The Ford Mustang was King of the Muscle Cars in 2018, but an old timer had its best year ever.
(Ford)
Ford sold 75,842 Mustangs last year, a drop of 7.4 percent, while Dodge moved 66,716 Challengers and Chevrolet just 50,963 Camaros, down 25 percent. Ford’s strong showing came off of a year of promotions surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Steve McQueen film ‘Bullitt’ and the resurfacing of the car from the movie after several decades.
MYSTERY OF STEVE MCQUEEN'S MUSTANG 'BULLITT' SOLVED:
Meanwhile, the Challenger tally was the model’s best showing since it returned way back in 2008, beating the 66,365 sold in 2015. That year Dodge introduced the 717 hp Hellcat model which helped reinvigorate the entire lineup. Since then, it’s kept things fresh with an all-wheel-drive Challenger that helped win over more customers in the snow belt states, and the 808 hp Demon, which holds the title of most-powerful American car.
DODGE CHALLENGER SRT HELLCAT 'REDEYE' TEST DRIVE:
At least for now. Ford is set to debut a new Mustang Shelby GT500 at the Detroit Auto Show on Jan 14 that it promises will have “over 700 hp,” but hasn’t yet said exactly how many over. Meanwhile, General Motors is working on a mid-engine supercar that’s rumored to have as much as 1,000 hp, which is plenty of muscle even if it’s not a muscle car.