(By Tom Lohnes) – The Ford Mustang has had some pretty rough years. There was the cool but heavy 1971-1973 ‘Stang, the downright gutless Mustang II, and more recently the 2005-2010 model which made less power in V8 GT form than a modern four cylinder Ecoboost does. But every single one of those had a better sales year than 2021. That’s right, last year was the sporty coupe’s worst sales year in 58 years and it even lost its first-place seat in sales.

Selling 52,414 vehicles in 2021, the Mustang had a historically small year.  Of course, there’s the Mach-E which actually sold another 27,000 units, but that won’t be counted for the sake of it not being a “true Mustang” although we’re sure it could be argued that a small number of Mach-E sales came from people who would have otherwise considered a traditional Mustang. Across two body styles, three engines, four transmissions, and 7 trim levels, just over 52,000 units were signed off in 2021.

Compare that to last year where over 61,000 vehicles were sold, and you’re looking at a pretty significant decline. Of course, the chip shortage and pandemic had something to do with those numbers, but those factors had nothing to do with the fast Ford losing its “best-selling sports car” seat. That now belongs to the Dodge Challenger, which somehow sold 54,000 units last year. Reminder, the Challenger shares the V6 and 5.7L V8, chassis, overall design, manual transmission and roughly 70% of the interior with the 2008 model car, which makes it pretty much a miracle that people are still buying these. But they probably will remain the best-selling until the model finally gets put to rest in 2023.

Of course, there is another competitor in this class of vehicle, the Chevrolet Camaro. Although the cheapest and best-handling model out of the three Americans, sales are absolutely abysmal with only 21,893 vehicles moved in 2021. Yikes.

So overall, 2021 was not a great year for the 2-door Ford. But it is getting a redesign for the 2023 model year, so that should boost sales back to where they were just in time for the Mustang’s 60^th birthday in 2024. What about the other two? Well, the Camaro has all kinds of speculation around it and the Dodge will be reincarnated without its sedan sibling, the Charger.