The narrow victory scored by the Chevrolet Camaro in America’s pony car sales race in September 2016 was the result of General Motors finally pricing the Camaro in line with the Ford Mustang.
But General Motors still has more than four months of Camaro supply as dealers approach a much slower buying season for sports cars in general; as the auto industry at large shows signs of a gradual and modest slowdown.
Year-over-year, U.S. sales of the Chevrolet Camaro jumped 25 percent in September 2016. Compared with August, month-to-month volume rose 17 percent. To produce such gains, GM had to triple the average price cut on Camaros.
Heading into September, Automotive News said General Motors had a 139-day supply of Camaros, or roughly 30,000 units. One month later, Cars.com shows that GM still has 30,000 Camaros in stock, as the 6,577 sales reported were apparently replaced by approximately 6,500 more Camaros. The market has 1.4 million cars in inventory, which equals 61 days of supply.
Heading into September, FCA had a 90-day supply of Challengers, about 18,000 cars, and sold 5,698 Challengers. After Ford possessed 71 days of Mustang supply at the beginning of September (or 23,000 cars), Mustang sales plunged 32 percent to 6,429 units during the month of September.
That Mustang sales dive came as Ford decreased the average incentive per Mustang from $3,000 in August to $2,700 in September.
GM, meanwhile, tripled the incentive spend on Camaros from roughly $1,100 per Camaro in August — evidently not enough to overcome the car’s built-in demerits — to $3,300 in September.
Asked about the Camaro’s incentives and inventory, GM spokesperson Jim Cain (no relation) told TTAC this morning, “The Camaro is a great car. It’s light years ahead of the Mustang on so many levels, starting with performance and technology.”
Getting closer to the heart of the matter, Cain says, “If you bought one at the end of the 2016 model year, you got a great deal.”
As it turns out, offering “a great deal,” also known as positioning the previously overpriced Camaro more directly in line with its direct competition, resulted in slightly superior sales for the Chevrolet in September.
And GM isn’t done with deal-making. Beginning October 1 and extending through January 3, 2017, a GM Holiday Sales Event in conjunction with Costco will net members supplier pricing atop “most currently available GM incentives,” plus either $300 or $700 Costco cash cards depending on membership level. The deals are available on 2016 and 2017 models and are clearly necessary if GM is to clear out excessive inventory of Cascadas, Encores, CTSs, Camaros, Corvettes, and full-size pickups.
Sans incentives, the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro had a base price $1,650 higher than the 2016 Mustang. For model year 2017, the Camaro’s base price is $1,780 higher than the Mustang’s.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.
How about some SS sedan incentives?
According to your site they sold 14 in August and 5(!) in September, but GM still only officially has $500 off on it.
There’s been a stop sale on the SS.
How can you tell?
That makes sense. I was wondering how sales went from ~300 each month to almost 0.
I’m guessing once the stop sale is lifted, there will be some level of pent-up demand so that probably means low incentives for a while.
What’s the reason for the stop sale?
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2016/07/general-motors-issues-stop-sale-for-2016-chevrolet-ss/
Looks like it’s due to a seatbelt tensioner problem. http://gmauthority.com/blog/2016/07/general-motors-issues-stop-sale-for-2016-chevrolet-ss/
anecdotal in Atlanta: not all new Camaro owners drive like douchebags, but many douchebag drivers seem to drive Camaros.
I saw quirk in the Boston area has an LT convert marked down to 25 from 38k sticker. That’s crazy. Lesser discounts on lower priced camaros so some lower priced varieties end up being more expensive. I almost wish I wanted one.
I’d buy one in Canada if they’d stop asking BMW prices for them. They want over 60K for an SS!! No wonder I’ve only seen a couple of them out on the road. Just like the Gen 5’s, they’ll be 0-84 with cash on the hood soon enough.
At the right price, there’s a butt for every seat.
That’s a nicer way to put it than how it’s usually said.
My maths say the Camaro has a 148-day supply (21 weeks!), so I still predict a shutdown of the Camaro line, combined with high incentives, until they can flush out the inventory.
Except that GM won’t shut it down for long enough. So, using half measures, they’ll shut it down for 4-6 weeks or so, instead of the 10-12 weeks that they should.
No discounts on the SS models. If you want a V6 I suppose you can get a deal. The car is just too expensive and I agree with the other comment about “BMW” prices………
The Camaro is a great deal for an enthusiast, imo. If you can get a v6 1LE for $30k you are buying a car with handling as good as any supercar.
If anyone still reads magazines here, the latest Car and Driver shows a V6 1LE faster than several other sporty cars, for far less money. The V6 1LE has become the giant killer.
I’m not surprised the V6 1LE does very well. GM has been building excellent track cars for awhile now.
I have noticed an uptick in new Camaros on the road lately. Now this makes sense.