The muscle automobile has had a tough few years. A decade in the past, all three of America’s conventional home automobile powers offered retro-styled muscle automobiles that simply met the normal definition of the shape — rear-wheel drive (RWD), V8 energy, and styling too boxy to get into the swanky sports activities automobile golf equipment.
Nobody questioned the bona fides of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, or Dodge Challenger then.
As we speak, solely Ford has stored the religion. Ford will nonetheless promote you a V8-powered Mustang, even when the fashionable pony automobile makes use of an impartial rear suspension the old-timers would have judged.
Dodge isn’t out of the sport, however it’s making an attempt to vary the foundations. The corporate launched the primary “electrical muscle automobile” late within the 2024 mannequin yr. The Charger Daytona appears nearer to the basic Dodges of the Seventies than even the Challenger did, nevertheless it comes with a pair of electrical motors and a man-made sound system to provide its growls.
Should you’re keen to think about it a muscle automobile, it’s one of many quickest ever. Prime-of-the-line variations get from zero to 60 mph in simply 3.3 seconds. However some purists will in all probability by no means settle for it.
Dodge has partly conceded the purpose, now providing the Charger with a turbocharged inline-6-cylinder engine as properly. However it could by no means include the V8 traditionalists need — even when Dodge’s mother or father firm, Stellantis, had been to revive the canceled Hemi engine, engineers say, it may not match within the Charger’s engine bay.
And the Camaro? It’s gone. Chevrolet constructed the final Camaro in 2024. On the time, the corporate mentioned it could deliver the identify again. However a brand new report says that effort may very well be at risk.
Report: Executives Query the Enterprise Case
Fan website GM Authority experiences {that a} group of designers not too long ago pitched Normal Motors on a plan for a brand new Camaro, however “upon being introduced to decision-makers, the proposal was ‘blown aside’ as a result of enterprise case not being robust sufficient.”
Executives killing the undertaking proper now doesn’t imply the corporate won’t ever construct one other Camaro. Traditional automobile nameplates periodically die and get resurrected — besides the Mustang, in fact.
Permitting a reputation to lapse out there may even assist construct hype for the day when it comes again. A latest instance: The all-new Volkswagen ID. Buzz, which simply gained the 2025 North American Utility Automobile of the 12 months award, is actually the resurrection of the basic VW Bus after an absence of a few years.
GM is unlikely to let a traditionally vital identify sit unused for a few years, however the full three-way muscle automobile battle appears unlikely to renew anytime quickly.
