The Dodge Challenger SRT 392, left, and Dodge Charger SRT8 for 2012. (Chrysler)
America is flexing its muscle. Sales of modern-day muscle cars are surprisingly strong despite gas price spikes and economic jitters that should have scared buyers away from performance cars and into subcompacts or hybrids.
The Ford Mustang is still a hit, even after almost 50 years on the market. (Ford)
Lots of options
The selection available to enthusiasts today is as robust as any time in history.
It includes the Ford Mustang and its Shelby GT500 and 2012 Boss 302 versions; Chevrolet Camaro, which added a convertible in 2011 and will be joined by the ZL1 early this year; Dodge Charger, including an SRT8 performance version; Challenger, which also offers the SRT8 and SRT 392; and the return of the Viper. And through it all, there's the Corvette, a classic over the years.
In short, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler continue to feed and dominate the segment known as "American muscle."
"Muscle cars never went away; the definition just changes," says analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics.
Muscle cars generally are thought of as two-door, U.S.-built sports coupes with powerful engines.
"Old muscle cars were midsize cars converted to killer cars with giant engines," Hall says. They had manual steering and were great going fast and straight, if you didn't melt the tires, he says.
Engines in modern muscle cars are much smaller but more powerful: Makers of classic muscle cars from 1964-75 would never have imagined a base Camaro with 300-plus horsepower.
Most still are two-door, but the Charger has morphed into a four-door performance vehicle.
Mustang vs. Camaro
And the storied Mustang vs. Camaro rivalry is as fierce as ever.
"Mustang and Camaro have always been competitors and always will be," says Chevrolet spokesman Mike Albano. The Mustang went on sale in 1964 and the Camaro in 1966.
Automakers have found ways to improve fuel economy. Early sales of the current Camaro, a modern interpretation of the classic, had V-8s, but now buyers are opting for the V-6, he says.
Alec Gutierrez, manager of vehicle valuation at Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, Calif., says the value of used muscle cars has outperformed the market average recently. Classics such as the Camaro SS Coupe have retained 95 percent of their value.
Because muscle cars can be niche vehicles and tend to not be cross-shopped, automakers "can charge their target market more," Gutierrez says.
Future classics
But will today's cars be the classics of the future? The automakers like to think so.
Jost Capito, Ford's director of Global Performance Vehicles and Motorsport Business Development, thinks the Shelby GT500 — especially the 2009 GT500KR — is a shoo-in. So too, he thinks, is the Boss 302: It took Ford 40 years to develop a Mustang deserving of the Boss name again.
"That's what I want to drive 50 years from now, if I'm still alive," says Capito.
Chrysler sees the modern Challenger being embraced as well as its predecessors. And Chevrolet sees an alternate vision for the future.
"We think the Volt will be a classic of tomorrow," Albano says.
Leave a comment