Chevrolet Unfolds New Camaro Strategy To Stop Ford, Dodge From ‘Eating Their Lunch’

There was a time when the Chevrolet Camaro was the undisputed sales champion of the U.S. sports cars for five years in a row (2010-2014). Since then, the Camaro has fallen behind its arch-nemesis, the Ford Mustang on the sales charts, especially after Chevrolet launched the redesigned model.

And while Chevrolet officials originally played it cool and said that they were fine with giving up some volume in exchange for profitability, the Camaro has dropped third in sales, falling behind both the Mustang and the much older Dodge Challenger.

Chevrolet is now trying to cover the lost ground by focusing on the lower-priced derivatives of the Camaro, where its two rivals have seen great success.

“Frankly, they’ve been eating our lunch,” said Al Oppenheiser, chief engineer of the Camaro, to Automotive News referring to the Mustang in particular. “The low [transaction prices] of a four-cylinder … that’s where the bulk of the sales are and that’s where our pricing strategy needed improvement. We plan to go head to head — and win.”

In order to fight back, Chevrolet has dropped the price of the entry-level Camaro 1LS by around $1,000 to $25,995, and cut the prices of the 1LT and 2LT models as part of the 2019MY revisions. In addition, the company is launching a new Turbo 1LE pack that features the 2.0-liter turbo-four engine combined with a range of track-focused features.

Chevrolet saw the sales of the Camaro drop 28 percent so far this year, which is abour three times worse that the sports cars average overall. The company’s officials hope that the new Turbo 1LE model (starting from $30,995) will help improve the Camaro’s market presence.

“What’s happening in the sport car segment, there’s a lot more volume in the low-to-mid part of the market,” Steve Majoros, Chevy’s marketing director for cars and crossovers, said. “We do a phenomenal job with our loaded SS’s, and it’s great business for us, but the reality is there’s an awful lot of people who just want a great looking sports car somewhere in that $30,000 range, and that’s what we’re going to deliver.”