The Dodge Challenger Outsold the Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro in 2022

•    The Dodge Challenger outsold the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro in 2022.

•    The imminent demise of the model is clearly inciting buyers to get one of the last editions of the model.

•    2023 will be the last year for the Challenger, with its electric muscle car replacement coming in 2024.

We’ve known for some time that the Dodge Challenger is retiring after the 2023 model-year, along with the Dodge Charger four-door cousin. Both are roaring off into the sunset to make way for an electric muscle car in 2024.

The end is nigh, then, for the Challenger, which made a triumphant return in 2008, borrowing the styling of the original 1970 model. The plan was to offer that version of the model for a few years only, but buyer interest remained so strong that it remains in the catalogue 15 years on. 

For most of those 15 years, the Challenger sold less than the Ford Mustang in North America. The fact that it was aging and not receiving any real updates didn’t help its cause. But the announced retirement of the model has helped deliver a surge in interest in the Challenger. The muscle car outsold its big Ford rival in 2022.

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Specifically sales were up 1 percent in 2022. Dodge sold 55,060 units of its Challenger in 2022, up from 54,314 in 2021. That's more than a quarter of all the 190,795 vehicles delivered by the brand in 2022. The Dodge Charger led the way with 80,074 units sold, while the Durango SUV sold 55,433 units. 

Fun fact: Dodge sold 194 Journeys, four Darts and one Viper. Those three models are of course no longer produced by the automaker, but obviously a few units continue to pop up at dealers here and there. 

The Ford Mustang, second in the segment in 2022, sold for 47,566 units. Chevrolet, meanwhile, sold 24,652 Camaros during the same period. 

The Challenger's sales performance is impressive, considering its age. At the same time, because the end is near, many buyers are taking advantage to get one now. There may be even more buyers next year as many special editions are offered and some collectors will want to get their hands on a Challenger of the very last model-year on the market. 

And more than that: next year’s Challenger could be the last gasoline-powered muscle car we ever see from Dodge. A piece of history, as they say...