Camaro sales ahead of Mustang for 2011, so far

In the sales race between pony cars, the Chevrolet Camaro is beginning to leave the Ford Mustang in the dust.

The Camaro has steadily outpaced the Ford Mustang for the first four months this year--the Camaro beat the Mustang by 2,672 sales in April alone.

For the year to date, Chevrolet has sold 30,824 Camaros, compared with Ford's 23,599 Mustangs. Camaro sales were up 18.6 percent in April from a year ago with 10,852 units sold; Ford sold 8,180 Mustangs last month, up 59 percent.

Chevy officials said some credit is due to the newly launched convertible variant that has helped boost sales since its March release.

Spokesman Dave Caldwell said convertibles can make up about 20 percent to 25 percent of sales for the segment, so the addition filled a deficit in the Camaro lineup.

Chevy says about 60 percent of Camaros sold have the V6 engine, but it's not pinning that on rising gasoline prices.

"It started out with the V8 being the majority [of sales], but we knew a lot of that was from the enthusiasm factor and that it would normalize to 50/50," Caldwell said. He said the steady shift to higher demand for the V6 took place over the first year or so and has crept up to about 60/40 preference for the V6.

So credit the convertible for a sales spike.

The Ford Mustang received new V6 and V8 engines for 2011.

Ford spokesman Said Deep is unperturbed. He noted the improved fuel economy of new V6 and V8 engines for 2011 Mustang, along with the addition of the Boss 302 version.

"Total Mustang sales for the month of April are up 59 percent. In combination with our other cars, we continue to grow our car market share," Deep said. "We are not in a sales race."

By Michelle Koueiter