Car: Chevrolet Camaro
Midsize Premium: BMW 5-series
Large Premium: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Midsize: Ford Fusion
Large: Ford Taurus
Compact CUV/SUV: GMC Terrain
Compact MPV: Nissan Cube
Entry Premium CUV/SUV: Audi Q5
Midsize CUV/SUV: Ford Flex
Large CUV/SUV: Ford Expedition
Midsize Premium CUV/SUV: Audi Q7
Large Premium CUV/SUV: Land Rover Range Rover
Large Pickups: Chevrolet Avalanche
Midsize Pickup: Ford Explorer Sport Trac
Minivan: Volkwagen Routan
Camaro Named Great Road-Trip Car
More accolades for the Camaro, this time in pretty fun form. CNN recently released a picture article showcasing their 7 Favorite Road-Trip Cars, and lo' and behold, there was the Camaro taking another prize. Claiming it to be one of the most fun cars one could possibly hope to sit behind the wheel of for an extended amount of time, I can totally agree. They do state that anymore than 2 people and the road-trip turns sour, as those rear-seats are just glorified luggage holders so far as I'm concerned, but say that's ideal, fun, sporty, and efficient, making it ideal for a couple on a road-trip looking to have some fun. Don't typically think of sports cars as ideal road-trip cars (unless it's a convertible and you're road-tripping to the beach) but I'd happily drive anywhere in my Camaro. How do you feel about it?
Complete article here.
2010 Camaro, World Car Design of the Year
I've been following the selection process leading up to this for awhile, and today it was made absolutely official, the 2010 Camaro is the World Car Design of the Year award recipient. One of the most prestigious awards in the automobile industry, the Camaro beat out a lot of tough competition to finally win the award, and I can not think of any vehicle more deserving. The award was decided upon by a panel of 5 automobile design experts from around the world, those professionals were: (following is taken from the wcoty.com website)
Masatsugu Arimoto: chairman of the Japan Auto Colour Award program, juror on Japan's governmental "Good Design Award" committee, and Car Styling's "Car Design Awards"; Silvia Baruffaldi: Managing Editor of Auto & Design magazine; Gernot Bracht: former designer at Renault, now teaches at Pforzheim design school in Germany; Sam Livingstone: an Associate Editor of Car Design News and since 2001 has lectured at the Royal College of Art where he is now Senior Tutor in Vehicle Design; and Tom Matano: currently the Executive Director, School of Industrial Design, at Academy of Art University, San Francisco. Previously,, Matano managed the Mazda Chief Designers group that created the entire Mazda car line designs.
The experts observed that, “The new Camaro leans on its heritage but does so in an artful, modern fashion, argue our design experts. “Although it borrows some of its styling cues from the first generation Camaro, they all contribute to a simple, pure and modern appearance. It is the most dynamic Camaro ever,” says Masatugu Arimoto. Sam Livingstone appreciates the “innately seductive exterior and interior. It’s well resolved and I’d argue evidence that General Motors strikes a better balance than Ford and Chrysler do in their pony cars.”
The fifty-nine (59) World Car Awards jurors then voted on the expert’s recommendations in February 2010 and their ballots were tabulated by the international accounting firm KPMG.
More Accolades for the Camaro!
So, the Camaro love just does not stop coming in. A couple more awards/accolades are official for the Camaro now, and I'm fairly certain over the next few months even more will come rolling in.
Most recently, the Camaro SS was rated the best resale value Sports Car on the market by Kiplinger's. This most obviously comes from the fact that Kiplinger's assumes the Camaro to have continued appeal and desirability to large markets down the road. From Kiplinger's, who also gave the Camaro SS their Best New Car award.
"Also capturing the nod for Best New Car, the highly anticipated Camaro SS features a growling V8 that puts out 426 horses and a retro design inside and out. Not surprisingly, this beast is expected to be in demand on the used market as well, with resale values of 62% after three years and 44% after five.
To win best-resale plaudits, the model must first be selected as one of the top 25 vehicles in its category. Then we pick the vehicle with the highest three-year resale value."
Moving on from the Kiplinger's awards, it also seems that the Camaro made the very short list for the 2010 World Car Design of the Year. 30 vehicles were intially nominated, and the Camaro made it down to the final 4. The other 3 are:
Citroën C3 Picasso
Kia Soul
Toyota Prius
Tough competition? Well, I don't think so, but we'll see how that award committee feels about it. A little bit directly from the article:
"The World Car Design of the Year award is meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundaries. A design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors. The original list consisted of 30 different cars.
This top three design finalists will be announced at the Geneva International Motor Show on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 and the winner will be revealed at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 1, 2010."
