The muscle car has had a rough few years. A decade ago, all three of America’s traditional domestic car powers sold retro-styled muscle cars that easily met the traditional definition of the form — rear-wheel drive (RWD), V8 power, and styling too boxy to get into the swanky sports car clubs.
No one questioned the bona fides of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, or Dodge Challenger then.
Today, only Ford has kept the faith. Ford will still sell you a V8-powered Mustang, even if the modern pony car uses an independent rear suspension the old-timers would have judged.
Dodge isn’t out of the game, but it is trying to change the rules. The company introduced the first “electric muscle car” late in the 2024 model year. The Charger Daytona looks closer to the classic Dodges of the 1970s than even the Challenger did, but it comes with a pair of electric motors and an artificial sound system to produce its growls.
If you’re willing to consider it a muscle car, it’s one of the fastest ever. Top-of-the-line versions get from zero to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds. But some purists will probably never accept it.
Dodge has partly conceded the point, now offering the Charger with a turbocharged inline-6-cylinder engine as well. But it may never come with the V8 traditionalists want — even if Dodge’s parent company, Stellantis, were to revive the canceled Hemi engine, engineers say, it might not fit in the Charger’s engine bay.
And the Camaro? It’s gone. Chevrolet built the last Camaro in 2024. At the time, the company said it would bring the name back. But a new report says that effort could be in danger.
Report: Executives Question the Business Case
Fan site GM Authority reports that a group of designers recently pitched General Motors on a plan for a new Camaro, but “upon being presented to decision-makers, the proposal was ‘blown apart’ due to the business case not being strong enough.”
Executives killing the project right now doesn’t mean the company will never build another Camaro. Classic car nameplates periodically die and get resurrected — except the Mustang, of course.
Allowing a name to lapse in the market can even help build hype for the day when it comes back. A recent example: The all-new Volkswagen ID. Buzz, which just won the 2025 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year award, is essentially the resurrection of the classic VW Bus after an absence of many years.
GM is unlikely to let a historically significant name sit unused for many years, but the full three-way muscle car battle seems unlikely to resume anytime soon.